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Boardman’s Vince and Anthony Mancini, Graziani win sectional titles
AUSTINTOWN
Cousins Vince and Anthony Mancini and teammate Mario Graziani won championships to complete a Boardman trifecta at the Division I sectional wrestling tournament at Fitch High.
Despite Jake Franks being Fitch’s lone champion, the Falcons were anything but a one-horse entry as the host school accumulated enough points to finish fourth behind team champion Hudson. Boardman placed eighth.
The top four placers in each of the 14 weight classes advanced to next week’s district at Mentor.
Besides Vince Mancini at 106, Graziani at 152 and Anthony Mancini at 160, Boardman had no other qualifiers, although Jimmy Sferra placed fifth at 126 to serve as an alternate to district.
In addition to Franks at 220 pounds, Fitch qualified Andrew Fairbanks (third at 120), Adam Green (third at 152), Isiah Jackson (third at 170), Tex Martin (fourth at 182) and Matt Rood (third at 285).
Fitch’s Chris Droege will be an alternate to Mentor after placing fifth at 195, while teammates Nick Davis (113) and Adam Wilps (145) were sixth.
Vince Mancini’s first sectional title came not long into the afternoon championship session when he beat Walsh Jesuit’s David Beatty, 8-2.
“He wanted to tie up, so I had to block and defend,” Vince said of fighting off Beatty to start with a 2-0 lead. Mancini got a reversal for a 4-0 lead before Beatty pulled within 4-2. “I left my guard down a little and he caught one of my legs for a takedown.”
Vince (39-5) added the rest of his points on another reversal and back points.
“My goal is to get to state and this is the first step toward that,” said Mancini, a senior who was a district alternate in 2013-14. His uncle, assistant coach Frank Mancini, said that Vince cut weight for the first time to make 106.
“Vince has never weighed enough [to cut],” said Frank. “He didn’t give up weight and strength this time.”
Top-seeded Graziani won his third sectional crown by beating No. 2 Billy Buehl of Hudson, 7-4.
“He got his points from me letting him up,” said Graziani, a junior. “In the second round, I escaped 10 seconds into the period. Basically, I knew I could beat him in all positions: top, bottom and neutral.”
Anthony Mancini was exuberant after his 8-6 win over top-seeded Noah Edwards of Twinsburg in the all-senior title match. “I kept pressure on him no matter where we were on the mat,” Anthony said. “My shots were executed as best as I could and my hand-fighting was on fire.”
Edwards was leading 3-2, until Mancini got a reversal. In the final 27 seconds, Mancini went on the defensive. “I stopped all of his shots,” said Anthony, who was celebrating his first sectional crown.
No. 3 Franks (32-10) earned his second sectional championship by beating top-seeded Brian McNamara, 3-2, in a face-rubbing final.
“I had a takedown in the first period, then he got an escape,” Franks said of a 2-1 score in his favor after the first period. Thereafter, each wrestler had an escape.
The Franks-McNamana bout was a carbon-copy of last year’s sectional final at Fitch, one that Franks won with two, single-leg takedowns. “This year, it was a lot of hand-fighting,” Franks said. “He’s a very strong and very athletic kid.”
Jackson beat Twinsburg’s Eric Murdock, 7-3. “I tried to be aggressive and take the offensive by moving him backwards,” said Jackson, a junior. In beating Murdock by a 6-3 score on Friday, Jackson said, “It was the same strategy: keep him moving backwards.”
The 17-year-old Jackson’s third place at sectional was a career-best.
This will be a first district appearance for Rood (29-14), who hadn’t been to a sectional until this season.
“I wrestled as a freshman, but quit halfway through the season. Then I didn’t do anything until this year.”
In the junior’s 3-0 win over Tim Edwards of Twinsburg, Rood picked up his points with back points (2) and an escape (1).
Fairbanks, a sophomore, is headed to his second district at Mentor, where he was fifth and a state alternate to Columbus last year. Fairbanks also placed third at Fitch in 2013-14.
This weekend, Fairbanks beat Kenston’s Joby Herbruck twice. “I was in control the entire match,” Fairbanks said of Saturday’s match, which he won by pin in 2:01.
The finish for No. 4-seeded Green was the junior’s career-best. His 16-7 major-decision win was over No. 3 Sam Rocazella of Chardon. “I got the first takedown and kind of turned him a lot from there,” Green said of the near-falls. Green’s previous best sectional finish was fifth.
Sferra, a junior, beat Solon’s Nick Restifo, 4-2. “It feels good knowing that I’ve improved,” Sferra said of his fifth place after going 1-2 at sectionals a year ago. “I didn’t place in any tournaments last year but this is the fourth I’ve placed in this season.”
Wilps’ sixth-place finish wasn’t bad considering that the sophomore just moved up to varsity a few days ago.