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Fitch wrestlers dominate Boardman tournament
By Brian Dzenis
BOARDMAN
Breylon Douglas had to be talked into wrestling three years ago.
He fancied himself as a football player with wrestling as just a side gig coming into Austintown Fitch as a freshman. His first impression of the sport wasn’t great.
“In one of the first real practices, I broke my finger and I was a little hesitant to come back,” said Douglas, now a senior with the Falcons.
He credits football and wrestling teammate Michel Feree with getting him to return to the team as a sophomore and he’s now one of the Falcons’ key wrestlers. On Saturday at the Rob Fellman’s Boardman Subaru Spartan Duals, Douglas was the named the Most Valuable Player of the eight-team tournament as Fitch defeated Alliance, 35-24, to take the team title.
Douglas (195) pinned every opponent he faced — four in total — and collected a fifth win by forfeit.
“It wasn’t really a specific move that I hit. I was hitting whatever move was there,” Douglas said. “If a cradle opened up, I took it. [Against Alliance] the bundle opened up at I took that. I wasn’t really looking for anything.”
Douglas wasn’t the only Falcon to go 5-0. Gus Sutton (126), Feree (160) and A.J. Stahura (170) also won all five of their matches. Fitch competed in the duals alongside Alliance, Stow, Akron Ellet, Cuyahoga Falls, Canton GlenOak, East Liverpool and the host, Boardman.
Sutton was one of the most heralded wrestlers in the duals. The junior is ranked No. 3 in the state for Division I coming off a breakout performance in the state tournament. He upset No. 1 seed Colin Schuster of Mason and built on that performance in the offseason. Sutton was a semifinalist in July at the Cadet Freestyle National Wrestling Tournament in Fargo, N.D., making it so he won’t sneak up on anyone this year.
“I feel like a lot of people know me. It’s not my favorite thing because I’d rather be an underdog,” Sutton said. “It’s all good though.”
The Spartans finished third in the duals with Derek Slipkovich (113), Anthony Baglama (120) and Mike O’Horo (182) going five out of five. Slipkovich pinned three of his five opponents.
“Honestly, I was just doing me out there. I’ve been working all offseason on top moves, like pinning combinations,” Slipkovich said. “I was just letting loose out there.”
Last year, Boardman saw its streak of sending a wrestler to Columbus end at 11 years. For upperclassmen like Slipkovich and O’Horo, they want to get a trip in before their time in high school runs out.
“It was really disappointing, especially when it was partially on my shoulders,” said O’Horo, who was the last Spartan wrestler to be eliminated at the district level. “That’s a big motivator for this year to go state, do well and place high and carry that to next year. It’s a big motivator for myself and my teammates to work really hard this season.”
Looking at a map, East Liverpool sticks out like a sore thumb amongst all the Canton and Akron area schools travelling to Boardman, but the Columbiana County side showed it belonged when it came time to compete. Team wins against Stow and Akron Ellet put the Potters against the Spartans for the final round of dual matches. They didn’t quite have the numbers of a Boardman, Fitch or Alliance and had to take some forfeits, but individually, there’s talent there.
Johnathan Potts gets credit for going the distance with Sutton as an unranked wrestler, going three periods before the Falcon won on points.
“It was my first time getting down to weight and he kind of caught me off guard,” Sutton said.
The Potters have one ranked wrestler this season in freshman Howard Williams (106), who comes in at No. 7 in the state for Division II. He won all five of his matches.