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Nine Canfield wrestlers qualify for district tournament
Cardinals will send 9 to Alliance district
By charles grove
BELOIT
The Canfield Cardinals are sending nine wrestlers to the district wrestling tournament after a strong performance in the Division II sectional at West Branch High School.
“Our kids wrestled really well,” Canfield head coach Dean Conley said. “It’s exciting. This time of year you want to really win those close matchups and I thought our kids did that today.”
Georgio Poullas (152 pounds), David Crawford (160), Jaret Bunch (195) and Jacob Esarco (220) all won sectional titles Saturday night and Sean Frisbie (113), Kyle West (126), C.J. Frost (138), Braxton Madison (170), Dominic Cooper (182) and Mason Giordano (285) all advanced to districts after finishing in the top four in their weight classes.
Poland had strong showings as well as Dante Ginnetti (120) and Dave Esarco (145) won sectional championships.
Ginnetti shut out Girard’s Dakota McCloskey in the championship final 5-0 despite almost being pinned in the second period. While Ginnetti said it felt good to win a sectional title like he did last year, he knows he has the potential to go much farther.
“This is just a way to get to state,” Ginnetti said. “It’s cool to win it again, but the job’s not done. He almost finished it but I was able to ride him the rest of the way after that shot he got on me.”
Matches were just as fierce in the third-place finals as wrestlers were desperate to avoid top seeds in the district tournament next weekend at Alliance High School. The fifth-seeded West did just that, defeating Alliance’s Skyler Curry to capture third place.
“It’s huge,” West said. “ I took fourth here last year and faced a top-seeded kid in districts who won the whole tournament, so I’m excited to see where the brackets fall this time.”
Frost made the 128-pound championship match, but his coaches decided to allow him to forfeit since a district spot was already wrapped up and soreness was bothering him.
Poland had one of its more emotional victories in the 145 championship match when the fourth-seeded Esarco won the first tournament in his high school career, defeating Southeast’s Hunter McPeak, who dominated him in sectionals two years ago.
“This is really exciting,” Esarco said. “I’ve put in a lot of time this offseason. Sometimes you get in your mind by looking at the bracket and going, ‘Ok. If I lose here then I have to face this guy’ and so on. But this time I really focused on one match at a time and it really helped out.”
Bunch pinned Hubbard’s Michael Beduarik in 59 seconds in the 195 title match in one of the finals featuring area wrestlers facing off for a title.
“He was pretty quick and caught me off guard,” Beduarik said. “Mayble I’ll see him in districts with a different outcome.”
Four West Branch wrestlers — Seth Schroeder (120), Dylan Miller (145), Cameron Martig (152) and Ian Sharp (285) — qualified for districts. Girard’s McCloskey will be joined by teammates Chris Morgan (138), Jamil Bannister (160) and Ben Norman (220).
Salem’s Will Cunningham (106), Kade Byland (160) and Kaleb Messersmith (285) qualified. Poland’s Anthony Audi (170) and Trey Ellis (220) will join Ginnetti and Esarco. Howland’s Jessie Matlock (132) and Isom Julian (195) also qualified, as did Hubbard’s Bednarik and Andrew Christy (106).