FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2005 – DAY 1
Brian Ely (171 lbs.) and Logan Brown (189 lbs.) are still in contention at the DIII District meet held at Xenia High School. Both started off well by winning their first round matches to advance to the quarterfinals. Ely suffered through illness this past week with a fever of 103 °F, but still had enough energy to defeat Brad Eldread of Chesapeake with a 7-2 decision. In the quarterfinals, Ely dropped a 12-3 decision to Brian Uhlenhake of Coldwater. Brian will wrestle Donnie Wade of Northeastern in the second consolation round.
Brown started the day off well with a first period pin over Allen East’s Tyler Sneary. He followed that up with a 7-2 decision over Dixie’s Heath Lucaks to advance to the semifinals. Logan is set to face Kyle O’Brian of Lima Central Catholic next.
Two other Buccaneer grapplers saw their seasons come to an end. Bobby Wiltshire (140 lbs.) dropped his first match to Middletown Madison’s Patrick Lanham, 18-3, then fell in the first consolation round to Ted Bemis of Delphos St. Johns, 9-3. Wiltshire finished his junior season with a 28-16 record. At 275 lbs., C.J. Potter was pinned in his first match by Bluffton’s Ben Doty, then fell in the same manner to Anthony Helton of North College Hill. Potter finished his junior campaign with a 22-18 record.
After the first three rounds of competition, Covington sits in 29th place out of 50 teams. Bluffton currently sits atop the field in first place. The second consolation round begins Saturday at 10 am, followed by semifinals.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2005 – DAY 2
Covington junior 189 pounder, Logan Brown was a marked man entering the district tournament with a 42-0 record. But, when the dust setlled, Brown stood at the top of the podium as the district champion and a second straight trip to the state tournament.
After going 2-0 in the first day of the tournament, Brown opened the second day with a 3-2 decision over Lima Central Catholic’s Kyle O’Brian. The match was close throughout as Brown opened the match with a take down in the first period. Brown then increased his lead to 3-0 with an escape in the second period, and held on in the third by only giving up two escapes to O’Brian.
In the finals, Logan faced a familiar foe in David Jones of Williamsport Westfall. Jones defeated Brown last season 8-4 in the district semi-finals and went on to capture fifth in the state meet at 189 lbs.
Brown turned the tables on Jones, who advanced to the finals with a 2-1 victory over Cole Ross of Clinton Massie, by recording two takedowns and a reversal in a 6-4 win. Brown wrestled an intelligent, tactical match as Jones only managed to score by escapes.
With the victory, Brown improved his season record to 46-0 and became Covington’s first District Champ since Mike Stephan won titles in 2001 and 2002. He becomes the third Covington wrestler to win a District Title in the 189 lb. class, following Brian Olson (1987) and Eric Vanderhorst (1992), and is Covington’s 20th overall District champion.
Brian Ely, the only other Covington wrestler in contention for a state birth heading into day two of the district torunament, fell short as he dropped a 15-0 decision to Rusty Beisner of Versailles in the third consulation match.
Ely, who battled the flu and a 103 °F temperature throughout the tournament, advanced to day two by finishing 1-1 the night before. Ely then opened the day by capturing a pin over Donnie Wade of Northeastern in 4:50. Brian finished his junior season with a 35-13 record.
As a team, Covington finished 24th out of 50 schools. Bluffton ran away with the title, followed by Madeira and Greeneview.
Logan Brown Results:
First Round: Logan Brown (Covington) pin Tyler Sneary (Allen East) 1:27
Quarterfianls: Logan Brown (Covington) dec. Heath Lukacs (Dixie) 7-2
Semifinals: Logan Brown (Covington) dec. Kyle O’Brien (LCC) 3-2
Finals: Logan Brown (Covington) dec. David Jones (Westfall) 6-4
Brian Ely Results:
First Round: Brian Ely (Covington) dec. Brad Eldred (Chesapeake) 7-2
Quarterfianls: Brian Uhlenhake (Coldwater) maj. dec. Brian Ely (Covington) 12-3
Second Consolation: Brian Ely (Covington) pin Donnie Wade (Northeastern) 4:50
Third Consolation: Russ Beisner (Versailles) tech. fall Brian Ely (Covington) 15-0
Bobby Wiltshire Results:
First Round: Patrick Lanham (Madison) tech. fall Bobby Wiltshire (Covington) 18-3
First Consolation: Ted Bemis (St. John’s) dec. Bobby Wiltshire (Covington) 9-3
Note: Patrick Lanham went on to place first at 140 lbs.
C.J. Potter Results:
First Round: Ben Doty(Bluffton) pin C.J. Potter(Covington) 3:32
First Consolation: Anthony Helton(N. College Hill) pin C.J. Potter(Covington) 1:35
Note: Ben Doty (Bluffton) went on to place second at 275 lbs.
District Championship Results:
103: Daniel Kolodzik (Miami Valley School) dec. Ben Sergent (Troy Christian) 7-5
112: Casey Thome (Troy Christian) dec. Ryan Gambill (Miami East) 8-4
119: Cody Toney (Mechanicsburg) dec. Randy Cloran (Madeira) 3-1
125: Ben Pike (Greeneview) dec. Nick Steiner (Waynesville) 9-3
130: Kyle Shindledecker (LCC) maj. dec. Steve Young (Nelsonville-York) 18-5
135: Josh Falk (Bluffton) dec. Jacob Gambill (Miami East) 13-9
140: Patrick Lanham (Madison) dec. Justin Hill (McComb) 9-7
145: Jacob Ison (Batavia) pin John Bogucki (Reading) 5:50
152: Derek Mages (Reading) dec. Zach Ziegler (Mechanicsburg) 6-5
160: Justin Shannon (Bluffton) maj. dec. Matt Taylor (Northeastern) 25-11
171: Josh Lewis (W. Liberty-Salem) dec. Chad Craft (Dixie) 3-1
189: Logan Brown (Covington) dec. David Jones(Westfall) 6-4
215: Nick Nowlan (Bluffton) pin Kyle Oswalt (Coldwater) 0:35
275: Lance Phillips (Wellston) dec. Ben Doty (Bluffton) 12-7
Third Place
103: Tyler Savage (Carlisle) dec. Clint Strickland (Bluffton) 6-1
112: Jon Gulley (Tri-County No.) maj. dec. Branden Pike (Greeneview) 11-2
119: Doug Austin (Carlisle) dec. Christopher Reyes (Belpre) 3-2
125: Robel Campbell (Day. Christian) dec. Kevin Cloran (Madeira) 3-1
130: Jason Robbe (Batavia) dec. Kurt Stapleton (Carlisle) 3-0
135: Josh Levy (W. Liberty-Salem) maj. dec. Jake Fose (Madison) 9-0
140: Kevin Crowley (Madeira) dec. Jory Brown (Carlisle) 10-9
145: Blaine Klaus (Mechanicsburg) over Dave Bernholt (Versailles) default
152: Shane Shockey (Bluffton) dec. Joe Gettinger (Madeira) 10-5
160: Levi Schwab (Clinton-Massie) pin Collin Swick (Jefferson) 4:38
171: Derrick Strickland (Greeneview) dec. Brian Uhlenhake (Coldwater) 4-3
189: Cole Ross (Clinton-Massie) dec. Kyle Uhlenhake (Coldwater) 7-1
215: Mark Keiser (Versailles) dec. Brad Laughman (Miami East) 11-5
275: Stewart Watson (Madison) pin Jarred Jones (Belpre) 2:59
