G-Men spring five district qualifiers, crown two champions
It may have been one of the biggest Ohio High School Athletic Association Division III sectional meets that the Garfield G-Men wrestling team had competed in a while but that did not stop them from finishing as the runners-up by scoring 161.0 points. In addition to finishing in second place as a team, the G-Men qualified five to the district meet with three others finishing as district alternates last Saturday at Berkshire High School in Burton.
Out of the 12 wresters Garfield brought to the sectional meet, four appeared in the championship bouts and 190-pound senior Keegan Sell and 106-pound sophomore Camron Lewicki each clinched sectional titles.
“As we go into that postseason you have to be on your “A” game,” said Coach Dan Andel. “Out of the 16 teams we finished in second place behind Perry which was a strong finish for us considering the teams and the brackets were pretty full.”
The G-Men will fight for berths to the Division III state meet when they compete in the Division III Independence District meet at Independence High School beginning on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m.
Wrestling in one of the deepest weight classes in Division III, Lewicki went 4-0 to win his first career sectional title in the 106-pound bracket.
Lewicki advanced to the quarterfinal match when he pinned Berkshire freshman Logan Wolford with 57 seconds remaining in the first period, dominated freshman Caleb Marrison from Pymatuning Valley to win by an 8-0 major decision and earned a championship berth when he defeated Fairless freshman Logan Slatzler 5-0 in the semifinal to secure an automatic bid to the district meet for the second straight season.
Lewicki overpowered Brookfield sophomore Brayden Reed in the final, winning by an 8-0 major decision.
“Brayden Reed is a solid wrestler, and he was coming after Camron trying to get that win because they have wrestled several times this season and last season due to our schedules,” noted the eight-year coach. “He was coming after Camron, but Camron wrestled smart and did a very good job at stopping Brayden’s offense and scoring from his mistakes instead of trying to push the tempo and make a mistake.”
Garfield’s other champion was reigning the Division III 190-pound state champion Keegan, who captured his fourth consecutive district berth by going 4-0.
In his first match, Keegan pinned Grand Valley sophomore Hunter Maruno with 1:15 remaining in the first period to advance to the quarterfinal.
Keegan’s first victory marked his 150th career victory, making him only the 28th wrestler in Portage County to do so and the third wrestler in school history to achieve that feat.
He then clinched a semifinal berth when he pinned freshman Daniel O’Neil from Fairview with 1:06 left in the first period and became a district qualifier when he pinned Ravenna Southeast sophomore Landon Durstin with 1:05 left in the first period.
The Grand Valley State University commit once again became a sectional champion when he pinned sophomore Trent Taylor from Perry with 28 seconds remaining in the second period.
“He is an intimidating wrestler for his opponent because he is a returning state champion and he has had success as a freshman, sophomore, junior and he is now a senior so if you combine that with his experience and success, he is just tough to deal with,” Andel said. “I think everybody soon realizes that when they get on the mat with him, so I look for him to continue with this momentum through the state tournament.”
120-pound freshman Logan Sell was Garfield’s third district qualifier, finishing in fourth place with a 3-2 record followed by freshman 126-pounder Landon Andel, who clinched his first career district berth by going 3-1 to take second place and 132-pound senior Vince D’Amico secured a district bid by posting a 3-1 record to take second place.
With only two upperclassmen advancing to the district meet, Coach Andel acknowledged his squad will have its work cut out for them competing in one of the largest Division III district meets in recent memory.
“This year it seems like the brackets were really full and we had a really full tournament with a lot of wrestling and the more kids at the sectional tournament, the more quality of wrestling you will have at the district tournament,” he added. “With Perry being in our district now, with Lake Catholic, and there are a couple of other schools like Waynedale and Rootstown. Our Northeast district in my opinion is probably the toughest district in the state.”
Despite the challenges that await Garfield in the Division III Independence district, Coach Andel said if the G-Men wrestlers can earn a state berth out of that district, they will put themselves in excellent position for the state meet.
