February 27, 1999

Three area teams ace wrestling semi-finals

By Ed Fox
Sports Writer

FOSTORIA &emdash; Deuces were wild for three area teams at the Division III District wrestling tournament at Fostoria High School Friday night.

Mohawk, Hopewell-Loudon and Lakota each advanced a pair of wrestlers to today's semi-finals, which begin at 11 a.m. The championship finals will go at 6:30 p.m.

The Warriors, who have eight of their 10 qualifiers still alive, had juniors Jon May (160) and Joel Everhart (171) advance to the semi-finals while Hopewell-Loudon has juniors Doug Jesse (119) and Nick Frisch (135) in the semis and Lakota had seniors Jared Lowery (125) and Tim Weller (130) go undefeated on the first day.

''May was sluggish in his first match and was fortunate to be wrestling a No. 4 seed,'' said Mohawk head coach Bret Margraf. ''He was able to get away with some things, but there won't be any room for that from now on.''

May (32-6) opened with an 18-7 major decision over Ty Lewis of McComb and followed with a 9-5 nod over Edison's Carl VanDyke.

Everhart (36-2) opened with a convincing pin in 4:50 over Jason Rhuland of Genoa and followed with an 11-4 decision over Zach Meinhardt of Northwood.

May will take on Jeff Polk (40-1) of Lake in today's semifinals while Everhart will face Margaretta's Dane Bonnigson (26-3). Polk is projected for a fifth-place state finish by the Brakeman Report which is the bible of Ohio wrestling while May is projected 10th. Everhart is projected to finish 13th in the state while Bonnigson, a state participant last year, is ticketed for seventh in the state.

Jesse and Frisch have eyes on a third trip to state. Jesse, 38-1 and projected for second in the state, opened with a pin in 4:50 over Ben Solarik of Elmwood and followed with an 11-6 decision over Tom Fedeli (31-6) of Lima Central Catholic, who was tabbed for fourth in the state. Jesse will clash with projected state champion Drew Opfer (54-0) of Sandusky St. Mary's in today's semifinals. When the two met earlier in the year at the Northwest Ohio Duals, Opfer won by a 5-3 score in overtime.

Frisch kept his record unblemished at 37-0 following a pair of wins including a 17-2 tech fall over Tom Muenzer of Cardinal Stritch and 9-3 win over Juventino Guillen of Woodmore. He will battle projected state champion Steve Simok (40-1) in the semis. Frisch is tabbed for third by the Brakeman.

''That top bracket is a real battle for Doug. He got slammed early by Guillen, but came back and wrestled aggressively. He went back to his takedowns which got him here,'' said Hopewell-Loudon head coach Bob Swaisgood. ''Nick was not as sharp as he's been and it's just a matter of getting back in the groove and doing what got him here.''

Lowery, another two-time state participant, drew a bye in the first round and hiked his record to 37-9 with a 6-1 win over Calvert's Jared Price. In the semifinals, he will meet projected champion Jared Opfer (54-0) of Sandusky St. Mary's who is seeking to become the ninth wrestler in the state to win four state championships. Lowery is tabbed to take third in the state.

Weller racked up a pair of wins to reach today's semis against projected state champion Anthony Carrizales (32-3) of Delta. Weller, pinned Craig Moore of Lake in 2:18 and followed with a 15-10 decision over Dustin Rotella of Mohawk.

Four other Warriors advanced to the second round before losing including Mark Buckingham (103), Kevin Ogg (112), Aaron Roush (125) and Rotella (130). Mohawk had a 6-4 record in the first round and finished 8-8 on the day.

''The kids who got beat wrestled their butts off. Everhart was able to turn itup his second match and outdistanced the other kid. I felt our kids really did a good job of going the distance with their opponents. We could've easily had three in the semis as Buckingham lost 3-1 in overtime and I really questioned the call and I don't do that very often,'' said Margraf.

''Most of our kids, with the excepton of Nathan Lofay and Andy Biller, will have a chance to come back and place and we could still have a strong representation at state,'' said Margraf.

Hopewell-Loudon missed out on a third wrestler in the semis when senior Mike Miller had to default with a shoulder injury to Luke Reineck of Fremont St. Joe in the second round at 152.

''This isn't the first time it (the shoulder) has bothered him,'' said Swaisgood. ''He had to miss three matches at the St. Mary's Duals earlier in the year, but he'll be back for the consys.''

Calvert had Price pull off an upset in the first round with a pin in 2:50 over Brent Pontious of Evergreen. He was only one of four Senecas to reach the second round and fell to Lowery.

Seneca East and Carey also had first-round winners. Matt Stacklin of the Tigers decisioned Jesse Schwieterman of Coldwater by a 7-0 score before losing to Jared Opfer. Carey's Curt Scalf pinned Jeff Smith of Cory-Rawson in 1:32 to reach the second round where he lost to Josh Webb of Ayersville on a 21-6 tech fall.

Sandusky St. Mary's, ranked second in the state, leads the team standings with 71.5 points while Edison is second with 53.5 and No. 1-ranked Delta is third with 49.5. Mohawk is sixth with 30.5 while Hopewell-Loudon is 14th with 20.5. Calvert and Carey each scored four points while Seneca East checked in with two and St. Wendelin, which lost all seven first round bouts, was held scoreless.