Huber Heights

The Wayne wrestling team traveled to Greene county for the Warrior Duals.  Huh?  Due to construction at the high school, Waynes annual dual tournament was moved to Baker Jr high.  For those who don't know how a Dual Invitational works let me explain.  There are 10 teams that are divided into 2 pools of 5 teams, Pool A, and Pool B.  Wayne was placed into Pool A along with Trotwood, Van Wert, Middletown, and a B-Team made up of extra wrestlers from all 10 teams.

So let me paint the picture for you.  Small gym, amazing crowd noise, and old school-everyone-crowded-around-the-mats-elbow-to-elbow-standing room only tournament.  Let's get started.

Wayne 63 B-Team 9

The Warrior wrestling team started their pool play against the B-Team.  Although they put their best effort forward, it was no match for the strength, conditioning and technique displayed by Waynes wrestlers.  on their way to the first dual victory of the tournament, the Warriors won 11 of the 13 matches. 6 by pin; Brendan Gibson (112), Marcus Windsor (119), Joseph Miller (135), Michael Ross (145), Ronnie Caudill (160), and Ryan (171).  Others winning their match are Sarah Allen (103), Daniel McCaslin (125), Stephen (140), Jarrod Hardrick (189), and Senior Josh Atkins (215). 

Wayne 51 Trotwood 21

The second match of the day was a little tougher with Trotwood winning 4 matches, one by way of forfeit.  However the Warriors won the other 10 matches including a 1 minute pin by Joseph Miller (140), a 2 minute pin by Michael "I'd rather throw you than know you" Ross, and a 3 minute pin by Jarrod Hardrick (189). Others victorious wrestlers include Brendan Gibson (103), Sarah Allen (112), Marcus Windsor (119), Stephen (135), Ronnie "Red Bull" Caudill (160), Josh Atkins (215), and Clarence Hancock (285).

Wayne 33 Middletown 39

In the most exciting match of the tournament, Wayne faced an equally talented Middletown team.  It started off with the Warriors losing the first 3 matches at the 152, 160, and 171 pound weight classes.  The Middies jumped out to a 15-0 lead.  Add in the fact that both teams fans are elbow to elbow with each other, and Middletown is loud as ever.  Wayne needed some type of spark , and found it when Jarrod Hardrick (189) imposed his will on his opponent beating him 15-0.  The senior Josh Atkins (215) was next, and pinned his opponent at the :39 second mark of period number 2.  Now the score is 15-11 Middies, and the Wayne fans are starting to show their spirit.  Then Clarence Hancock steps onto the mat. Now, if you don't know Clarence story here it is.  Wayne doesn't have a heavyweight (285), so instead of forfeiting that weight class and giving the opponent 6 points Hancock takes on the challenge weighing the bare minimum allowed 215 pounds.  If you know the sport of wrestling, 2 or 3 pounds is a lot of weight to give up in a match.  Clarence is being outweighed by 50 to 70 pounds each and every match!  So what does Hancock do?  He goes out there and PINS his opponent in the second period.  This gives the Warriors the lead at 17-15.  After the match I talked to Clarence to see how he is able to stay competitive with such a big weight difference?  He said "When you wrestle everyday with Coach Padilla and Coach Bitsko (both outstanding high school wrestlers in their day), those other guys don't seem so tough."  It's no secret the Warriors light weights have racked up a pretty good amount of points in previous duals.  They didn't stop their winning ways, and continued to roll with victories by Brendan Gibson (103), Sarah Allen (112), Marcus Windsor (119), and Daniel McCaslin (125).  This put Wayne up 33-15.  Middletown received 6 more team points because of a forfeit in the 130 pound weight class, and cut the margin to 12 points.  Then like a bad dream the worst possible scenario played out. The Middies won the next 2 matches by pin gaining 12 more team points.  If your keeping score it is now 33-33, and the momentum had shifted.  This sets up the last match at 145 pounds.  Winner takes Pool A and will wrestle for the Championship.  Now at this point I would love to finish this article by saying Wayne won, but it wasn't so.  After a hard fought battle, the Middies pulled off the victory by pin in the closing seconds of the match.  Thus ending the Warriors quest to be Champions of their own tournament.

Wayne 51 Van Wert 27

In wrestling your memory has to be short.  You can't linger on past losses, and that's just what Wayne did.  Putting their disappointing loss behind them they went out and gave Van Wert all they could handle. The light weights started it off this time with 4 straight wins including a 47 second pin by Marcus "The Piranha" Windsor (119).  That was followed by another win by Joseph Miller (135), and 3 pins in a row by Tyler Goudy (160), Ronnie Caudill (171), and Jarrod Hardrick (189).  Josh Atkins (215) also received a win by forfeit.

Wayne 50 Northmont 23

For those of you who have read my past articles, it's no secret that Wayne and Northmont aren't to fond of each other.  For those who haven't read it, now would be a good time to pause and read the previous article in it's entirety.  Although Wayne couldn't wrestle for the championship, once they found out that Northmont was going to be the team from Pool B they would face in the 3rd place match you could see the energy starting to build.  However, unlike the dual match in January it wouldn't be that close.  Once again Wayne would take the thunder out of the bolts.  Sarah Allen started the points rolling with a forfeit by Northmont at the 103 pound weight class.  After a tough loss at 112 pounds, Daniel "Eskimo" McCaslin (119) gained 4 more team points with a 20-7 thumping of his opponent.  Marcus Windsor who usually wrestles 112 or 119 jumped up to the 125 pound match and pinned his adversary in 1:30 of the 1st period.  Joey Miller (135) won by pin as well in the 1st period.  Tyler Goudy added 4 more team points with a major decision at the 160 pound weight class.  Wayne gained 6 more team points in an exciting pin by Jarrod Hardrick (189) over Paul Winkler who is a OHSAA State qualifier from last year, and currently ranked #12 in the state!  After the last two weight classes being forfeited by northmont Wayne went on to victory and solidified a 3rd place finish.  Congratulations. 

Next up for Wayne is the Eaton Invitational Tournament.  Good Luck Warriors.

February 16 2011 | 6832 comments