Friday, February 27, 2009
After the first day of wrestling at the Kettering Fairmont Division 3 District tournament, Covington sits in 17th place out of 48 teams with 20.5 points. The Buccs got a nice surprise early in the day as district alternate Brandon Flora became a district qualifier at 130 lbs when Troy Christian’s Michael Graham was unable to compete.

In all, six of Covington’s seven qualifiers earned wins to remain in contention at the tournament. At 145 lbs, Andrew DeHart advanced to the semifinals with a 14-4 major decision over Kaleb Runyon of Blanchester and a 15-0 technical fall over Tyler Monesmith of Preble Shawnee. DeHart will face Anthony DeWitt of Delphos St. John’s in the semifinal round.

He was almost joined by Matt Breisch at 119 lbs who lost in a highly controversial 12-11 decision to Mathias Klausing of Ottawa-Glandorf. On two separate occasions during the match, Breisch looked to earn clear points from a nearfall and later a takedown, but wasn’t awarded the points by the official. Breisch won his opening match by pin over Justin Phelps of Lockland and will face Jordan Kruger of Allen East in the second consolation round.

Also winning his opening match was Jake Jennings (160) who earned a 6-1 decision over Cody Lovejoy of Allen East. He dropped his quarterfinal bout to Kyle Lingg of Northridge and will face R.J. King of Deer Park tomorrow morning.

Dropping their opening bouts but rebounding with wins in the first consolation round were Sam Angle (125), Brandon Flora (130) and Josh McMillion (152). After losing to Alex Panno of Blanchester, Angle won a competitive 8-6 decision over Adam Joy of Purcell Marian. Flora dropped his first match to Joe Bruewer of Deer Park, but bounced back using a late takedown to earn a gutsy come-from-behind 4-3 victory over Chase Kuhlman of Bluffton.

McMillion fell to state-placer Ethan Price of Mechanicsburg in his opener, but then wrestled extremely well in his match against sectional runner-up Nate Marshall of Northeastern, building up a lead before earning a pin with under ten seconds remaining.

In their second consolation round matches, Angle faces Nolan Shelton of Clinton-Massie, Flora faces Cody Hahn of Lima Central Catholic and McMillion faces Thomas Fullenkamp of Versailles.

Josh Shefbuch (189) dropped matches to Zack McKnight of Carlisle and Adam Alig of Coldwater to finish his junior season with a 21-14 overall record.

Wrestling resumes at 10 am Saturday with the finals set for 4 pm.

Saturday, February 28, 2009
The Buccs concluded their weekend at the Kettering Fairmont District tournament in 18th place out of 48 teams, with wins by six of the seven district qualifiers. Andrew DeHart earned a return trip to state with a second place finish at 145 lbs. DeHart advanced to the finals with a dominating 14-1 major decision over Anthony DeWitt of Delphos St. Johns. The 145 lb finals then featured a rematch of last week’s sectional finals as Andrew squared off against Chris Burns of Troy Christian. Andrew started off strong with a takedown and near fall, but fell victim to a 5-point Peterson reversal in the second period and eventually lost 7-6 in the highly competitive bout.

At 160 lbs, Jake Jennings won his first match with a nice 7-0 victory over Gavin Windau of Columbus Grove. He then came a match away from placing, falling in the third consolation round, 10-5, to Jake Hinkle of Purcell Marion. Jake concludes his senior season with a 31-14 record, and as a two-time district qualifier.

Four Covington wrestlers saw their seasons come to an end in the second consolation round. Matt Breisch (119) was leading Jordan Kruger of Allen East before getting reversed and turned with twenty seconds remaining. Matt finishes up his junior year with a 30-13 record and as a three-time district qualifier.

Sam Angle (125) fell to Nolan Shelton of Clinton-Massie, while Brandon Flora (130) lost to Cody Hahn of Lima Central Catholic. Angle finishes up his sophomore year with a 9-8 record, while Flora finishes his with a 13-15 record.

At 152 lbs, Josh McMillion dropped an 11-3 decision to eventual state qualifier Thomas Fullenkamp of Versailles. Josh finishes up his junior season with a 26-16 record and as a two-time district qualifier.

The state wrestling tournament begins on Thursday, March 5, at the Schottenstein Center at The Ohio State University.