Friday, February 19, 2010
The Buccs advanced six wrestlers to the semifinal rounds of the Lehman Division 3 Sectional Wrestling Tournament, while their remaining six wrestlers are all still alive in the consolation bracket. Covington sat in 4th place out of 20 teams after round 1. Team scores weren’t available after the next two rounds.
Matt Breisch (119) earned a pin over T.J. Floyd of Mechanicsburg and a 12-4 major decision over Caleb Perry of Triad to advance. Kyler Deeter (130) advanced with consecutive pins over Nick Wirrig of Tri-County North and Brandon Apol of Dayton Christian.
Both Brandon Flora (135) and Andrew DeHart (145) opened with byes before defeating Cody Steck of Brookville, 7-1, and pinning Nick Francis of Versailles, respectively.
Josh McMillion (152) pinned both Dalton Wilbur of West Liberty-Salem and Brandon Hayes of Northridge, while teammate Aaron Devenport (160) followed suit with pins over Aaron Goings of West Liberty-Salem and Ronnie Jacobs of Tri-County North.
Brock Smith (103) won his opening bout with a hard-fought 6-4 decision over Andrew Slonkosky of Versailles before getting pinned by the no. 1 seed, Dalton Hiltibran of Mechanicsburg.
Bryton Lear (112) came out strong with a pin over Miami East’s Stephen Morrow before falling in his next bout to no. 1 seed Jordan Hancock of Troy Christian. Sam Angle (125) had an opening round bye then dropped a 9-4 decision to Thurgood Marshall’s Randy Jennings, while Lon Bitner (140) opened with a bye before falling to Barry Kessler of Arcanum.
Brian Olson (171) fell in the opening round to the no. 1 seed, Joe Brandt of Versailles, but rebounded nicely with a pin over Sheldon Brown of Stivers.
Josh Shefbuch (215) advanced in round 1 with a bye, then nearly upset the no. 4 seed, Matt Pulfer of Lehman, losing in the third overtime period, 6-4.
Wrestling resumes Saturday morning at 10:30 am with the second consolation round, followed by the semifinals.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
The Covington high school wrestling team put in a solid showing at the Lehman Division 3 sectional tournament, placing nine of their twelve wrestlers and advancing five to next week’s district tournament. The Buccs – who were without season starters Tyler Tebbe and Dylan Gustin – wrestled well, finishing in 4th place out of 20 teams with 143 points. Mechanicsburg (183) won the event, followed by Troy Christian (160) and Dixie (152).
Two Buccaneers advanced to the finals, finishing as sectional runners-up. Kyler Deeter (130) won his semifinal bout with an 11-6 decision over Alex Vencil of Northridge, before dropping a 6-1 decision to Troy Christian’s Jordan Marshall, who is ranked 4th in the state.
Andrew DeHart (145) earned a dominating 13-0 major decision victory over Dixie’s state-placer Dustin Chatterton in the semifinals, before dropping a tight 2-1 decision to state runner-up Kyle Burns of Troy Christian in the finals.
Also qualifying for the district tournament were Matt Breisch (119), Sam Angle (125) and Josh McMillion (152).
Breisch dropped a 6-3 semifinal decision to eventual champion Britt Wooten of West Liberty-Salem, before rebounding with an 11-4 decision over Northeastern’s Cameron Pierce and a 9-1 major decision over Triad’s Caleb Perry.
Angle battled his way through the consolation bracket with pins over Triad’s Tanner Stengel and Versailles’ Jordan Cavin before upsetting the no. 2 seed Steve Fredrickson of Dixie, 5-1, to advance to districts. Sam then lost his final bout to Arcanum’s Jared Beatty, 6-2.
McMillion dropped his semifinal bout to eventual champion Kyle Keplinger of Troy Christian before advancing with a pin over Joe Lynch of Springfield Catholic Central. Josh then dropped his final bout to Max Erwin of Mechanicsburg, 5-2.
Three additional wrestlers – Brock Smith (103), Aaron Devenport (160) and Brian Olson (171) – earned the district alternate spot by placing fifth overall, while a fourth wrestler – Brandon Flora (135) narrowly missed and placed sixth.
In the consolation bracket, Smith advanced with a bye and a 13-2 major decision over Troy Christian’s Matt Smith before dropping an 8-2 decision to Dixie’s Matt Buxton. Brock then won his final bout over Versailles’ Andrew Slonkosky, 7-1, to finish his freshman season with a 34-9 overall record.
Devenport dropped his semifinal bout to Dayton Christian’s Jeremy Hoppe, 6-0, before losing to Versailles’ Kaleb Matchett, 9-6. Aaron then won his final bout with a pin over Ronnie Jacobs of Tri-County North to conclude his senior year with a 32-13 overall record.
Olson continued to march through the consolation bracket with consecutive pins over Jon Mitchell of Mechanicsburg and Zach Winget of Northeastern, before falling to the no. 4 seed, Josh Liles of Arcanum. Brian won his final bout with a 6-4 decision over Tri-County North’s Jacob Schlater to go 4-2 at the tournament and conclude his freshman season with a 21-21 overall record.
Flora – who stepped in for Dylan Gustin the past two weeks and helped keep the team’s undefeated dual meet record intact – dropped tight decisions to Versailles’ Matt Subler, 4-3, and Northeastern’s Cole Howard, 6-5, to finish his junior year with a 6-4 varsity record and a 24-2 reserve record.
Also competing for the Buccs were Bryton Lear (119), Lon Bitner (140) and Josh Shefbuch (215). Lear finished his impressive freshman season with a 23-13 overall record, while Bitner – who filled in admirably for the injured Tyler Tebbe despite wrestling up a couple weight classes – concludes his junior year with a 2-5 varsity record and ten reserve victories. Shefbuch – who just missed knocking off the no. 4 seed – concludes his senior year with a 18-21 overall record.
Concluding their seasons prior to the sectional tournament due to injury were Dylan Gustin (135) and Tyler Tebbe (140). Gustin concluded his senior year with a 26-10 overall record, while Tebbe concluded his junior campaign with a 30-5 overall record.
The District wrestling tournament will be held at Kettering Fairmont high school on Friday and Saturday, February 26-27.
