The Garfield G-Men may once again have been short-handed for the annual Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference wrestling tournament last Saturday at Western Reserve High School but still placed third as a team, crowning two champions and scoring 111.0 points.
“With a smaller and leaner line-up, I think we fared fairly well,” said Coach Dan Andel. “We had two champions and then multiple kids placing second and third, so I think we had a strong performance there.”
Garfield will begin play in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division III tournament when it competes at the Berkshire sectional on Saturday morning in Burton at 10 a.m.
On Saturday, since it was not a deep pool of competitors at the league tournament, each weight class operated in a pool style format, as every wrestler in their weight class faced each other and the one with the best overall record would win his respective weight class, and the second-best record would net runners-up honors and so on.
The G-Men’s first champion was senior 113-pound Camron Lewicki, who tallied a 2-0 record to defend his league title.
“I think it worked out well,” noted the 11-year coach. “It was a good reflection of his senior year. it put him in good spirits moving into the postseason and hopefully he can continue that momentum.”
Garfield’s second champion of the tournament was junior Landon Andel who posted a 4-0 record to earn the 144-pound title, repeating as a MVAC champion just a year after claiming the 138-pound crown in his sophomore season.
“I think he is sitting in a good position and has definitely developed significantly and physically in respect to his technique moving into the postseason,” Coach Andel added. “He is sitting in a really good spot and has wrestled really well this year and I think he is a top contender at the state tournament.”
Junior 138-pounder Luke Kaufman had a different experience in his weight class, as he went 2-1 to take second place.
According to Coach Andel, with there being a larger pool of wrestlers in the 138-pound weight class, it was divided into two pools, Pool “A” and Pool “B”.
After going undefeated in Pool “B”, Kaufman wrestled against the winner of Pool “A”, Southeast junior Dominic Kemble, in a championship match to determine the ultimate winner of the 138-pounders.
Kaufman fell to his Portage County rival by a score of 5-4.
After taking an early lead in the first period, Kaufman surrendered the lead in the third period when Kemble scored a decisive takedown.
Although Kaufman fell short in the championship bout, Coach Andel said that it was a match that Kaufman could look forward to seeing again as he was more than likely to cross paths with Kemble in the OHSAA Division III tournament.
“Luke was clearly the underdog in that match so that clearly reinforced him, the same thing we talked about, and he has continued to grow,” he said. “I think last year it would have been a technical fall or a major decision between the two of those and then this year he has closed the gap, that is for sure.”
Senior Carter Hoover also dazzled at the MVAC tournament, going 4-1 to take second place in the 120-pound weight class.
“Carter is actually doing really well this year,” said Coach Andel. “Carter is no stranger to the program, he did take his sophomore and junior year off, that is probably why you are not familiar with him, but I convinced him to come back his senior year and he has done really well. He has placed at just about everything that we have wrestled with an exception to some of the big tournaments like Brecksville.”
Senior 165-pound Griffin Kline took third place with a 1-2 record, junior 157-pound Cole Porter captured third place by going 2-2 in his pool and freshman Parker Hill netted third place in the 175-pound weight class by tallying a 1-2 record.
