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Girard wins team title at J-M Invitational
Girard wins three matches
and team championship
By Steve Wilaj
NORTH JACKSON
The thought did cross his mind.
After injuring his ankle in a semifinal victory, Jackson-Milton’s Anthony Italiano — who was noticeably hobbling with every step — considered sitting out the 182-pound championship match.
“Like I told my coaches, if it was any other tournament, I would have stepped down,” he said. “But it’s the home tournament in front of my school in my home gym. I had to go.”
Proudly representing the Bluejays at the Jackson-Milton Wrestling Invitational (sponsored by Johnny’s Excavating) on Saturday, Italiano defeated Liberty’s Pat Sturgeon, 2-1, to claim the title.
Teammate Mitch Tikkanen also held down home-turf, claiming the 113-pound championship by defeating Girard’s Dakota McClosky. For his efforts, Tikkanen — who has placed first at the JM Invitational for the past three years — was named the tournament MVP.
“It’s a little more personal than winning anywhere else,” Tikkanen said. “It’s like you have to represent your hometown to the best of your abilities. It gets to you a little bit.”
Although he felt under the weather heading into the tournament, Tikkanen disposed of McClosky, 6-0, to improve to 11-2 this season.
“I’m feeling a little sick, but that doesn’t mean you can’t give it all you got,” he said. “The first period was just feeling him out. After that, I knew what I had to do, got my game plan and tried to stick to it as much as possible to the end.”
Italiano — who focused on stretching his ankle as much as possible between matches — used a similar strategy against Sturgeon.
“My game plan was a little different. I wasn’t going to quick-hit anymore,” he said. “I knew I had to wrestle really good on top and hold him down and avoid some time on my feet. I got a reversal early in the second and I was able to just ride him out the rest of the time.”
Italiano and Tikkanen led the Bluejays to a third place team-finish with 157 points. Rootstown finished first with 224 1/2 points, while Girard placed second with 182 points. The Indians’ individual winners were Jacob Roviscanec (160), Ryan Stuart (220) and Ben Norman (285).
“I don’t think we wrestled really well this weekend,” Girard coach Jim Cardiero said. “So it’s nice to still get a high place in the tournament.”
Stuart, a junior, is wrestling for the first time since eighth grade. He beat Crestview freshman Landon Talbert to claim his championship.
“I didn’t want to underestimate him,” Stuart said. “I went out there and I saw that he was tired, so I took it to my advantage to just keep on going at him. I was tired too, but I just didn’t want to stop.”
Other top local finishers included South Range’s Anthony Renforth (first place, 145), Girard’s Chris Morgan (second place, 138) and Jake Ryser (third place, 195), Jackson-Milton’s Tyler Jefferies (second place, 145) and Terry Stockton (third place, 120), Liberty’s Logan Weinreber (second place, 170) and Abdel Yusuf (second place, 285) and Crestview’s Nathan Stelts (second place, 195).