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Falcons on top
Josh Hephner Memorial Wrestling Tournament
Gallery
By BRIAN DZENIS
AUSTINTOWN
Winning a championship at the Josh Hephner Memorial Invitational requires wrestling eight matches in two days.
With that gauntlet in mind, it’s not a coincidence Austintown Fitch junior Michael Feree and Girard sophomore Jack DelGarbino called winning their respective weight classes the biggest achievement in their careers.
“It’s a lot of beating up on your body, that’s for sure,” Feree said while sporting a bloody cut above the bridge of his nose. “As you can tell, my face is a little beat up.
“It’s just wear and tear and you have to be pretty good to make it to the second day and get to the finals and win your match,” Feree said. “It’s a lot of wrestling and you’re not used to that.”
Seven local teams participated Saturday and the Mahoning Valley had five finalists and 25 placers. Fitch was the winner in team play with 290.5 points. Runner-up Medina had 268.5.
“It’s a great experience. It’s a great tournament in memory of Josh Hephner and our guys always seem to rise to the occasion,” Fitch coach John Burd said. “I enjoy watching them compete at a high level and continuously improve throughout the tournament and we always seem to make good strides year after year.”
Fitch has taken the Hephner Invitational for two seasons in a row. Feree (160) defeated Massillion Jackson’s Braxton Freeman in an 8-4 decision.
“That was my first big time final. It’s fun, I’ve already wrestled him once today,” Feree said. “It made me nervous, but the goal was to just go out there and score as many points as I can. Get into some solid stands, heavy hand fighting and just keep scoring.”
Following the tournament, Feree is 26-4 on the year and enters the weekend ranked No. 16 in the state for D-I.
“He has a a very good pace and when he keeps the tempo up, he’s very hard to beat,” Burd said. “He’s very offensive, physical and aggressive and he holds good positions. He’s fun to watch.”
Fitch had two runner-ups in the tournament. Gus Sutton (120) lost to the state’s No. 1 wrestler in his class for D-II, Akron Archibishop Hoban’s Lukus Stricker, 12-0. Stricker was selected by the participating coaches as the tournament’s MVP.
“That was one of the best kids in the state for Division II,” Burd said. “Gus just has to continue to improve like he has been, you learn from each mistake and try to get better each week.”
Andrew Fairbanks (138) dropped a 6-4 decision to Louisville’s Jax Leonard. The Falcons had eight other placers, plus two on the Fitch “Blue” team.
DelGarbino (220), the son of 1991 state champion John DelGarbino, edged Mogadore’s Paul Skye, 5-4. The match was a scoreless stalemate through the first period, but Skye — the state’s No. 4 wrestler in his class for D-III — began to show some frustration.
“He wasn’t getting his takedowns that he wanted,” DelGarbino said. “That’s about it.”
Four of DelGarbino’s five points came from fouls from Skye. The Wildcats wrestler was penalized twice for illegal hands to the face and was called for unnecessary roughness for using his hand and forearm to cover DelGarbino’s mouth.
“I think Jack got in his head,” Girard coach Jim Cardiero said. “I don’t want to say we out-wrestled him, but we wrestled smarter than him.”
Girard was the second-best area team in the tournament, finishing fifth overall with a score of 206.
Boardman’s Carlo DeNiro (182) was the other area finalist in the field, losing to Medina’s Alex Sadowsky, 10-6.