The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Pioneers, Middies advance in team duals
Two local powers to meet in regional semifinal next week
Top-seeded Elyria only had to take care of one opponent Wednesday in the regional quarterfinal round of the Division I state dual meet tournament.
Third-seeded Midview, however, had to get through two, including second-seeded Fremont Ross.
But when the dust settled Wednesday, there will be AllLorain County matchup in one of the Division I regional semifinals at 5 p.m. Jan. 31 at Elyria High School with the host Pioneers taking on the rival Middies.
To get there, Elyria defeated fourth-seeded Ashland, 52-16, while Midview scored a mild 42-31 upset over the Little Giants after dominating sixthseeded Mansfield Madison, 71-9.
In the other early matchups Wednesday, Fremont Ross defeated seventh-seeded Lorain, 49-22, while Ashland defeated fifth-seeded Avon, 41-22.
The other regional semifinal Feb. 3 will be Oregon Clay against Findlay. The winner of that match will meet the
Elyria-Midview winner with a berth in the Division I state dual meet tournament at Ohio State’s St. John Arena at stake.
“Midview’s back and they’re working hard,” Elyria coach Erik Burnett said. “I can’t speak for them but they are in a great position right now. This is great for Lorain County and it’s just awesome.
“Our programs do a lot of work together and we respect each other a lot. We’re looking forward to a good match.”
The Pioneers came out dominant against Ashland, winning the first five matches to take a 25-0 lead. Colin Noel (106) opened with a 10-4 win, followed by pins by Dylan Shawver (113), Brandon Fenton (120), Josh Breeding (132) and a 15-3 major decision from Mick Burnett (126).
After Matt Zuckerman dropped the 138 match by 12-2 major decision, the Pioneers reeled off six straight victories to put the dual away. Freshman Jake Evans (170) and junior Andrew Levis (195) earned pinfalls during that clinching stretch that gave Elyria a 52-4 lead.
“It goes fast,” said the senior Breeding, who pinned Jake Visintine in 1:42. “Everyone tells me to enjoy the time I’ve got because it does go fast. It was good to go out there on our home mat and get a pin for the team and hopefully we can keep this momentum going next Wednesday and get back to the state tournament (for the fourth straight year).
“We came out ready. Burney always tells us to never underestimate any team and never act like we’re the better team. We always have to treat our opponents with respect and I think we did that. It showed with our bottom half with the way we came out and took care of business.”
Burnett said he stresses for his kids to pick up bonus points in duals, which means wins by major decision, technical fall or pin. Only three of the Pioneers wins came by regular decision.
“You gotta get bonus points,” he said. “There’s an even number of matches in a dual meet — 14 — so there’s a good chance you each wind up with seven wins. The team that gets the most amount of bonus points wins, so you’ve always got to be hungry for bonus out there on the mat.
“It was good that our guys were looking for that and getting their combinations together to score those big points. We’ll keep working and we’ll hopefully keep that trend going.”
Midview had to sweat out its quarterfinal victory over Fremont Ross, clinging to a 36-31 lead heading into the final heavyweight bout. But sophomore Daniel Bucknavich put the concerns to bed with a pinfall in 1:47 over Mike Thomas.
“It was exciting because I knew we needed this for our confidence,” Bucknavich said. “We just lost a very close match to Olmsted Falls in (the Southwestern) Conference so we wanted to get back on the winning track. I was nervous going out there, but I knew all I had to do was avoid the pin and we’d get the ‘W.’
“This is the farthest we’ve ever gone, and we believe we can go farther.”
Bucknavich, who also had a forfeit win over Madison in the opener, played a key role in the Middies’ 2-0 day. But they were also helped by their lightweight wrestlers Jameson Shenberger (106), Avery Snyder (113) and Zak Anderson (120), who each went 2-0 to help Midview open up big leads to start both duals.
“Daniel sealed the win and we’re very satisfied with the guys and how they performed overall,” Midview coach Shawn Bristow said. “We’ve been stressing about bonus points with falls and majors, and the guys fought a lot harder from their backs and from different positions.
“The overall result is that we’re really proud of the guys. This is the farthest that we’ve been so that that’s good news and more mat work to prepare for the postseason.”