It’s very rare that a high school wrestling tournament team championship comes down to the final match. But that is what happened for the Aurora Greenmen at the Portage County Tournament last Saturday at Ravenna High School when senior Matthew Copley prevailed 7-2 against Ravenna Southeast senior Preston Bello in the 285-pound championship bout, clinching Greenmen’s title with 315.5 points.
“I was just happy we were able to wrestle as a team and compete for a title,” said Coach Jeremy Johnson. “It took all 14 guys to make it happen and I was just happy with the end result.”
Entering the 285-pound championship match, Copley had already lost 4-2 to Bello in the second round of the pool-style bracket. Johnson acknowledged that the Greenmen senior was unaware his match would decide the tournament champions, but he earned redemption to become the fifth individual Aurora champion of the tournament.
“He was able to come out on top at the right moment,” the second-year coach said. “I think it was just important for him to cap off a great weekend for him individually and when you throw the team title in there, I think it is even more special for him.”
Copley finished his tournament run with a 4-1 record, beginning with a pin against Crestwood senior Blake Baumgardner with 47 seconds remaining in the first period in his first match, but was then defeated by Bello 4-2 in the second match.
He rebounded by beating Rootstown senior Tony Karp 11-8 in his third match to earn a berth to the championship bracket and advanced to the first-place match when he pinned senior William Nienhius with 1:17 remaining in the first period of the semifinal and concluded his tournament by beating Bello in the championship.
Junior Johnny Green earned his second individual championship of the season when he won the 113-pound bracket with a 5-0 record.
“Johnny wrestled well,” Johnson said. “He wrestled within himself and really focused on wrestling in his positions and he was able to come out on top across the board.”
Green pinned Kent Roosevelt freshman Carter Fertig with 46 seconds left in the first period of his first match, then pinned Rootstown’s Tyler Davis with 1:17 remaining in the first period of his second match.
The Aurora junior advanced to the championship bracket by defeating Garfield freshman Luke Kauffman by a 17-2 technical fall. Green earned a championship berth by pinning Streetsboro freshman Tobyas Boyett at the 19 second mark of the first period of the semifinal match then pinned Rovers’ sophomore Alex Ely with 32 seconds left in the first period to become the 113-pound champion.
Sophomore Nicholas Turba won his first championship of the season by going 4-0 in the 120-pound bracket.
“I am just really happy for Nick because he won a lot of close matches to get to the final round and he was able to win head-to-head against Rootstown which ultimately came down to one of the factors of us winning that tournament,” Johnson said.
The Greenmen sophomore earned a bye in the first round and advanced to the third round when he pinned Garfield’s Max Mormile with 10 seconds left in the first period of the second round and clinched a spot in the championship bracket by beating Rockets’ sophomore Matt Klimak 4-3.
In the semifinal, Turba edged Ravenna Southeast sophomore Dominic Kemble 5-3 to advance to the championship and pinned senior Will McEwuen of Roostown with 46 seconds remaining in the second period to capture the championship.
Aurora continued dominating the lightweights when sophomore Micahel Kennedy dominated the 132-pound bracket by going 5-0.
“I believe Michael had bonus points all throughout the tournament which was awesome for him that he was able to help the team out,” noted Johnson.
The Greenmen sophomore pinned senior Vince D’Amico from Garfield with 29 seconds remaining in the first period in the first round, pined Ravenna sophomore Ryder Denning at the 55 second mark of the first period and advanced to the championship bracket by pinning Waterloo junior Bradyn Robinson with 32 seconds left in the first period of his third round match.
Kennedy qualified for the championship match by pinning Rockets’ sophomore Jacob Joltin with 25 seconds remaining in the first period in his semifinal bout and claimed the 132-pound title when he overpowered Field’s Joe D’Amico 17-1.
Aurora’s final champion came in the 190-pound bracket when junior Austin Grossman took the title by going 5-0.
“I keep saying every week that week in and week out Austin is getting better week-by-week and I am just happy to see him put things together,” Johnson said. “He lost a very tough close match to a kid from Walsh Jesuit the night before and he was able to respond and come out on top.”
Grossman pinned Pirates’ sophomore Landon Durstine with 1:00 remaining in the first period of the first round, pinned freshman Nate Estep from Streetsboro at the 35 second mark of the first period in the second round and qualified for the championship bracket when he defeated Mogadore sophomore Dylan Bendum 12-4.
In the semifinal bout, the Aurora senior pinned Falcons’ sophomore Daniel Hudson with 15 seconds left in the second period and won his championship bout against Ravens’ senior David Davis, pinning him at the 35 second mark of the first period.
In addition to their five champions, the Greenmen also crowned three runners-up in junior 106-pounder Luke Green, sophomore 150-pounder Drake Brasiel and junior 165-pounder Cole Walton.
Aurora will hit the road and compete in the Top Gun Invitational at Alliance High School beginning on Friday at 9:30 a.m.
