Crestwood Red Devils’ junior Rocco Wrobel’s long-awaited state debut delivered, as he recorded a 2-3 record to finish in sixth place in the 126-pound bracket of the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division III state meet last weekend at The Ohio State University’s Schottenstein Center in Columbus.
“After last year, it is a great honor to come down here and wrestle and get to the podium,” Wrobel said. “It did not end the way I wanted it to in the last few matches. I still have another year, so we are going to train harder and have no mistakes and try to get to the finals next year.”
It marks the second time in the last three years that a Wrobel had earned a state placement in the 126-pound bracket, as the Crestwood junior followed in his older cousin J.P.’s footsteps, who captured fifth place in the 126-pound weight class at the 2024 OHSAA Division III state meet.
For Wrobel, it was all about making up for lost time as he missed out on competing in the postseason in his sophomore season falling ill the week of the OHSAA Division III Rootstown sectional tournament.
“This was the goal, to come back and shock everyone,” Wrobel said.
On Friday, Wrobel delivered a signature victory in his first career state dual, as he survived a wild final two periods to claim a 12-11 decision over junior Cole Weekley from Bridgeport.
After mounting a 7-1 lead in the first period, Wrobel’s lead evaporated as Weekley engineered a seven-point swing, scoring on a takedown and then recording a near fall. Wrobel fell behind 8-7 when was assessed a technical violation for stalling but battled back in the third period to win by a 12-11 margin.
Wrobel acknowledged that Weekley caught him by surprise.
“I should have been a little more ready,” he said. “I got a little too excited and he got my legs, and he ended up taking an 8-7 lead.”
On Saturday, Wrobel returned to the mat and defeated West Liberty-Salem senior Sam Merriman by a 14-7 major decision, earning a state placement and vaulting into the semifinal round.
After building a big lead after the first two periods by going ahead 12-0, Wrobel maintained his advantage in the third period, surviving a rally by Merriman to qualify for the semifinal.
According to Wrobel, he took what he learned from his first-round bout and avoided making the same mistakes.
“I listened to my coaches,” he said. “I stayed low and didn’t make any mistakes like I did on Friday and just kept going on the offensive.”
Later in the evening, Wrobel’s bid for a championship berth came up short as he was pinned by senior Tyler Barnes from Delta with 34 seconds remaining in the second period.
On Sunday, Wrobel fell 3-2 in an ultimate tiebreaker overtime match against Miami East sophomore Lucas Shore in the consolation semifinal.
Each wrestler only scored only one point on an escape in regulation, and neither could score in the one-minute sudden victory overtime round, sending the match into two 30 second periods, with each wrestler having 30 seconds to escape from a bottom position and attempt to score additional points.
Wrobel and Shore each recorded an escape, making the score 2-2 and sending the match into the ultimate tiebreaker round, where Wrobel had 30 seconds to escape from the bottom and if he failed to do so, Shore would be awarded the decisive point.
Wrobel could not break free of Shore’s grasp in the final 30 seconds, losing 3-2 and falling into the fifth-place championship match.
In the final match, Wrobel was handed his third straight loss of the tournament, losing to Chippewa sophomore Grady Lambdin, a re-match of his semifinal bout from the Independence district, when Wrobel scored five points in the final second to clinch his state berth.
This time, Wrobel could not execute any big moves, only scoring two points on a late reversal.
“I will see him again next year and hopefully we can turn it back to the first time,” Wrobel noted.
While Wrobel’s state debut ended with him losing three consecutive matches to settle for sixth place, he is prepared to build off a historic season and not only return to the state meet but also provide valuable insight to his teammates on what it takes to become a state qualifier, along with his teammate junior Tye Berquist, who went 2-3 to take sixth place in the 175-pound weight class.
“We had fun down here and we are going to try and lead more people down here, so we have a better chance as a team here at the state tournament,” he said.
