Kenston plans highlight dual against Mayfield

Kenston wants to bring the excitement back to dual meets and hopes the show it’s planning for its Mayfield dual helps that cause. John Kampf also has this week’s Top of the Crop.

Mike Triscaro remembers when local dual meets were the buzz of the town.

When Triscaro and Ricky Deubel were members of the Kenston wrestling team in the early 2000s, some of the most exciting nights were the league duals with the likes of Solon and Mayfield.

With that in mind, Kenston has scheduled a dual with visiting Mayfield on Dec. 21 that Bombers head coach Deubel and assistant Triscaro hope gives the area a glimpse of what area duals once were and hopefully can be years down the road.

The Dec. 21 event will feature a hotly contested dual between the Kenston and Mayfield varsity wrestling lineups, plus youth matches and juniorhigh bouts. It will be held in Kenston’s auditorium, with enhanced lighting, hype videos and more.

“We might even bust out the fog machine,” Triscaro said with a tinge of excitement in his voice.

Triscaro said he came up with the idea for such an event while watching a dual at Cal Poly that had the same type of atmosphere.

If it can happen at the college level, Triscaro pondered, why can’t it happen at the high-school level?

“We want to bring back that rivalry we had with the Mayfields and the Solons,” Triscaro said. “When Ricky and I were wrestling in the old gym in the high school, it was packed. Kids were chanting. It was like basketball games are now — packed and heated.

“There aren’t as many duals like that anymore. So we want to make this a unique experience and bring back the rivalries like they used to be.”

The seeds of a bubbling rivalry were likely planted last season when Mayfield rallied from a 32-9 deficit, pinned five straight opponents and took home a 3332 victory over the visiting Bombers on a heavyweight pin by Kyle Ross.

“That was an awesome match,” euphoric Coach Dwight Fritz said after the match. “That’s what you live for.”

Both teams feature strong lineups from top to bottom. Mayfield returns eight starters, the top performers from a year ago being senior 152 Billy Fleming (28-21 last year), senior 195 Anthony Fornaro (23-14) and sophomore 160 Josh Appling (22-14).

The Wildcats also boast one of the top freshmen in the area in 126-pounder Tommy Ungrady.

Kenston has performed well in the early going at the Solon Comet Classic and then in a triangular with Lake Catholic and Bedford.

The Bombers are led by junior Joe Koplow (33-13 last year) and sophomore Nick Nastasi (34-6 last year).

“I’m pretty jacked up about it,” Triscaro said of the upcoming event. “I know wrestling has kind of dropped off since Ricky and I wrestled here, but we are trying to bring it back. This night is something exciting and something more intimate for the fans to enjoy.”

As well as the wrestlers involved in it.

“Both teams will enter together, we’ll have a hype video and some cool lighting and sound,” Triscaro said. “It’s going to be a fun night.”