Saturday, February 9, 2008
The Covington high school wrestling team defended their tournament title at the 6-team Covington Duals Invitational. The Buccs went 5-0 on the day to conclude their regular season dual meet record at 18-2, their best record since going 16-0-1 during the 1983-84 season.
The Buccs began the day with a 60-16 win over Middletown Christian then cruised to a 70-12 victory over National Trail. In their third dual, the Buccs faced their perennial rival, Tri-County North, and won a number of key matches to claim a 57-23 victory. Covington would then go on to defeat Lehman, 66-18, before facing Arcanum in the final round. Both squads entered the final dual with 4-0 tournament records, but the Buccs again pulled out each of the close bouts to earn a 60-18 victory over the Trojans. Arcanum finished as tournament runner-up with a 39-39 criteria victory over Tri-County North.
Going 5-0 for Covington were Matt Breisch (112 lbs, 1 pin, 1 tech. fall), Sam Herron (119 lbs, 3 pins), Tyler Tebbe (125 lbs, 2 pins), Cory Ely (130 lbs, 3 pins), Andrew DeHart (135 lbs, 1 pin, 1 tech. fall), Josh McMillion (140 lbs, 3 pins), Jake Jennings (160 lbs, 1 tech. fall) and Josh Shefbuch (189 lbs, 3 pins).
Both Aaron Devenport (145 lbs, 3 pins) and Justin McMillion (152 lbs, 2 pins) finished 4-1 for the Buccs. Zach Shilt (103 lbs, pin) finished 3-2, while remaining wrestlers Joe Evans (171 lbs, 1 pin) and Stephen Ray (215 lbs, 1 pin) both won matches for the team.
The jr. high squad finished up 1-1 on the day as they defeated Miami East, 51-14, but dropped a tight 40-39 dual to Arcanum. Going undefeated were Justin Millhouse (86 lbs), Jacob Sowers (98 lbs), Tres Wirt (104 lbs), Kyler Deeter (116 lbs) and Alex Bitner (116 lbs). Finishing 1-1 were Brock Smith (80 lbs), Jordan McIntosh (122 lbs), Brian Olson (128 lbs), Ben Sherman (142 lbs), Cody Minnich (172 lbs) and Jamie Hess (205 lbs).
The Covington high school team wrestles next Friday and Saturday, Feb. 15-16, at the Division III sectional tournament held at Covington high school. Last year’s tournament featured 23 state qualifiers, 15 state placers and 4 state champions in arguably the toughest sectional in the state.
