It is almost impossible to win a conference wrestling tournament not having eligible wrestlers in three weight classes. The Streetsboro Rockets’ wrestling team almost pulled off the improbable, taking second place at the Metro Athletic Conference Tournament by crowning five champions to score 168.0 points last Saturday at Woodridge High School in Peninsula.
“We were that close,” said Coach Mark Skonieczny. “It is a great testament. We asked our guys to do some pretty difficult things and asked them to go out and get pins. Normally you are asking your guys and get wins but we were asking our guys to go and get us bonus points and pins and for the most part it was happening. I could not ask for anymore what these guys gave me yesterday.”
The Rockets and tournament champion Cloverleaf each had six wrestlers qualify for a championship bout and despite Streetsboro having five wrestlers win a title, not having a wrestler in three of the upper weights was too big of a hurdle to overcome.
“We had a nice lead going into the finals and we took care of business in the lower weights, but we just needed some help,” acknowledged the first-year coach. “We needed some of those big upper weight Cloverleaf kids to lose.”
The Rockets dominated in the lower and middle weights, having six wrestlers qualifying for a final in the first nine weight classes and five captured individual titles. Four of the five Streetsboro champions earned a first-round bye to advance into the semifinal.
Freshman Jarreau Walker returned from injury to take first place in the 106-pound bracket with a 2-0 record. He pinned Field’s Broc Sclimenti with 14 seconds remaining in the first period of the semifinal bout then pinned Gavin Genovese of Woodridge with 1:03 left in the second period to earn his first MAC title.
“Jarreau made it look simple,” said Skonieczny. “He is so smooth, so talented and so quick that he makes it look simple.”
113-pound senior Aiden Carone went 2-0 to snag his second consecutive MAC title. Carone pinned Field’s Garrett Smith with 53 seconds remaining in the first period to earn a championship berth then pinned Trevor Alford from Akron Springfield with 1:00 left in the first period.
“Aiden Carone is one of those seasoned seniors who is a been there and done that type of a guy,” Skonieczny noted. “He knew as a senior what we needed as a team for this tournament, and he did that and he went out and took care of business.”
Sophomore Anthony Sindelar won the 126-pound weight class with a 3-0 record. He pinned Ravenna’s Ryder Denning with only four seconds left in the first period of the quarterfinal then earned a championship berth when he pinned Justice Ridenour from Cloverleaf with 56 seconds left in regulation of the second period during the semifinal match.
Sindelar clinched the title when he overpowered Norton’s Michael Roberts to win by an 18-3 technical fall.
“Anthony attacked off of that whistle and controlled the tempo of the match and he set his moves up nicely and finished his moves up nicely and he built his leads,” Skoneiczny added. “If he did not pin the kid, he ended up tech falling the kid, but he also took care of business as well.”
Senior Hunter Smith earned a MAC title in the 144-pound weight bracket. The Streetsboro senior advanced to the championship when he pinned Field’s Mason Long with only 19 seconds remaining in the second period which marked his 100th career victory.
Smith capped off his big day by beating Braden Tomcik from Norton by a 3-1 decision to capture the championship.
“I tip my hat off to him,” said Skonieczny. “He was 31 matches short coming into this year and he wanted that. He works hard and he wanted that 100, this is his first time he has won this conference and Hunter Smith is getting what he deserves right now because he works extremely hard. He set his goals and is reaching his goals.”
Junior Cohen Klimak was Streetsboro’s final champion by going 2-0 to snag the 157-pound title. The junior qualified for the championship match when he pinned Norton’s Regis Vargo with 1:25 remaining in the first period of the semifinal and claimed the title when he beat Hayden Jarvis from Cloverleaf by a 2-1 decision.
“He has wrestled these guys probably six or seven times in total and they are either a one-point match or it is an overtime match every time,” Skonieczny said. “We were expecting the same kind of match and that is exactly what we got, and Cohen came out on top. If I am not mistaken, he lost last year 5-1 in the finals to Jarvis.”
Up next, the Rockets will compete in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division II sectional tournament at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School this Saturday beginning at 10 a.m.
