Poland’s Esarco all smiles after finishing 8th at state

March 6, 2016 at 12:07a.m.

By BRIAN DZENIS

COLUMBUS

All Dave Esarco and his coaches could do was laugh.

The Poland senior’s high school wrestling career ended abruptly on Saturday in the state tournament.

Esarco was competing against Ashland’s Sid Ohl in the seventh-place match. Not long after the referee started the match, Esarco was on his back. Officially, Ohl pinned Esarco in 45 seconds, but the match was over well before that.

The state tournament is a great showcase of all the ways a person handles defeat. Some wrestlers sprint to the tunnel holding back tears. Others sit in the tunnel staring straight ahead and or give their opponent an extra shove after the final whistle.

There are some that can take a loss in stride and that’s the category Esarco (145) and coach Tony Stellato fit in.

“There’s nothing we could do but laugh about it. He had a great season,” Stellato said. “He’s been wrestling since eighth grade and to be out here with guys who have been wrestling since kindergarten, I’m very happy with his performance. He had a great two weeks just to make it here.

“We’re smiling even with the loss,” he said.

Esarco is fine with what he got out of the tournament. It was his first time qualifying for the tournament and he took eighth place.

“My goal was to get to the state tournament. Now getting on the podium? That’s a whole other accomplishment in itself, which I’m real proud of,” Esarco said. “I had a good senior year, I’m happy with it. I put a lot of hard work into it, so I liked the result.”

He finished the season 39-13. Ohl knocked Esarco out of the championship bracket in a 7-0 decision Saturday. As a district runner-up, Esarco started out with tough matchup as a district runner-up, but once he got into the consolation bracket, he bounced back. He defeated Beaver Local’s Jason Keyes, 4-2, to place.

“The bracketing wasn’t in my favor. I didn’t think I was going to get this far, Esarco said. “I wrestled a really good match yesterday, which put me in the placing round, so I’m happy that I at least get to stand on the podium.”

He made the decision to become a full-time wrestler after coaches and his friend, Poland graduate Anthony Mancini, convinced him of his potential. The first thing he had to give up was football, which was easy.

“I didn’t want to sit the bench in football when I could wrestle and have fun,” Esarco said. “As an individual, if I win, it’s on my own and if I lose, it’s on my own.”

What came next was taking time off from a summer job. He said no to hanging out with friends to travel to Pennsylvania three days a week to compete. He spent 10 days at Virginia Beach, but none of it was on an actual beach. He was in a wrestling tournament featuring athletes from 25 states.

“It’s not what any kid wants to do, go there and just wrestle, but I guess it’s what I had to do to get better,” Esarco said. “I committed to it and this was my goal for the season.”

Now that he’s met his goal, he’ll head to Kent State to major in nursing. He’d like to stay in the sport as a coach and check in on some of the wrestlers coming up through the Poland program. As far as high school sports go, he’s glad all the time he put in got a result.

“I liked the commitment. I liked the hard work,” Esarco said. “It was a good fit for me and I’m really glad I stuck with it.”