Being without five varsity starters was not ideal for the Aurora Greenmen wrestling team as they entered the Suburban League Tournament. The Greenmen still persevered to finish in third place with 247.5 points at Medina Highland High School last Saturday.
“We are slowly starting to get back but have some injuries, sicknesses and some other things going on that caused less of our team to be in the line-up which was difficult,” acknowledged Coach Jeremy Johnson. “But the guys that had the opportunity stepped up and took advantage. There are a couple of matches that we wish went the other way but at the end of the day the Suburban League Conference is second to none. It is arguably the toughest conference tournament in the state.”
Despite missing key starters, Aurora still crowned one champion, had nine wrestlers score points and six place. The Greenmen’s lone champion was junior Cole Walton, who went 5-0 to clinch his first SLAC title in the 157-pound bracket.
“Cole made the drop to 157 pounds for this tournament,” noted the second-year coach. “Prior to that he was at 165 pounds. He wrestled great all weekend and I was very proud to see all of his efforts pay off. He had three pins and two major decisions through the whole tournament and was lights out. We are just happy to see that type of performance from him.”
The Aurora junior defeated Brecksville senior Ben Hegler by a 14-4 major decision in the first round, pinned Tallmadge’s Joseph Kanatzar with 20 seconds remaining in the first period and earned a berth in the championship bracket when he pinned senior Joshua Reed from Stow-Munroe Falls at the 58 second mark of the third period.
Walton qualified for the championship bout when he defeated Wadsworth senior Hunter Buckland by a 15-6 major decision and finished his day by pinning sophomore Tyler Rowles from North Royalton with 20 seconds remaining in the second period.
Junior 113-pounder Johnny Green also wrestled for a SLAC title and went 2-1 to finish as the runner-up.
Green only wrestled in one match before the championship bracket but overpowered Solon freshman Payton Szach by pinning him with 58 seconds left in the first period. He earned a championship berth for the second consecutive year when he pinned Stow-Munroe Falls’ freshman William McCloud at the 50 second mark of the first period.
In the championship, the West Point commit was defeated by freshman Austin Bickerton from Medina Highland 8-6.
“Wrestling Bickerton from Medina Highland was a match we wanted for a while,” said Johnson. “We wrestled him twice already and were 1-1 against him. Unfortunately it did not go our way but we are dialed in and focused on being ready for the next time.”
Sophomore Drake Brasiel also put forth a strong performance, taking third place in the 150-pound bracket.
Brasiel won his first match when he overpowered Bears’ senior Chase Mason en route to a 17-1 technical fall, then did the same against Nordonia sophomore Reginald Jefferson, winning by a 16-0 technical fall then advanced to the championship bracket when he pinned Revere junior Aidan Jones with 45 seconds remaining in the second period.
In the semifinal, Brasiel grappled against Wadsworth senior and two-time Ohio High School Athletic Association Division I state champion Jaxon Joy and lost by a 20-5 technical fall. The Greenmen’s junior rebounded in the third-place match, beating Tallmadge sophomore Ian Bee by an 11-0 major decision.
“Drake wrestled great,” Johnson said. “He made it out of his pool, and he drew Jaxon Joy, the number-one state-ranked kid from Wadsworth and if you do any research on wrestlers in the State of Ohio, you will see Jaxon Joy’s name quite a bit, so Drake had him in the semifinal and battled back in the third place match after losing to him.”
Aurora’s other wrestlers who also placed in the tournament were junior Cole Munn, who took seventh place with a 3-2 record in the 126-pound bracket, sophomore Michael Kennedy, who finished in fifth place in the 132-pound weight class by posting a 3-1 record and junior Gio Kaplan, who placed sixth by going 2-2 in the 144-pound bracket.
“It just shows that our depth and having the next man up mentality is important,” Johnson noted. “You never know when your opportunity is going to happen or you never know when your opportunity is going to fall and you are not going to get it. We talk a lot of the time in our wrestling room about not taking anything for granted and embracing opportunities week-by-week and taking advantage of them.”
After a home tri-match against Benedictine and Lake Catholic on Thursday evening, Aurora will compete in the Ohio Wrestling Coaches Association Division II North Canton Hoover District State Duals at Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School on Saturday beginning at 10 a.m.
