Tecumseh ready for Clark County Clash
The Tecumseh wrestling team always looks forward to competing in the Clark County Clash.
That makes today even more special.
The Arrows will host the county tournament starting at 10 a.m., looking to not only defend their turf but their crown.
“The kids look forward to this,” Tecumseh coach Scott Herbert said. “They know a lot of the kids they are wrestling against and there is a lot of pride there.
“For us, it is kind of nice being at home because we don’t have many home matches so it is a nice way for us to be able to showcase our kids to the community a little bit.”
Tecumseh had four county champs last year at Springfield High School. Northeastern finished second.
The Arrows return champs Cyle Wells, Alec Hall, Tommy Rowe and Joe Campbell. Hunter Donnan and Jason Brewer placed second last year as JV wrestlers. Both are now varsity wrestlers.
“I think we’ve got one of the larger teams,” Herbert said. “We are loaded 113-160.”
In all, 12 of the 14 champs are back to defend, including Springfield state placer Joe Cochran and Kenton Ridge state qualifier Bryce Davis.
“It is a small tournament with number of teams, but Springfield has two hammers in the upper weights (Cochran and Jacob Yost), Southeastern and Northwestern both have some pretty good kids,” Herbert said. “The middle weights is where it is happening this year.”
“Even though it is a small tournament, it is strong this year,” he added. “The numbers seem up for everyone, but I think we’ve got a good chance of winning it.”
Making noise: Miami East continued to get attention at the Medina Invitational Tournament over the holidays.
The Vikings were the top Division III team in the field, finishing sixth with 123.5 points. Nationally ranked Detroit Central Catholic claimed the title.
Miami East, which just missed a top-five finish, had one champ, a runner-up and three other placers.
Graham Shore claimed his second consecutive title, cruising at 120 with two falls, two majors and a technical fall. Alex Isbrandt was second at 138, suffering his first loss of the season in the finals to Ohio Mr. Football Luke Baughman of Wadsworth in the finals. Zane Strubler was fifth at 145, Brenden Dalton was seventh at 220 and Olivia Shore improved to 14-4 with an eighth-place finish at 106.
Beavercreek’s Gavin Bell bounced back from a 5-2 loss in the quarterfinals to Isbrandt to finish fifth while Kyah Patrick was seventh at 113 for the Beavers.
Fairmont’s Nevan Snodgrass placed fifth at 160.
Starting with a bang: Northwestern and Southeastern each got the season off to fast starts at the Xenia Invitational last month.
Northwestern won the title with 213 points while Southeastern was edged out for second by 3.5 points by Celina (177.5-174).
Northwestern’s Jacob Lees was first at 138 while Michael Moresh (106) and Greg Snyder (285) each finished second.
Southeastern had more champs than Northwestern with Lane McCombs winning at 126 and Jesse Mitchell tops at 160.
Duke McCombs (113) and Hayden McKee (220) were second for Southeastern.
On deck: In addition to the Clark County Clash, the Valley View Invitational and Ron Masanek Invitationals are this weekend.
Graham, the third-ranked team in the nation, is the defending champ at Valley View. The Falcons will compete at the DCC Super Duals at Detroit Central Catholic on Jan. 13.
The Falcons will face nationally ranked DCC as well as other ranked teams in the dual tournament.
Fairfield continues to revitalize the Ron Masanek Invitational. The two-day event features some of the top teams in Cincinnati as well as teams from Indiana and Tennessee.