February 28, 1999

Frisch is a lone wolf, the area's only district wrestling champion

By Ed Fox
Sports Writer

FOSTORIA &emdash; 'All alone am I' was the theme song for Nick Frisch Saturday night at the Division III District wrestling tournament at Fostoria High School.

The Hopewell-Loudon junior emerged as the area's lone district champion after a 10-4 win over Fremont St. Joe's Jamie LeJeune in the 140-pound finals. It was a rematch of the championship match at the Midland Athletic League tournament where Frisch also prevailed, 9-3.

''This is my first district title,'' said Frisch, headed to state for the third straight year. ''I was more aggressive today. I know he likes to drag the arm out and get his shots. I was able to shoot in on him.''

While LeJeune was ranked 11th in the Brakeman Report (bible of Ohio wrestling), it was Frisch's win in the semifinals which loomed extremely big. He decisioned projected champion Steve Simok of Northwood, 7-5, to reach the big one.

''That was a big win for me, but I know he'll be ready to come at me hard if we happen to meet at state,'' said Frisch, who is perfect in 39 bouts this season and ranked third in the Brakeman.

Frisch is one of nine state qualifiers in Division III.

The Chieftains have one other state qualifier in junior Doug Jesse, who took fourth at 119 pounds.

Mohawk, which finished eighth in the team standings with 70.5 points, continues to have a record-setting year. The Warriors set a school record for dual wins, followed with an unprecedented fourth straight MAL title, won the Plymouth Sectional with well over 200 points and sent 10 to the district.

Now, the Warriors are sending a school-record four wrestlers to state competition including sophomore Kevin Ogg (112), junior Jon May (160), junior Joel Everhart (171) and junior Bo Meisner (215).

Lakota is also sending two to state with seniors Jared Lowery (125) and Tim Weller (130) and Seneca East advanced one in sophomore Matt Stacklin (125).

''The kids really handled the pressure well and our showing here as unofficially qualified us for the State Duals next year,'' said Mohawk head coach Bret Margraf. ''This is the highest number of kids we've ever taken to state. We sent three two years ago and also in 1994.''

May (33-7) was second after suffering a 10-9 loss to projected state champion Tim Hoff (37-2) of Liberty Center.

''He (Hoff) is just a very good wrestler and I knew he was tough because he beat (Shawn) Whelan of Sandusky St. Mary's in the semis (pin in 3:30) and Whelan was undefeated (55-0) before that,'' said May. ''I was just two matches away from making state last year and making state was on my mind much of the season.''

Everhart (38-3) pinned Archbold's Lucas Bosco (32-12) in 1:54. That came after a dramatic 8-7 win over Jeff Riedy of St. Mary's in the consy semis.

''I wanted to go out and be aggressive and get takedowns, but everything really fell into place and I was able to get the pin,'' said Everhart. ''I had a great match with Margaretta's Dane Bonnigson (12-10 loss) in the semis and he went on to win the title.''

For both Ogg and Meisner, there was added pressure as they battled for fifth place which was the final state berth at the district.

Ogg (27-13) jumped out early with a 6-0 lead and held on for a 9-5 win over Dan Hockenberry of Northwood.

''This kid (Hockenberry) finished ahead of me at 103 last year. I missedqualifying for state after losing to both the fifth and sixth-place finishers in close matches,'' said Ogg. ''I took up for the third period. I had a big point move early in the match on the high crotch and it has been a good move for me.''

Meisner (28-15) gained revenge with a 3-2 nod over Margaretta's Josh Steffenhagen, who had pinned the Mohawk junior in just 21 seconds of their first round match Friday.

''I made sure I kept my head up and made sure I was correct with the fundamentals. This is the first time I've beaten him in four matches this year,'' said Meisner. ''I wanted to defend against his moves well and also work on my moves.''

''I couldn't ask for anything sweeter than Bo's win. He beat him (Steffenhagen) when it counted the most,'' said Margraf. ''I was honestly surprised with Ogg because I felt he might be flat but he left little doubt as to where his mind was. May had the state runner-up on his back and was in position to win the match. Everhart has worked so hard to get where he is.

''I'm just so glad for those four kids. I was really depressed after the afternoon session, but tonight's effort changed my attitude. I really felt we could take six, but the effort shown by the kids is really going to be a positive thing for the program,'' added Margraf.

Jesse, now 39-3, was pinned by projected champion Drew Opfer of St. Mary's in 2:30 of the semifinals. He bounced back with a 7-5 win over Travis Kleman of Bluffton, but fell to fourth after suffering a 5-0 loss to Tom Fedeli of Lima CC In the second round, Jesse scored an 11-6 win over Fedeli.

''I can't remember a tournament where I've been thrown on my shoulders more than this one and both of them are really hurting,'' said Jesse. ''There isn't much difference between finishing third or fourth, but I do need to have more motion.''

''The semis were big for both Doug and Nick. Nick finished with two great matches and his finals was much like the MAL finals as he controlled the takedowns,'' said Hopewell-Loudon head coach Bob Swaisgood. ''I think all six of our kids wrestled to their potential and they had some tough matchups.''

Lowery, making his third straight trip to state, was pinned by Edison's Adam Justi in 3:53 of the consolation finals.

''I think I could've wrestled better, but I've been sick the last two weeks.'' said Lowery. ''I was fifth the last two years here and went on to take fourth at 112 my sophomore year and sixth at 125 last year at state.''

Weller, making his second trip to state in three years, lost on default to Edison's Kyle Smialowski.

''I went to state at 119 my sophomore year, but didn't place,'' said Weller. ''I was inconsistent here, but my goal was to get to state and place and those are goals which are still possible to reach.''

''Both kids had tough matches in the semifinals. Lowery lost to three-time state champion Jared Opfer (23-8 tech fall) and Weller lost to state champion Anthony Carrizales (12-8),'' said Lakota head coach Joe Wyant. ''Both bounced back well and won their next match. Tim is one of the hardest-working kids and an injured neck kept him out of the district last year or he would've been a three-time state qualifier like Jared.''

Stacklin responded to the pressure with a 6-3 win over Gabe Brink of Liberty Center in the battle for fifth place.

''I made it to districts last year, but lost to Jason Sibrel and he lost to Tristan Boyd of Lima C.C. so I never got back in it,'' said Stacklin. ''I thought I was capable of making it to state and I think my mental approach was a big thing.''

''His five-point move in the first period was the key,'' said Seneca East head coach Steve Heal. ''He's only a sophomore and this was his best tournament of the season. I thought he was a darkhorse, but felt his best chance to reach state was at 125.''