The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
’86 title cemented Newbury on Ohio’s wrestling map
As Newbury takes its final steps before closing at the end of the school year, it’s important to remember the important steps taken by the Black Knights athletically.
In the fall, it was fun to bring you the story of Newbury’s 1969 football team that closed a banner decade on the gridiron.
This time around, in my sporadic project throughout this year to bring you Black Knights’ highlights, it’s also fun to bring you perhaps the biggest moment to emanate from the corner of Auburn Road and Route 87.
Indeed, it’s time to reminisce on Newbury’s 1986 Class A state team championship campaign in wrestling.
Cliff Radie was in his 13th year as the Black Knights’ coach and was the reigning Class A coach of the year. Newbury had one top-four placer at state in 1985, 98-pounder Mike French, who took fourth, and the team was 27th in Columbus with 8.5 points.
Talent abounded throughout the lineup, which in 1986 included Kevin Smith (98 pounds), John Bond (105), Tom Shelley (112), Jeff Cigany (119), Matt Boddy (126), Shawn Day (132), John Suvak (138), Doug Ule (145), Matt Russell (155), Mike Barton (167), Jeff Edmonson (175), Brian Beechuk (185) and Kurt Dahlhausen (heavyweight). Smith took the place of French, who battled illness and did not wrestle that winter.
Radie assembled a schedule, in addition to East Suburban Conference duals as the Black Knights sought to defend their league title, of invitationals such as the Solon Comet Classic and the Kenston Invitational Tournament against primarily larger-school opposition.
The team battled injuries and illness, with whispers the former was caused by wrestling Class AA and AAA foes at invitationals.
Newbury was seventh at Solon with 101.5 points, with Edmonson taking second, and was 10th at KIT. Edmonson, a sophomore, had an older brother, Keith, who won a state title as a senior in 1982.
When the first Class A state coaches’ poll was released, there were the Black
Knights ranked first, ahead of West Liberty Salem.
Newbury had a modest 8-5 record in duals, including wins over Orange and Kirtland, then a tough-toswallow setback to eventual ESC champion Cardinal before a packed house estimated around 700 at Newbury.
Perhaps the turning point, in addition to getting healthy, came in a dual at Berkshire. The Black Knights were down, 25-4, before rallying for 27 unanswered points to win, 31-25, punctuated by Beechuk’s pin in 1 minute, 8 seconds as the team endured a flu bug. Radie switched Beechuk from 185 to heavyweight and Dahlhausen in reverse for the night, sensing Beechuk could notch a pin in a situation that required one in one of the last two matches.
Newbury spent much of the regular season ranked high in the Class A state coaches’ poll as the Richmond Heights District beckoned, where the Black Knights had won the team title the prior winter.
“A poll’s a poll,” Radie told the Geauga TimesLeader heading into district weekend. “It looks great on paper. But you still have to concentrate one match at a time.
“If you start wrestling names or records, you think of three or four different things when you’re on the mat. I look at the competition we’ve had and the way we’ve dealt with injury and illness. Everybody is starting at 0-0, so the competition factor will definitely help us.”
Barton had gone 19-6 in the regular season and, along with Beechuk (204) and Bond (16-5-1), was seeded first for district competition. Edmonson (18-5) was seeded second.
Newbury got a scare from Cuyahoga Heights, but got titles from Barton and Beechuk and runner-up finishes from Bond, Shelley, Day, Ule, Edmonson and
Dahlhausen to edge out the team title, 170.5 to 166.5. Beechuk (3:09) and Barton (5:42) recorded pins in their championship matches. As a health precaution in preparation for the Nordonia Regional, Bond and Ule were held out of their firstplace bouts.
The trip to Nordonia for regional couldn’t have gone much better. Ule, Barton, Edmonson and Beechuk won their weight classes and Bond, Day and Dahlhausen were second to give the Black Knights seven state qualifiers and a regional team title, this time with a more comfortable margin over Cuyahoga Heights, 173-96.
Then came a magical journey to Columbus.
In what Radie called a “dream round,” all seven Newbury wrestlers won their quarterfinals. Bond set a tone, rallying after yielding a four-point move for a 5-4 decision.
Between sessions on that Friday of state, some team members took a nap.
Barton, Edmonson and Beechuk were victorious in their semifinals, and by the end of the day, Newbury held a solid lead over Grandview Heights in the Class A team title race.
“All week long, the line was, ‘You don’t want to be the one,’” Barton, who had lost his opener at state the prior year, told the Times-Leader. “This year is 7,000% more enjoyable. I’m having an on week.”
Edmonson reflected on his family.
His brother Keith, in the armed forces and stationed in Germany, had come back home and seen his brother wrestle at the Richmond Heights District. Keith told him, “I know you can do it.”
Edmonson reflected to the Times-Leader he had told his 82-year-old grandfather he’d do “it” for him, too.
With the necessary points out of the consolation bracket, Newbury clinched the Class A team title before the championship matches March 15, 1986. Ule took third with a decision over Cadiz’s Mike Johnson, and Bond and Dahlhausen each took fourth.
After Ule had battled injury all season and defaulted in the semifinals at state before that decision at third, Radie marveled to the Times-Leader: “He’s got a hell of a lot of guts.”
It seems this historic group also did a number on their fan base’s focus.
On that Saturday at state, it was reported three times announcements were made: “We have a car in the parking lot, Geauga County license plates. Your lights are on.”
Barton, who didn’t place at state in 1985, was on in his first-place match against Bridgeport’s Richard Burlenski, edging out a 4-3 decision. Edmonson and Beechuk had heartbreakers in their quests for gold, Edmonson with a 5-4 decision to Sandusky St. Mary’s Rick Bellamy and Beechuk with a 10-9 decision to Bridgeport’s Mike Vargo as the duo took second.
But the totality had done its job.
Newbury was the 1986 Class A state champion with 83.5 points, easily ahead of Grandview Heights (58.5).
Radie and his team took a walk around mat level, Ule and Barton taking turns holding aloft the Newbury marker from the team standings board.
“I saw individuals win championships in high school, and I never got it,” Radie, a Maple Heights graduate, told the TimesLeader.
“If you can’t get it individually, you get it as a team. All that hard work and effort is right here, man. I couldn’t believe it until I got it in my hand.”
There was one more celebration to come.
When the Black Knights returned home on that Sunday, the team’s boosters honored them in the school’s gym in front of a rightfully proud community.
Radie and his wrestlers brought the trophy into the gym, and Barton was asked to say a few words on the team’s behalf.
“We didn’t expect anything like this,” Barton said.
Emotional, Barton was said to hand the microphone back, turning to the wall behind him to hide tears of joy as he banged his right fist against the wall.
Radie placed his hand on Barton’s shoulder, and Barton shed tears on Radie’s shoulder.
The moment had sunk in. Before this final year concludes, it’ll be fun to share a few more Newbury highlights as well.
And one thing is for sure: The winter of 1986 will always rank high atop that list.
Lillstrung can be reached at CLillstrung@NewsHerald.com; @CLillstrungNH on Twitter.