The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Elyria is state duals runner-up
Victory in heavyweight match gives Division I title to St. Edward
COLUMBUS >> For the second straight year, Elyria dominated the GCC tournament. For the second straight year, Elyria ran through its regional en route to a berth in the Division I state duals tournament.
And for the second straight year, Elyria’s season ended with coach Erik Burnett addressing his team in the stairwell outside exit 12A in St. John’s Arena.
A year after falling in a state semifinal to La Salle, the Pioneers lost, 36-30, to St. Edward in the state final. Zakary Taylor pinned Elyria’s Alexander Lowery in the second period of their heavyweight match to clinch the victory for St. Edward.
“It’s one of those things where you want to come in and have guys put on a good show, and they did,” Burnett said. “It was what it was. It was exciting.”
The Pioneers were staked to a 7-0 lead after Colin Noel (106) and Peyton Fenton (113) opened with back-to-back wins. After a St. Edward win at 120 pounds, the Pioneers won three straight matches on wins from Dylan Shawver (126), Nate Burnett (132) and Mick Burnett (138) to take a 20-3 lead.
The wins were the final dual meet wins for seniors Shawver and Mick Burnett, both of whom will be leaving Elyria’s program with 19 career state dual meet wins.
“I couldn’t ask for anything more out of them,” Erik Burnett said of his seniors. “They’ve been positive teammates and have helped out the team. They’ve done it all. They’re special.”
Things began to unravel for Elyria after Mick Burnett’s win, as St. Edward picked up four straight wins to take a 24-20 lead. The Pioneers managed to get the lead back, however, on a pin from Jake Evans (182) and a major decision victory from Ben Doehr (192). After St. Edward’s Nickolas Lisco defeated
Gage Steffe with a pin, the teams entered the heavyweight match tied at 30-30, setting up Taylor’s heroics.
“We had a couple matches we thought we were going to win, but we didn’t,” Mick Burnett said. “It never really comes down to the heavyweight. It comes down to the mistakes we made in our matches of not getting enough bonus points. It’s never fully on one guy, it’s a team thing.”
Erik Burnett agreed that part of the reason for the loss came down to a lack of bonus points.
“They did a better job of getting bonus,” Erik Burnett said of St. Edward. “That’s it in a nut shell.”
After the match, Erik Burnett went through and consoled each of the Pioneers, many of whom still seemed to be processing the loss. While Burnett knows the loss stings for his team, he also knows that his team still has the state individual tournament to look forward to.
“Of course you want to win,” Burnett said. “But we go back in the room and we’re going to talk about why we didn’t win. It’s right there if we watch the film; it’ll be easy to see why they won and we lost. Hopefully we have a captive audience tomorrow. If losing doesn’t teach you in this sport I don’t know what does.”
After finishing his interviews with the media, Burnett walked out of St. John arena into the cold Columbus air and onto the team bus bound for Elyria. On Feb. 17, he’ll gather his team in Elyria’s wrestling room to decompress on the loss while also preparing for the sectional tournament. And once the Pioneers’ season is over, he’ll start again thinking about how he can help bring Elyria its first state title since 1973.
“Losing is the best teacher,” Burnett said. “We’ve got to help the kids figure out what they need to work on, and I think they will. I don’t like to see all the frowny faces. They worked hard today. If they’re sad then we need to remember what we need to work on the next time we come in the room.”