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Canfield wrestling team tops Beaver Local
Barber’s narrow victory at 106 pounds
helps Cardinals break tie, pull away
By BOB ETTINGER
CANFIELD
Nick Barber was watching the scoreboard and all the while he had a pretty decent handle on the math. He knew his Canfield wrestling teammates were working their way toward putting the match on his shoulders.
Barber held strong under the weight to give the Cardinals their first lead before teammate Ethan Fletcher nailed down the 36-28 victory over visiting Beaver Local on Wednesday night.
“I was pacing back and forth looking ta the scoreboard,” Barber said. “I knew it was going to come down to Ethan and I. The team needed me to win.”
Barber survived a late scare for a 4-2 victory over Jaymin Salsberry at 106 pounds to break a 28-28 tie with just Fletcher’s bout at 113 pounds remaining.
“I just wrestled through the scramble,” Barber said. “We practice that. Guys who win close matches know how to scramble.”
Fletcher scored a 17-1 technical fall over Landon Landfried at 113 pounds for the Canfield win.
The Cardinals (6-0) scored 36 unanswered points to overcome a 28-0 deficit.
“We have some good upper weights and a couple of good lower weights,” Canfield coach Stephen Pitts said. “We knew it was coming. It was exciting.”
Canfield’s dash to the win began with a controversial win by Seth Hull at 170 pounds had his hand raised when Beau Smith was disqualified for using a technique deemed dangerous several times. That momentum carried over.
“That’s the more experienced part of our lineup,” Pitts said. “They knew it was on them and the crowd was getting fired up. The kids respond to that. They used that. They thrive off that. They do well under pressure.”
It was a tough way for the match to turn for the Beavers (1-1).
“We know where Canfield is strong,” Beaver Local coach Jordan Williams said. “They’re great in the upper weights. That was the turning point in the match. Ultimately, you can’t put yourself in a position like that where the referee can influence the match. Give Canfield credit, they got the job done. It’s tough to lose that way.”
Ben Cutrer followed with a major decision at 182 and Anthony D’Alesio (182), Nick Crawford (220) and Tyler Stein (285) all had pins to tie the match, 28-28, setting up the Cardinals’ two lightest wrestlers for the win.
Beaver Local raced out to the big early lead behind a major decision from Mark Emmerling at 120, pins from Darian Jackson and Cole McComas at 126 and 132, respectively, and minor decisions from Jonathan Potts (145), Jared Wright (152) and Brendan Severs (160).
“We wrestle with a lot of pressure,” Williams said. “We try to take the match to our opponents. Give Canfield credit. Their kids did a lot of things right. They didn’t give up a lot of bonus points and in a match like this, bonus points are going to decide it.”
Earlier in the evening, Canfield dropped Ashtabula Lakeside, 72-9 and the Beavers toppled the Dragons, 78-6.