Cardinals’ district champs win openers at state

March 4, 2016 at 12:06a.m.

By BRIAN DZENIS

COLUMBUS

Canfield continued its pursuit of a state title as the Ohio High School Athletic Association State Wrestling Championships opened on Thursday.

All four of the Cardinals’ district title winners won their first-round matchups, with three of them coming by pin.

Across the area, all six of the Mahoning Valley’s district champs won in the opening round. The Cardinals have been fueled by each other’s success on the mat.

Canfield is tied with Steubenville for third place with 17 points in team scoring,

“We’re all wrestling great, three pins so far and we’re looking really good,” said Canfield 220-pounder Jacob Esarco. “We’ve never been in the top five as a team in state. Wrestling like this, I think we have a great shot.”

Esarco, C.J. Frost, Georgio Poullas and David Crawford all lived up to their respective seeds in the Division II bracket.

Frost (138) pinned Millersburg’s Cole Woods in 1:48. It wasn’t a big takedown or counter that allowed him to pin, it was a scramble that allowed the senior to take advantage of the chaos. Frost said scrambles are his preferred situations.

“I don’t think that was a real move,” Frost said. “I think I hit a duck-under and he tried to counter it by throwing me and I came out on top. I saw him on his back and I just squeezed as hard as I can.

“I’m the type of wrestler who likes to create scrambles. Those are the type of situations that I look for.”

Frost is making his third bid at a state title. He didn’t place in his last two attempts, but says he’s learned to adjust to the tourney’s demands.

“This is the only tournament I’ve wrestled in that’s three days long. In the past, I’ve struggled with weight,” Frost said. “It’s especially hard to maintain over three days. This year I made sure that weight wasn’t an issue.

“This tournament, I placed here a month ago in the practice room, it’s just payday now.”

Poullas (152) is the projected winner of his weight class and he lived up to his billing with a pin of Norwood’s Trevon Ward in 2:42.

Crawford won a major decision against Middletown Madison’s Gunnar Dawson, 14-3.

Esarco was already ahead 7-1 when he pinned New Philadelphia’s Logan Ford. It took two tries for the Colgate commit to get the job done.

“I knew once he got off his back, I just had to keep pushing the pace,” Esarco said. “Eventually I took a shot, got the takedown and finished it from there.”

The other D-II champ, West Branch’s Ian Sharp (285), took down Rocky River’s Collin Shirley with a pin in 3:01.

It was his first state victory.

“I’m relieved. I thought I was going to choke up the first match, but I didn’t,” Sharp said. “I just wrestled my match and pinned the kid in the second period.

“I really had to work. Now that everyone knows me, they all chose neutral in the second period and it’s not really fair in my honest opinion.”

Sharp entered the tournament as the projected favorite in his class and he’s noticed how his opponent scouted him out.

“I have to be better on my feet. I’m kind of adapting to the way people are scouting me,” Sharp said. “I am getting better on my feet, just better enough to wrestle competitively.”

The Valley’s lone D-I champ, Boardman’s Mario Graziani, won a 4-2 decision over Gahanna Lincoln’s Carl Turner.

Today, Frost is going against Lodi Cloverleaf’s Greg Briggs. Poullas has Village Bay’s Vince Zitiello. Crawford will face Upper Sandusky’s Noah Clary. Esarco has Middletown Madison’s Nick Svarda. Sharp is taking on New Lexington’s Matt Adams. Graziani faces Lakewood St. Edward’s Michael Carpenter.

“The first match is the most important. If you lose, you gotta come back and wrestle again in three hours,” Esarco said. “Now I’m one step closer to a state title, just three more matches.”