For the ninth straight season, the Streetsboro Rockets’ wrestling team will have at least one representative competing in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division II State Meet. 120-pound sophomore Anthony Sindelar qualified when he finished with a 3-1 record as the runner-up at the Division II Kenston district meet last weekend in Bainbridge Township.
“Anthony wrestled his best of the season clearly,” said Coach Mark Skonieczny. “In the quarterfinal he beat the number four ranked kid in the State of Ohio to get down and then he beats a senior from Bay Village that had a 46-4 record. Anthony was not projected to make it to state tournament, but he won two huge rounds back-to-back.”
The Rockets’ sophomore will wrestle Miami Trace junior Lyric Dickerson in the first round at The Ohio State University’s Schottenstein Center in Columbus on Friday afternoon beginning at 1 p.m.
Entering the season, Sindelar was an unknown entity to the rest of Division II because he missed most of his freshman season with a shoulder injury.
“Going into district tournament Anthony was ranked 23rd in the state,” noted Skonieczny. “It happens every year and I think every team can say they had somebody do it. That is the beautiful part about wrestling and that is what makes these tournaments so exciting about guys like Anthony, there is never a sure thing.”
Last Friday, Sindelar cruised into the quarterfinal when he overpowered Kenston junior Aidan Baran, pinning him with at the 1:36 mark of the first period in the first round then earned a semifinal berth when he upset sophomore Rocco Czarnecki from Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy by winning by an 8-6 decision.
“He controlled that match,” Skonieczny added. “Anthony went right out and I think he might have gotten a takedown in the first ten seconds of the match. Anthony went crazy at him and attacked him and kept that pace for most of the match and did a fantastic job and I will tell you he was not intimidated at all.”
On Saturday, Sindelar recorded his second upset victory of the tournament when he outlasted Bay senior Anthony Rocco 11-10 to automatically qualify for the state tournament.
According to Skonieczny, Sindelar got off to another fast start and held a commanding 8-1 advantage in the third period but lost leverage when he tried to roll Rocco onto his back. It resulted in Rocco escaping, recording a takedown and scoring an additional three points on a near fall, trimming the lead to 8-7.
Sindelar recovered with an escape and assumed control of the match, avoiding a collapse to advance to the district championship bout. Skonieczny acknowledged it was a learning moment for Sindelar and one he will be sure to not let happen again.
In the final, Medina Buckeye senior Colin Limbert dominated Sindelar and won by a 23-8 technical fall.
Despite settling for a runner-up finish, Skonieczny said that if Sindelar can attack his matches in Columbus the same way he did at the district tournament then the future bodes well for him.
“That is all going to depend on Anthony,” Skonieczny noted. “If Anthony stays on fire he has a great chance to be an all-Ohioan. If Anthony goes down there with the mindset that I finally made it to the state meet then he will not win a match.”
The Rockets had another wrestler earn a state berth when 106-pound freshman Jarreau Walker went 4-0 won the district title, but he was disqualified from the postseason after being issued his second unsportsmanlike conduct of the meet for excessive celebration after winning his championship bout.
Walker received his first warning after he won his semifinal bout as the referees deemed his post-match handshake with his opponent to be inappropriate. After winning the championship match, the referee charged the freshman with another unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, automatically disqualifying him from state contention.
Skoneiczny said that Streetsboro plans to appeal Walker’s disqualification.
The Rockets will also have two other wrestlers waiting in the wings as 150-pound junior Cohen Klimak finished as a state alternate with a 4-2 record to take fifth place and senior 113-pounder Aidan Carone became a state alternate by finishing in fifth place with a 4-2 record.
Although Carone’s future as a state qualifier is still up in the air, he did record his 100th career victory when he beat freshman John LoFaso 5-1 in the quarterfinals last Friday. Carone became the third Rockets’ wrestler to earn his 100th victory in as many weeks and he and his brother Dominic are now the second set of brothers who wrestled for the program to each win 100 matches during their varsity career.
