The Garfield G-Men may still be finding their footing in the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference but have certainly left their mark in wrestling. The G-Men snagged their third MVAC team wrestling title in four years by crowning six champions last Saturday at Waterloo High School.
“We did fairly well,” said Coach Dan Andel. “We were missing our 138-pounder and our 165-pounder due to injury, so I was a little skeptical going into the tournament but those who were there performed really well. It is hard to compete with us when have six kids in the finals and then winning the finals.”
Garfield had nine wrestlers compete for championships and six came away with conference titles in round robin brackets, including Division III 190-pound state champion Keegan Sell, who finished the regular season with his fourth consecutive MVAC title.
Competing in the 215-pound bracket, the Grand Valley State University commit went 5-0 en route to finishing as a four-time conference champion. Sell pinned Liberty’s Camden Lance with 1:32 remaining in the first period of his first match, then pinned Angelo Sorvillo of Liberty at the 1:40 mark of the first period, pinned Jackson-Milton’s Dom Porter with 59 seconds remaining in the first period and pinned Rich Blake from Brookfield with 1:48 left in the first period.
Sell wrapped up the 215-pound title when he pinned Berlin Western Reserve’s Hunter Taylor with 59 seconds left in the first period.
“He is the guy to try and beat and if he is on his “A” game, I am not sure there is anyone that will beat him,” said the eight-year coach. “I think he has really proved himself to be consistent this year and he has had just one loss and it was to a kid that placed third at the Iron Man who was ranked nationally, so we will not see that kid in our division.”
Senior Deacon Sommer joined Sell as the only senior champions when he snagged an individual title in the 144-pound bracket with a 4-0 record.
Sommer pinned Crestview’s Cory Chelbus with 16 seconds remaining in his first match, then pinned Noah Popson from Jackson-Milton with 1:21 left in the second period of his second and pinned Ravenna Southeast’s Lucas Willitt with 1:06 remaining in the third period.
Sommer claimed the title when he defeated Brock Piatt from Jackson-Milton 6-4.
“That was long overdue for Deacon,” Andel noted. “He has turned a corner this season and I was just happy for him. He had some tough matches, but he was able to make it through the tournament without making any mistakes.”
Junior Kaleb Lewicki went 3-0 on the day to claim the 150-pound title.
Kaleb pinned Austin Hurst of Waterloo with 47 seconds remaining in the first period of his first bout, then pinned Liberty’s Terrill Blackshear with seven seconds remaining in the second period and captured his title when he pinned Kade Morgan from Jackson-Milton with 58 seconds left in the first period.
“When he is wrestling, he is tough to compete with and he got paired up with the right kids and found his way in the finals and won the tournament so I was happy for them,” Andel said.
The G-Men’s underclassmen also performed well with three freshman winning titles, starting with 106-pounder Camron Lewicki who went 4-0.
Camron defeated Shakir Thomas from Liberty 5-0 in his first match, then pinned Ravenna Southeast’s Braeden Martin with 13 seconds remaining in the second period and pinned Dublin Porter from Waterloo with 14 seconds left in the second period.
Camron earned his first MVAC wrestling title when he defeated Brookfield’s Brayden Reed 3-2.
113-pounder Luke Kaufman won his first MVAC title by going 3-1.
Kaufman pinned freshman teammate Griffin Kline with 1:42 left in the second period of his first match, then pinned Jackson Milton’s Owen Stanke with 1:28 remaining in the first period but was pinned by Ravenna Southeast’s Cameron Dye at the 1:14 mark of the first period but rebounded by pinning Shade Stevens at the 59 second mark of the third period in the championship match.
Finally, Landon Andel was Garfield’s final champion by going 3-0.
Landon defeated Trey Follen from Ravenna Southeast 10-3 in the first match, outlasted Waterloo’s Rex Fryer 5-2 in the second match and dominated Caden Allen from Jackson Milton by a 17-2 major decision to win the title.
Senior Aiden Kissel was the runner-up in the 190-pound bracket by going 2-1, junior Tyler Howerton placed second in the 120-bracket with a 3-1 record and freshman Logan Sell took second in the 120-pound bracket with a 2-1 record.
The G-Men will now prepare for the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division III postseason and will compete at the Berkshire sectional in Burton on Feb. 24 beginning at 10 a.m.
