Bay finishes close second at GLC tournament

Bay needed a miracle if it was going to capture another Great Lakes Conference championship. The Rockets almost got it.

Trailing by 17.50 points heading into the last three matches, Bay got pins by Matthew Cover (195) and Klevin Mici (220). Though Brendan Odoherty (285) won his match by decision, it wasn’t enough as the Rockets finished second in the Great Lakes Conference tournament Feb. 10. Host Parma won the championship with 206.5.

“I was happy with the way some of the kids wrestled,” Bay coach Ryan Cover said. “But some of our young guys didn’t wrestle as well …. I think this will help us to work harder because we see what we need to work on.

“We fully thought we had what it took to win. We’re disappointed, but that will light a fire under the guys, I hope.”

Trailing as the meet went into the 195-pound class, Matthew Cover became a three-time champion as he pinned Rocky River’s Tommy Koch in 1:22. Though he had thoughts of what it might be like being a three-time champ, Cover was all business when he stepped onto the mat.

“It makes me feel pretty good,” Cover said. “There’s a lot of hard work which went into it. It (the thought of being a threetime champ) was there before the match and after the match. But when I was wrestling, I just put that out of my head.”

Mici, who is a sophomore, pinned Parma’s Jacob Woldarek in 1:28 to give the Rockets a slim chance of winning the conference championship.

The finals almost represented a dual meet between Parma and Bay as they had six match-ups in the finals. The final one determined the championship.

Odoherty scored a takedown on Parma’s Ryan Madison and got two-near falls points, but couldn’t get Madison over on his back for the fall.

He got close in the third period of getting Madison on his back, but Madison held off the challenge to help Parma clinch the championship.

Bay got off to a strong start in the finals with Stephen Tepper (106) and Connor McCarty (113) each becoming two-time champions.

Tepper scored a 4-0 decision over Rocky River’s Matt Williams, while McCarty pinned Holy Name’s Matthew Hatgas in 1:16 to claim his.

“It felt good,” Tepper said. “I worked hard all season to get here. … I knew he (Williams) was strong so I had to keep going. (After the match) I was thinking I’m a two-time champ and that was a good win for our team.”

Bay had seven champions overall.

Freshman Mason Cover (138) battled back from a 2-0 deficit to tie it and force overtime. In the overtime, Cover and Parma’s Kyle Weinschreider set up in the neutral position. After the whistle, Cover caught Weinschreider off-guard and scored the takedown to win his first conference championship.

Dillon Barry (160) rounded out the Rockets’ championship as he scored a 6-4 decision over Parma’s Gavin Ziol.

Elyria Catholic’s Stephen Ferguson (132) reached the finals, but was unable to compete in the match and forfeited.