The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Bay soars to strong start to season
Claims first tourney title in coach’s tenure
The Bay Rockets entered the 2017-18 season as a young team. But even their youth hasn’t hindered them early on.
For the first time in coach Ryan Cover’s nine-year career at Bay, the Rockets claimed a tournament title, in the opening week at the Knights of Columbus at Avon Lake.
It was a signature moment for the program, after numerous runner-up finishes in the past.
And it was also a monkey off Cover’s back.
“We’ve had half-point losses, one-point losses, I’ve got a whole case of second-place trophies,” Cover said. “I have to be honest, I didn’t expect it at all. My youngest boy told me all week long that you guys were going to win this tournament. I kind of laughed at it, but the kids showed up and wrestled well.”
Bay followed that up with a strong showing at the North Coast Classic, placing 12th out of 34 teams. Junior Matthew Cover (195) has been as dominant of a wrestler as there has been in The Morning Journal coverage area.
Matthew Cover is 13-0 with 11 pins and won titles at both of the aforementioned tournaments. The returning state qualifier has come back with a vengeance after going two-and-out in Colum-
“My youngest boy told me all week long that you guys were going to win this tournament. I kind of laughed at it, but the kids showed up and wrestled well.” — Bay wrestling coach Ryan Cover
bus last March, losing both matches by one point.
“He’s right where I thought he would be,” Ryan Cover said. “He had a real disappointing end to the season last year, but then in the spring he went into another level. I don’t know if it’s because he’s gotten to the age of becoming a young man but I kind of expected this out of him.
“He worked hard all spring and summer and he’s picking up where he left off.”
The next few weeks will tell a lot, starting with the Medina Invitational on Dec. 27-28. That tournament should provide a bench mark for Matthew Cover to see how much he has improved.
But regardless of how the regular season goes for him, Coach Cover expects his son to return to Columbus and claim a state title.
“We’ve got some really good matches coming up and we’ll see where he’s at,” the coach added. “He wants to win a state title. He thinks he can do it and I think he can do it.
“Unlike last year at the state tournament — and he admits now what I knew — walking away that he kind of wrestled not to lose and because of that he lost two one-point matches. He had a real good offseason, including going to Fargo, (N.D), and now he’s gotten over that not-lose mentality and he goes out there to score and see what happens.”
Stephen Tepper (106), Connor McCarty (113), Dillon Barry (160), Klevin Mici (220) and Brendan O’Doherty (285) all have produced at least 11 wins on the season to round out the Rockets’ lineup.
Last year Bay was a Great Lakes Conference co-champion and Division II sectional runner-up. If their early season success is any indication of what’s to come, they will find themselves back in the thick of things in February.
“We’ve seen Parma, who is our main competition, at a scrimmage and they’ve got everyone back from last year,” Cover said. “Going into the season, I was a little worried about that. As the season progresses, I think we have a shot to win the conference. But the problem is we have to stay healthy because we’re not deep.
If we get one injury here or there, we have no one to fill in. Hopefully if everyone is healthy and we can get them in the right spots, we definitely can compete to win a conference and sectional title. And I think we can do well in districts. I really think I’ve got three or four guys that can get to Columbus. We have guys that have talent.”
Wrestling highlights
• Elyria traveled to the University of Delaware to compete in its secondstraight national tournament at the Beast of the East. The Pioneers placed 25th out of 120 teams. Sophomore Dylan Shawver placed seventh and became a two-time Beast of the East placer. Seniors Josh Breeding (132) and Brenon Fenton (120) went 4-2 and Jake Evans (170) went 3-2.
• Olmsted Falls, the twotime defending Southwestern Conference champion, took second place at the Olentangy Liberty Classic. The Bulldogs had three champions in Michael Shaw (106), Jihad Salti (138) and Josh Jaeckin (145). Jaden Mendeluk (195) took third.
• Midview state qualifier Seth Frambach (195) earned his 100th career win against Joey Rodriguez from Lakewood.
• Firelands competed at the Fricker’s Duals in Defiance, with teams from Michigan competing as well. Sophomore Payton Burgdorf (120) went 100, winning all by tech fall and pins. Most impressively, he bumped up two weight classes to do so. Senior Connor Eckman (113) went 10-0, and senior Sean Lipscomb (285) went 10-0, winning all matches by pins, only wrestling one match past the first period.
Reminder
Wrestling coaches are encouraged to submit wrestling records, Player of the Week nominations and any interesting tidbits about their programs to fshalhout@morningjournal.com by Mondays at 7 p.m.