Five Division II local wrestlers heading to state
Trending
GALLIPOLIS -- It took 224 wrestlers two days and four sessions of wrestling to decide who would earn the right to call themselves "state qualifiers" at the East District Division II Wrestling Championships, which took place Friday and Saturday at Gallia Academy High School.
Seven local wrestlers did just that, as four boys from Big Red and three Redskins placed fourth or higher at the tournament, which was split into two sessions each day to accommodate the COVID provisions put in place by the OHSAA.
Of the eight, five were district finalists with Big Red's senior trio of Tyler Muldrew (152 pounds), Aaron Ferguson (160) and Ethan Pappas (170) advancing to their respective championships, and Indian Creek's Austin Starr (195) and Elijah Llewellyn (220) also wrestling in title matches.
Ferguson, Pappas and Starr all won district championships.
"We've been a little spoiled as far as how many wrestlers we've taken to states over the years," Big Red coach Mike Blackburn said. "But, most teams would be thrilled to be taking four to states, and so are we. Our kids who placed fourth or higher had a great tournament."
Pappas wrestled East Liverpool’s Howard Williams in his title bout. It was the third time the OVAC champions faced off this season with Pappas taking it all. On Saturday, Pappas outlasted Williams, 2-1, and earned his 150th career win in the process. In the semifinals, Pappas turned away Miami Trace's Graham Carson, who was undefeated and ranked seventh in the state. Pappas is No. 3 at 170 in Ohio Division II.
Ferguson remained undefeated heading into the state meet with a 2-1 decision of the Potters’ Eric Williams. In the semifinals, Ferguson defeated Jordan Barnett of Sherdian, 3-1. Barnett was ranked the second in the state. Ferguson was fifth.
"Aaron and Ethan had great tournaments and won against two great wrestlers in Eric and Howie Williams," Blackburn said. "These kids know each other and have wrestled with and against each other and our friends. It was great to see the friendship and sportsmanship shown between them (Saturday)."
Muldrew earned a spot opposite Warren Local's Peyton Kellar in the finals with an 8-0 major decision of Dover's Brandon Kiser. Undefeated Kellar remained so with a 10-3 win over Muldrew in the finals.
"Up until that match, Tyler had a great tournament, but we knew Kellar was tough," Blackburn said. "Now we've seen him, and hopefully if we meet in the state tournament, we will know better what to expect."
Starr pinned his way to a district finals and earned a 5-2 decision in the finals over Cambridge's Justin Bartlett in a reset of last week's sectional final. Starr pinned Elisha Baldridge in 53 seconds in the semifinals.
Lewellyn faced off against St. Clairsville's Reese Skaggs in the championship match but came up short, as Skaggs came away with a 2-1 win. Llewellyn won by technical pin over River View's Mchael Wagner.
Big Red's Anthony Shevlin (106) became the first local wrestler to punch his ticket to the Division II state tournament when he survived the blood round with a 9-5 decision over Colton Smitley of Maysville in Saturday's morning session. Shevlin advanced to meet Smitley with a 10-4 final over Meadowbrook's Jarret Stillion. Shevlin ended up placing fourth. He dropped a major decision to Josh Carman of Carrollton but fourth was good enough to send Shevlin to the big show.
"That was two big wins for Anthony," Blackburn said. "He avenged two losses to Stillion and the Smitley kid beat him last year. So those were big wins and he wrestled great today."
Indian Creek's Dominic Paterra (145) also placed fourth in the morning session. His road to Columbus went through Conner Varnes of West Holmes and Carrollton's Domanick Speelman. Paterra defeated Varnes, 8-3, and pinned Speelman in 2:15 to advance to the consolation finals. Once there, Paterra was edged out by Wyatt Abele of New Lexington, 2-1.
Fellow Redskin C.J. Reese started Saturday in the 138-pound semifinals but dropped two straight to finish fifth and earn a state alternate status.
Big Red's Brandon Kinney also placed fifth place and nabbed a state alternate spot.
Steubenville's Cal Beadling fell short in his state bid under circumstances seldom seen in high school wrestling. Beadling was hit with four stalling calls in the final period of the 103-pound consolation quarterfinals. The fourth stall call led to New Lexington's Ethan Burkhart being able to choose to start from top, bottom or neutral.
However, time had expired, as the stalling was charged and tied the match. It gave Burkhart the opportunity to choose a position heading into sudden victory, which is usually meant to start from the neutral position. Burkhart started sudden death by choosing down. Beadling was able to hold him through the OT period and force an universal tiebreaker but Burkhart ultimately won a 10-7 win after starting from bottom for three extra periods.
Fellow Steubenville wrestlers Spencer Ostovich (220) and Cole Antil (145) also bowed out early Saturday after strong two-win performances on Friday.
As a team, Big Red finished third, two points away from runner-up Minerva. Beaver won the team championship.
The state wrestling tournament will be held at three Central District high school locations, with Division II set for this weekend at Highland High School in Marengo. The Division I state wrestling tournament will be hosted by Hilliard Darby High School, while Marion Harding High School will host Division III.