Whisler, Bloor will compete in finals

March 14, 2015 at 12:10a.m.

By ERIC MAUK

COLUMBUS

Few would argue that wrestling is one of the most physical sports in which a high school athlete can compete.

But at its highest levels, those who have honed their minds and bodies find they have an advantage as the competition gets tougher.

Such was the case Friday at Ohio State’s Value City Arena for Howland’s David-Brian Whisler as he needed just one word with his coach to figure out what made the difference in a 5-3 semifinal victory in the 170-pound bracket in Division II.

“As soon as the match was over, my coach asked if I knew why I won this match,” Whisler said after defeating Miami Trace’s Russell Miller in today’s championship semifinal. “Then he pointed to his head. I knew I was mentally tougher than [Miller] was. I knew that would be an edge for me.”

Whisler (40-2), a two-time placer at the state meet, advanced to his first championship match with Friday’s win and joins Wellsville 285-pounder Seth Bloor as local grapplers who will wrestle for a state title today.

Bloor (47-1) earned a hard-fought win over Martins Ferry’s Jon Bodkin in the Division III semifinal, getting the match-winning point when Bodkin committed a violation with six seconds to go in the “ultimate tiebreaker” period. The two wrestlers were tied through three periods, then remained knotted through a one-minute overtime dubbed “sudden victory” and through a pair of 30-second overtime periods.

That left a 30-second ultimate tiebreaker where a coin flip designates someone to start on the bottom, while the top wrestler has to prevent the bottom man from escaping. Bloor was on the bottom and Bodkin had successfully held on for 24 of the 30 seconds before an out-of-bounds move forced one final restart.

Bodkin, who had already been cautioned twice for putting his hand too low on Bloor’s elbow, made the same mistake again with six seconds ago, forcing the official to award a point to Bloor, giving him a 5-4 win.

“That was the third time I have beaten [Bodkin] this year and the first time was a lot like this one,” Bloor said. “You tell yourself with six seconds to go that you have to move faster than you ever have in your life, but when that whistle blew I would be wrestling for a state title tomorrow. I still can’t believe it. A lot of work went into this to get to this point in my life.”

Whisler battled back from a three-point deficit in the first round, but got a big takedown with two seconds left in the second round, and made it stand up for the win.

“We are taught to wrestle to the whistle,” Whisler said. “I saw [Miller] letting up a little and creeping toward the edge of the circle, looking for a safe haven. I saw an opening and took it and it worked.”

Three Canfield wrestlers had a shot to advance to today’s championship round in Division II, but each of them came up short in their quests. Georgio Poullas dropped a tough 9-7 decision to Springfield Northwestern’s Devin Rogers at 126, David Crawford fell by pin to St. Paris Graham’s Kyle Lawson at 152 and 220-pounder Jacob Esarco lost a 3-2 battle to Amanda-Clearcreek’s Cole Genders.

“It’s going to be tough to talk to the kids and get them ready for tomorrow, but they’ll bounce back,” said Canfield coach Dean Conley. “They wrestled well to get here, but we had a tough round tonight. At this level, they’re all tough rounds.”

The tournament wraps up today with consolation matches starting at 10 a.m. and championship bouts set to begin at 5:45 p.m.