With a young team this season, the Crestwood Red Devils’ wrestling squad has relied on their underclassmen to pace them from the start. Sophomore 113-poounder Rocco Wrobel has done his part so and continued doing so when he finished with a 4-2 record to take fifth place in the 113-pound bracket at the Solon Comet Classic last weekend at Solon High School.
“It was good because what I really liked about Rocco was his day two,” said Coach Dave Wrobel. “On day one he went 1-1 and lost a match to a kid he lost to last week as well. He lost two weeks in a row and Rocco got an opportunity to wrestle him again in the fifth/sixth place match and he avenged that loss so I was really happy with that. It showed that Rocco was competing; Rocco was doing a good job and to see him pull out that match for fifth place after losing to this kid two weeks in a row was nice to see.”
After advancing to the quarterfinal on Friday, Rocco’s bid for a championship ended when Revere senior Lucca Bruno pinned him with 1:07 remaining in the third period.
Although his quest for first place ended, Rocco’s tournament was not over despite beginning Saturday in the consolation bracket.
He won his first consolation match by pinning sophomore Danek Szczepanski at the 1:43 mark of the first period and then earned a berth in the consolation semifinal when he pinned Westlake sophomore Mo Jnid with 1:11 remaining in the second period of the consolation quarterfinal bout.
According to the 25-year coach, Rocco had big leads in each of his first two consolation matches but did not settle and kept attacking his opponents, resulting in match-ending pins.
“He just smelled blood in the water and continued with his attacks and ended up getting the pin so it was nice,” Coach Wrobel added., “He got that pressure off knowing that he placed and he knew the next couple of matches would be tough matches for him and he really needed to bear down and focus and try to eliminate the mistakes.”
In a tightly contested battle against Oregon Clay senior Josh Medina, Rocco was ousted from the consolation semifinal when he was pinned with 1:01 remaining in the third period.
“He was either tied or within a point, he ended making a mistake that cost him. He finished up getting pinned, but it really was not a true indication of how competitive that match was,” Coach Wrobel noted. “Rocco has to do a better job of limiting the mistakes in that match; he will learn from it.”
Rocco still earned redemption in the fifth-place match as he dueled against Bruno for the third time in less than a week and this time won by a 4-2 decision to conclude his weekend with a fifth-place finish and the only Red Devil who placed at the Solon Comet Classic.
Coach Wrobel said that the most encouraging thing about Rocco’s start to the year has been his ability to quickly learn from his mistakes in each of the first two tournaments in which he has wrestled. His problem-solving was evident when he finally conquered Bruno the in fifth-place match.
“It was a chance to redeem himself and get that win and we are not done seeing him,” Coach Wrobel said. “We will see him in a couple of weeks again at the Kenston tournament, so it was nice to see the progress that was made. He learned from some mistakes and he was able to turn it into a win.”
Despite being a freshman last year, Rocco was still one of Crestwood’s most talented wrestlers, being one of five to advance to the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division III district tournament and ultimately finished his year as a state alternate for the Division III state tournament.
After spending a year wrestling alongside talented seniors such as J.P. Wrobel, Drake Rennecker and Gavin McIntyre, Rocco is now seen as one of the core leaders on the team and Coach Wrobel said that he is not taking that lightly.
“He acknowledged that; he knows that he was able to hide in the shadows of J.P. and the other ones last year, but this year he knows that even though he is a sophomore and a team leader, it can be a lot of pressure but he did a good job,” he noted.
Following a home tri-match against Portage County rival Ravenna Southeast and Norton on Thursday afternoon, the Red Devils will be back in action to grapple in the 59th Kenston Invitational Tournament in Bainbridge Township beginning on Friday afternoon at 12 p.m.
