The Berkshire Badgers’ wrestling team’s season of revitalization continued trending in the right direction when they finished in fourth place by scoring 160.0 points at the John Matteucci Memorial Tournament last Saturday at Eastlake North High School.
“It was great for the kids,” said Coach Dave Malkus. “Getting those matches, even if it was not a victory, a couple of guys were able to make it the distance and get some offensive points so they are seeing that just because we are a Division III team, we can still compete with those higher-end teams.”
The Badgers had 10 wrestlers who placed and had three compete in the championship round, with two wrestlers claiming individual titles. Each weight class was divided into pools, with the wrestlers in each weight bracket who had the best pool records advancing to the championship bracket and the wrestlers with the worst records were relegated to the consolation bracket
Senior 190-pounder Danny Tiller dominated his bracket, going 5-0 to earn an individual title.
After going 3-0 in pool play, Tiller earned a spot in the Final Four and qualified for the championship round when he pinned Trinity junior Jordan Prescott with 46 seconds remaining in the first period.
Tiller rounded out his day by once again besting senior Chase McKenna from Walsh Jesuit, whom he previously defeated in sudden overtime in the semifinal at the Solon Comet Classic tournament on Dec. 23, this time prevailing in a 4-1 decision.
“He was able to get a couple of pins early in the day and in the final he was wrestling McKenna, that kid is a returning state qualifier for Division 1,” noted the third-year coach. “This time, he was able to control the bout a little bit better He scored off an opponents’ shot and ended up getting the 4-1 decision, so it was great to see.”
The Badgers’ other champion was sophomore Estevon Huesca, who captured the title in the 157-pound bracket by going 5-0.
“It was great for him,” Malkus said. “He took fourth at the Solon Comet Classic which was really eye-opening because Solon is a pretty good tournament and he wrestled really well there then we went to Defiance. He did not perform like we thought he could so he just took what he did well at Solon and put it into this week and you could see he was forcing the positions he knew he could win at.”
After going 3-0 in the initial pool round, Huesca bested St. Edward junior Bradley Krichbaum by pinning him with 58 seconds remaining in the second period to advance to the championship match.
In the championship match, Huesca defeated Cardinal senior Talon Duncan by pinning him with just 25 seconds remaining in the first period.
The Badgers’ last wrestler who competed in a championship bout was junior 113-pounder Danny Auth, who finished as the runner-up with a 5-1 record.
Auth posted a 4-0 record in pool competition and became a championship-qualifier when he overcame a 9-4 deficit in the third period against junior Lucas Summerfield from Western Reserve to deliver a match-clinching pin with 1:39 remaining in regulation.
“He was able to catch the head, was able to get in his half and ended up getting the pin that way,” Malkus added. “That was someone who was able to put moves together that he hadn’t been able to do before and had continuous movement and positioning, so he was the one that impressed me the most.”
Auth fell short in the championship bout, as sophomore Wyatt Cleary from Walsh Jesuit defeated him by pinning him at the 1:08 mark of the first period.
Freshman Alex Sustin finished in fifth place in the 106-pound bracket by going 3-3 on the day, sophomore 120-pounder Jacob Ulatowski earned fifth place with a 4-2 record, junior Caden Klingman netted fifth place in the 132-pound bracket by accumulating a 4-1 record, junior 165-pounder Cameron Peterson placed sixth in his bracket by going 2-2, freshman Josh Heiden from the Berkshire “B” team took sixth place in the 113-pound weight class with a 1-3 record, freshman Henry Goldizan of Berkshire’s “B” squad clinched seventh place at 126 pounds with a 1-3 record and freshman 150-pounder Trent Holland took eighth place with a 1-4 record.
Berkshire will return to action when it hosts the annual Battle of the Belt tournament in Burton on Saturday morning at 10 a.m.
