Friday, February 18, 2011
After the first day of wrestling at the Sectional tournament, Covington sits in 5th place out of 20 teams, as all of their ten competing wrestlers are still alive in the competition. The Buccs had a very strong opening round, advancing all but one of their wrestlers to the quarterfinal round.
Justin Daniel (189) started things off for the Buccs with a pin over David Long of Miami East in the rat-tail round, and followed that up with a come-from-behind victory by pin over Caleb Burns of Northeastern. Also picking up opening round pins were Brock Smith (125), Kyler Deeter (130), Brandon Flora (135) and Tyler Tebbe (140).
At 152 lbs, Sam Angle – wrestling two weight classes above his natural weight – picked up an escape with 7 seconds remaining to earn a tight 11-10 victory over Cameron Luther of Springfield Catholic Central. Later, Brian Olson (171) earned an impressive 7-1 victory over Brandon Wyatt of Northeastern, a wrestler he narrowly defeated in overtime just three weeks ago.
At 160 lbs, A.J. Ouellette dropped his bout to the no. 1 seed, Brendan Osborn of Brookville, while Bryton Lear (119) and Andrew DeHart (145) advanced with byes.
Four Covington wrestlers then advanced to the semifinal round. Kyler Deeter (130) came from behind to lead and then pin Nick Lipinski of Brookville, while Tyler Tebbe earned a quick first period pin over Zach Denny of National Trail. At 145 lbs, Andrew DeHart picked up a pin over Austin Krull of Tri-County North, followed by Brian Olson’s pin of West Liberty-Salem’s Oscar Gresh at 171 lbs.
Dropping their quarterfinal bouts were Lear, Smith, Flora, Angle and Daniel. Covington’s sole wrestler in the first consolation round – A.J. Ouellette – found the going tough as he trailed 8-2 in the second period. He rebounded in the third however, locking up a nice nearside cradle for a pin to advance to the second day of the tournament.
Wrestling resumes with the second consolation round at starting at 10:30 am, followed by the semi-final and third consolation rounds. The finals will begin at 6 pm.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
The Covington high school wrestling team finished in strong fashion after the second day of competition at the Division 3 Sectional tournament. The Buccs placed seven of their ten wrestlers in the top six and earned enough points from the remaining three to take 3rd place overall out of the 20 schools competing. Versailles won the event, followed by Brookville, while Covington held off Mechanicsburg (4th) and Dixie (5th). Six wrestlers finished in the top four to qualify to next week’s District tournament for the Buccs.
Andrew DeHart claimed the first sectional championship of his career with a dominating performance in the 145 lb. class. DeHart advanced to the finals with a 16-0 technical fall victory over Cody Steck of Brookville and followed that up with a second period pin over Dixie’s Jordan Wilson in his final match.
At 130 lbs, Kyler Deeter narrowly missed joining DeHart as a tournament champion, falling by a 12-11 decision to Arcanum’s returning state placer Jared Beatty. Deeter won his semifinal match by a 13-5 major decision over Josh Lyttle of Northridge.
Also taking runner-up for the Buccs was Tyler Tebbe (140), who dropped a 5-1 decision to Brookville’s David Williams after defeating Northeastern’s Marcus Reeder, 10-7, in the semifinals.
At 135 lbs, Brandon Flora put together an outstanding performance on Saturday. Beginning in the second consolation round, Flora reeled off four consecutive victories to claim third place overall, capping off the day with an 11-5 victory over Northridge’s David Albert – the wrestler who defeated Flora in Friday’s quarterfinals.
Taking fourth place for Covington were Brock Smith (125) and Brian Olson (171). Smith picked up a pair of pins in the second and third consolation rounds before facing the no. 4 seed – Devon Kaffenbarger of Northeastern – in the consolation semifinals. Smith came out strong and picked up the upset victory with a 9-6 decision. He then dropped his final bout to Versailles’ Matt Mangen, 3-1.
Olson dropped a competitive 6-2 decision to the no. 2 seed, B.J. Toal of Troy Christian, but rebounded in the consolation semifinals with a second period pin over Matt Neiswinger of Springfield Catholic Central. He then fell, 7-2, to Tri-County North’s Jacob Schlater in his final match.
Sam Angle (152 lbs) put in arguably one of the most inspiring performances of the tournament. Wrestling up three weights from where he started the season – in order to help the team – Angle picked up three wins overall, finishing in 6th place, despite giving up a lot of weight and strength to his opponents. He nearly advanced to districts over the no. 3 seed, Jameson Kordik of Troy Christian in the consolation semifinals. Angle was leading 4-2 in the final period when he got caught in a throw. Sam finishes his senior season with a 34-10 record and as a two-time district qualifier.
Also concluding their seasons for the Buccs were sophomore Bryton Lear (119, 17-8 overall), and freshmen A.J. Ouellette (160, 20-17) and Justin Daniel (189, 10-12). Ouellette dropped a tight 3-2 decision to the eventual sixth-place finisher in his final bout.
The Division 3 District wrestling tournament is held at Kettering Fairmont’s Trent Arena on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 25-26. Wrestling starts Friday at 3 pm.
