Canfield wrestlers go 3 for 3 in finals

March 10, 2019 at 12:09a.m.

Over the course of 90 minutes, Canfield had all three of its finalists — Anthony D’Alesio (182), Nick Crawford (195) and Tyler Stein (220) — win their respective state championship bouts Saturday night at the Jerome Schottenstein Center. It was just how they planned it when they spent the season sparring with each other.

“Everybody beats the crap out of everybody and then we’re all buddies afterwards,” said Stein, who closed out his high school wrestling career with back-to-back titles. “Ever since last March, we’re all like ‘back to back to back’ — three state champs. That was the goal no matter what. We got in the room and worked our butts off.

“It paid off.”

The Mahoning Valley’s other two finalists fell short. The state was stunned as Girard heavyweight Jack DelGarbino had his 77-match winning streak snapped with a 10-7 loss to Hamilton Ross’ Alex Coleman.

Beaver Local’s Cole McComas (126) lost his third consecutive state final with a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Louisville’s Davin Rhoads.

All three Canfield wrestlers won in dominant fashion. D’Alesio beat Akron Coventry’s Austin Hinzman 4-3, Crawford beat Aurora’s Colin McNamara 8-3 and Stein beat Bowling Green’s Max Fausnaugh 8-3. Across all three bouts, none of them conceded points from opposing moves.

“It was easy for me. After the first one, my nerves calmed down and I was all good,” Canfield coach Stephen Pitts said.

Crawford’s conceded points came from letting McNamara stand up from the down position twice and one stalling call. If Crawford had executed his cradle of McNamara a few seconds earlier, he could have won the title in the first period with a pin. Instead he had a sizable lead that McNamara couldn’t touch.

“Thank god. The goal wasn’t to go the whole length, but I’ll take what I’ve got,” Crawford said. “I was so nervous. I just cut it loose and went out there and that’s what happened.”

Stein’s bout with Fausnaugh had a similar flow, only the Ohio State wrestling commit used three takedowns to build a lead. He was calm when the final whistle blew.

“I just was realizing that I’m blessed enough to be here and I just reflected like ‘wow, I’m doing this,’” Stein said. “It’s the best feeling.”

DelGarbino and Coleman was a matchup of two freakishly fast heavyweights. A wild first period saw the pair trade takedowns, but Coleman pulled ahead when he almost pinned the reigning state champ from Girard. DelGarbino tried to come back through scoring points in the bottom position, but Coleman toughed it out.

“I’ve got nothing to say. I didn’t come ready to wrestle. I didn’t come prepared,” DelGarbino said. “I wasn’t myself. I didn’t do the things I normally do. I didn’t go out there to win.”

Even though McComas previously beat Rhoads at the Brecksville Holiday Tournament in December, he couldn’t repeat the feat. Rhoads led from start to finish and a takedown inside the final minute of regulation sealed the win.

McComas declined to be interviewed after the bout. He went 43-8 in a season that was hampered by an elbow injury he suffered in Brecksville.

“It’s been a very hard season for him. He worked extremely hard since the elbow injury. He had to take a lot of time off,” said John McComas, Cole’s older brother and a Beaver Local assistant coach. “He missed a lot of practices and matches. It’s hard to stay in shape all year and then come compete at this level.

“He did everything he could to come here and compete and to fall short again really hurts right now.”

Canfield wrestlers go 3 for 3 in finals

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