At the halfway point of the high school wrestling regular season, Aurora Greenmen coach Jeremy Johnson said his team can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The Greenmen crowned one conference champion en route to finishing as the runners-up by scoring 418.0 points at the Suburban League championship last Saturday at Medina Highland High School.
“It gives us a great measuring stick because a lot of these teams we are going to see at the district and state tournament so I definitely think it can impact and shape the rest of our season and gives us that little carrot to dangle,” the third-year coach said. “This is a great time to have a tournament like this because you have to be ready to go, but if you are not, you are not going to do well but I was proud of our team for being ready and stepping to the line and wrestling hard.”
For the second consecutive season, Medina Highland captured the SLAC team title, edging Aurora by 28.0 points. Despite the Hornets repeating as the SLAC champs, Aurora had three wrestlers qualify for a championship match and eight wrestlers advance to the championship brackets out of their respective pools.
The Greenmen’s lone champion was 165-pound senior Cole Walton, who defended his conference title by going 5-0.
“Hats off to Cole, he is a two-time Suburban League champ now and he went out in dominant fashion,” said Johnson. “He pinned or tech falled his whole way through the tournament and that says a lot for Cole. He was coming off of a weekend that he was not happy with last weekend, and he was able to put that behind him and focus on getting the job done this weekend.”
After going 3-0 in Pool “A” to advance to the championship bracket, the Aurora senior overpowered Revere junior Cole Gnap by pinning him with 58 seconds remaining in the first period in the semifinal bout. Walton then dominated senior Troy Myers of Wadsworth in the championship match and pinned him with 11 seconds left in the first period.
Junior 157-pounder Drake Brasiel took second place by compiling a 4-1 record.
Posting a 3-0 record out of Pool “C” to qualify for the championship brackets, Brasiel earned his finals bid by conquering Medina Highland junior Niko Giatis by pinning him with 43 seconds remaining in the third period in the semifinal match.
“Drake got right to work and was up 7-0 after the second period and ended up getting the fall and pinning him which was great for Drake’s confidence and team points sake,” Johnson said.
Brasiel was defeated by sophomore Zack Aquila from Brecksville by an 18-3 technical fall in the championship match.
Senior Cole Munn captured second place in the 132-pound bracket by going 4-1 in the tournament. The 132-pound senior earned a spot in the championship bracket by posting a 3-0 record in Pool “C”, then advanced to the championship when he defeated Kent Roosevelt senior Jeremiah Brumfield by pinning him with 1:04 left in the first period.
“I think it says a lot about the work he has been doing in our room and the confidence he is starting to have in himself, and it meant a lot and again it is just another step in the process of ultimate goals which are overall improvement,” Johnson noted.
Munn’s bid for a title ended when he lost 4-0 against senior Cayden Pluhar from Brecksville in the finals.
Junior Nick Turba took third place in the 113-pound weight class by compiling a 4-1 record. The Aurora junior earned a spot in the championship bracket by 3-0 in Pool “D” but was ousted from the semifinal when he lost to Medina Highland sophomore Brandon Bickerton by a 16-1 technical fall.
Turba rebounded by overpowering Wadsworth sophomore Tyler Brugh by an 18-1 technical fall in the consolation championship.
Senior 120-pounder Johnny Green snagged third place in his weight class with a 4-1 record. Green went 3-0 in Pool “B” to advance to the championship bracket but was defeated by sophomore Austin Bickerton of Medina Highland 8-5 but still finished strong by dominating freshman Kyle Scacuzzo from Medina Highland by a 17-1 technical fall.
“I was proud of Johnny, after taking a hard loss it was hard battling back but he came back and finished third which is the next best thing,” Johnson said.
Also placing were senior 215-pounder Michael Wise, juniors 138-pounder Grant Eaton and 144-ponder Michael Kennedy, who each finished in fourth place by recording 3-2 records and senior Matthew Copley took fifth place in the 285-pound weight class by going 3-2.
Aurora will compete at the Top Gun Invitational this weekend at Alliance High School beginning on Friday morning at 9 a.m.
