43
Cards send 6 to state
Division II Wrestling
Gallery
Canfield’s Crawford wins after protest upheld
By Brian Dzenis
ALLIANCE
Canfield wrestler David Crawford showed off his late-match heroics in a wild district final match on Saturday at Alliance.
His title match against Akron Saint Vincent-Saint Mary’s David Heath involved double overtime and a refereeing controversy, but he managed to win, 3-2, in the final seconds off a reversal.
“I never had any doubt. I never thought I was going to lose or anything like that. I was just focused on getting away, getting away and getting a reversal,” Crawford said. “I was going the whole time. You have to put it in your own hands, not the refs.”
Canfield once again leads the area in wrestlers going to Columbus with six. The team won its first district title in 50 years with 151 points.
After a scoreless first period between Crawford and Heath, the latter picked up the first point off an escape. Heath conceded the tying point in the by letting Crawford (170) stand up from the bottom position in the third period, sending the match into overtime.
The first overtime went by with neither wrestler scoring. For double OT, the rules have each wrestler getting 30 seconds starting on bottom.
In Heath’s portion, Crawford was called for stalling, but the referee did not stop the match. Crawford was whistled again for stalling and if a wrestler is assessed a stalling penalty twice, it’s a point for his opponent.
Canfield assistant coach Dave Crawford — David’s father — protested the call, taking issue with the match not getting stopped after the first stalling call. The officials agreed with his grievance, making the score 1-1 again and putting time back on the clock.
“We’re fortunate to have a great staff and we have three guys that really know the rulebook and [Dave Crawford] is one of them,” Canfield head coach Dean Conley said. “There was no sense in two of us going over there.
“It would have made the refs uncomfortable.”
Heath got an escape to make it 2-1. In Crawford’s portion, he scored a reversal as time expired.
Crawford and sparring partner Georgio Poullas (160) each won district titles.
Poullas, a reigning state champ, had considerably less drama in his title match. He pinned SVSM’s Michael McIntire in 1:16. He makes state for the fourth straight year, something that doesn’t get old.
“It’s all exciting,” Poullas said. “You wrestle new kids every time and it’s a different look and a different challenge every year in a way.”
The other two area wrestlers who came out of Alliance with a district title are West Branch’s Ian Sharp and Girard’s Jack DelGarbino. In the lone matchup amongst locals, Sharp beat Canfield’s Mason Giordano, 1-0.
Sharp has defeated the Canfield heavyweight for a title three times in the span of five weeks. The two went the distance for three rounds in the neutral position.
“It’s always a challenge with him,” Sharp said. “We all knew that I’m good on bottom and we knew it would be a battle on our feet. Whoever scored the first takedown would win.”
DelGarbino (220) pinned Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy’s Breslin Walker in 2:34 for the first title in his career. The thought of matching his father John, a state champ in 1991 with Liberty, in state titles with two years to spare brought a grin to the sophomore’s face.
“It’s everything,” Jack said. “That’s the goal.”