The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Pirates prevail
The Perry wrestling team might have made program history Feb. 5 against visiting Mayfield.
No, the 43-26 victory over the Wildcats in and of itself wasn’t program-defining.
But HOW the Pirates did it might have been.
A program known in some circles as the “Death by Cradle” Pirates — because of its penchant for cradlemoves – Perry did not lock up one single cradle against Mayfield.
All of which got Coach Dave Rowan thinking — when’s the last time Perry wrestled a dual, tri, quad or tournament without one single cradle?
“Today,” Rowan said with a laugh. “We didn’t get one cradle today. I was kind of surprised.”
He along with anyone else in Spectator Gymnasium that generally get a steady diet of cradles at Perry matches.
But on this night, the Pirates didn’t need them.
“We worked on different things all week (in practice),” Rowan said. “That’s what you give up when you get away from something else and work on something else.
“We’ll get back to the cradles this week.”
Perry won eight of the 13 matches that were wrestled. The Pirates forfeited the 195-pound class to Mayfield.
There were armbars, half-nelsons, bundles, stack — but no cradles. But it all worked out. “They’ve been working unbelievably hard,” Rowan said of his team, which was coming off a dominating performance in the CVC tournament in which the Pirates piled up 31 pins and 62 bonus points. “Our training has been unbelievable. I’m proud of their development right now.”
When Riley Rowan got a pin at 106 pounds, Perry led, 6-0, and never trailed the entire night.
Mayfield got tight decision
wins from Dom Gerome (7-6 over Zach Bellissimo on a takedown with 18 seconds remaining) and Eddie Wallace at 113 and 120, respectively, but Perry responded with Brock Christian’s major decision (9-1) at 126 and Ryan Berdysz’s 11-8 decision at 132.
Berdysz got a takedown late in the third for the win.
“One-hundred percent conditioning,” Berdysz said of what got him the win over Mayfield’s Braeden Beck. “Coach Rowan does an incredible job with us in conditioning. The third
period is our period.”
Calvin Rowan pinned Mayfield’s D.W. Fritz with one second remaining on the clock at 145, and then Colin Koenig got a pin at 145 to open a 25-5 lead.
Colton Brandenburg got some momentum back for Mayfield with an 8-5 decision at 152, but consecutive pins for Perry at 160 (Ryan Brubaker) and 170 (Jimmy Thomas) gave Perry an insurmountable 37-8 lead wth four weight classes left.
Thomas’ pin iced the victory for Perry.
“I’ve been working hard all year,” said Thomas, one
of five Pirates honored prematch on Senior Night. “It feels great to win for my guys . ... Last year was a rough season. This year, I’ve improved a lot. I’ve been working hard as heck.”
Mayfield won three of the final four classes, one by forfeit to go with pins from Mikey Traczyk at 182 and Antonio Mangelluzzi at 285.
Tommy Jackson — another Perry senior — got a pin at 220.
Mayfield was wrestling without regular starters Vinnie D’Allessandro at 106 and Dom Tudino at 145, but Coach Dwight Fritz offered no excuses and credited Perry for the performance.
“They outwrestled us, that’s all there is to it,” he said. “We have 16 bodies in the room, and they all got matches tonight. A couple could have gone either way, but we didn’t come out on top in those. We’ve got to keep working and keep learning.”
Mayfield is off until the Western Reserve Conference tournament at Riverside on Feb. 13, while Perry will be at the Strongsville pool tournament Feb. 6.