Coffman, Liberty finish in top five at state duals
Dublin Coffman boys wrestling finished fourth in the eight-team Division I state dual tournament Saturday, while Olentangy Liberty placed fifth.
Coffman, which entered as the fifth seed, opened with a 42-29 win over fourth-seeded Springboro before losing to top-seeded Lakewood St. Edward 50-13 in a semifinal. That sent the Shamrocks to the third-place match, where they fell to third-seeded Wadsworth 44-21 to go 1-2 on the day.
Omar Ayoub (138 pounds) and Sammy Moloney (157, 165) both won all three of their matches for Coffman.
Ethan Birden went 2-1 at 157 and 165, losing to Wadsworth's Chris Earnest at 157 when Birden was called for an illegal slam in the closing seconds while leading 1-0, according to Coffman coach Chance Van Gundy. Birden entered the tournament ranked first in the state at 157 by Borofanohio.net, with Earnest second.
“It's good to get that level of competition this late in the year,” Van Gundy said. He explained that he hopes Saturday
helps prepare the Shamrocks for the OHSAA postseason. Individual wrestlers in Division I will compete starting with a Feb. 25 sectional.
Sixth-seeded Liberty rebounded from a 33-22 loss to Wadsworth in a quarterfinal, rallying past seventhseeded Cincinnati La Salle 39-36 in its first consolation match.
That allowed the Patriots to take fifth place with a 34-30 win over Springboro 34-30.
Huggy Williams (106), Jaxson Rosselli (113) and Dylan Russo (215) each went 3-0 to lead the Patriots.
“We really pushed Wadsworth hard,” Liberty coach Mark Marinelli said. “There were a lot of very close matches. We just started practicing hard. Some of our middleweights are starting to wrestle a little bit better. They really did a good job of not giving up pins or too many points and fighting a little harder.”
St. Edward won its fifth consecutive dual title, beating second-seeded Brecksville-broadview Heights 35-21 in the final. St. Edward has won seven of the last eight dual championships and 20 overall. fdirenna@dispatch.com @Dispatchfrank