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Five Mahoning Valley wrestlers can win state titles today
By Brian Dzenis
COLUMBUS
Three Canfield drill partners went through three odd scenarios to make it to the state wrestling finals Friday night at the Jerome Schottenstein Center. The Mahoning Valley has five state finalists overall.
The Cardinals’ Tyler Stein (220) will look to keep his title as teammates Nick Crawford (195) and Anthony D’Alesio seek their first. Girard’s Jack DelGarbino (285) is looking to close out his high school career with a 78-match winning streak and a heavyweight championship. Beaver Local’s Cole McComas (126) is in his third consecutive state final. All five wrestlers are competing in Division II.
“Four hours ago, we’re all in our hotel bed and we’re like, ‘We’re so nervous. We’re so nervous,’ ” Crawford said. “Now we’ve won. We’ve all made the finals and it’s so incredible. I’m so happy.”
Crawford beat Bay Village Bay’s Matthew Cover 4-3 in an ultimate tiebreaker, scoring the winning escape with five seconds left in the fourth extra period.
“I was thinking I’m just riding it out, but I looked at my dad and he just [pointed to his head and heart],” Crawford said. “I had five more seconds left and I had nothing to lose. He was first in the state — a predicted champ — I just gave all I had.”
Crawford’s bout was delayed when an official mistakenly awarded Cover a point to make it 4-3 in his favor, giving Crawford some time to rest as scorekeepers undid the mistake. He’ll face Aurora’s Colin McNamara in the final.
D’Alesio’s bout with Granville’s Keegan VanMeter ended on an anticlimactic note, with VanMeter injuring his knee 26 seconds into the bout and being unable to continue. D’Alesio faces Akron Coventry’s Austin Hinzman. D’Alesio previously pinned him in districts.
“It’s awesome that I’m in the finals, but it sucked I didn’t get to wrestle the whole thing,” the junior said.
Stein ended up giving his coaches a scare when he appeared to hurt his arm. He still beat Norwalk’s Alec Maloney, 8-5, but wasn’t satisfied with his performance. He faces Bowling Green’s Max Fausnaugh in the final.
“I hate taking injury time. I look like such a [wimp],” Stein said. “I felt like I could have wrestled better.”
McComas made his third state final in a row after beating Steubenville’s Peyton Blasko, 7-4. It was the junior’s first win against Blasko this season after taking losses against him in the OVAC tournament finals and in the sectional finals.
“[I learned] that his hips are really clunky and he can score from any position. I just needed to stay solid with my match,” McComas said. “I knew I could get takedowns on him. He was just very clunky on the bottom. He got a lot of rolls so I thought it was best to just stay on my feet.”
McComas is hoping his finding success on the third try vibe continues today. He’s lost in the finals in his sophomore and freshman seasons.
“I think about it every day,” McComas said. “This is all I’ve wanted all year.”
DelGarbino’s 5-2 win against St. Paris Graham’s Johnny Shafer marked the first time he won a match that wasn’t decided by a pin or major decision all season.
“I just kept calm and kept doing my stuff,” DelGarbino said. “I was waiting for him to make a mistake.”
If he beats Hamilton Ross’ Alex Coleman, he’ll be the first Girard wrestler to win back to back titles and will give him more state titles than his father, former Liberty wrestler John DelGarbino.
“There was a time where I got him for having an [Eastern Ohio Wrestling League] MVP and then he took that from me this year,” John said. “This year, I’ve been running out of things to hold over him and it’s a beautiful thing.”