The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
BEAVERS WIN WRC IN THEIR HOME GYM
Riverside’s Martich wins fourth league title
Danny Martich thought to himself for a moment, but even he admitted it would be difficult to top the happenings of Feb. 13.
That’s the day Martich — Riverside’s 160-pounder — won his fourth league title in the Western Reserve Conference Tournament that the Beavers won in their home gymnasium.
Fourth league title. Team championship. Home gym. Yeah, that’ll work.
“Oh my god, these are my brothers, dude,” Martich said regarding his euphoria of the day’s events. “I couldn’t be happier to spend these times with anyone else. This is family.”
Riverside crowned five individual champions on the day — Chris Rocha (120), Christian French (126), Tyler Wittreich (138), Noah
Daugherty (195) and Martich.
The strength of those individual champions, coupled with the depth that saw 13 Beavers place in the top four, allowed Riverside to pile up 231 1/2 points, well ahead of Mayfield (188.5), Chardon (167), Kenston (134.5) and the rest of the eight-team field.
The Beavers had a 35-point lead over Mayfield heading into the finals, but that didn’t stop Coach Justin Toth from sweating a few bullets from his personal game of what-if.
“As a coach you never think it’s over,” Toth said. “In my head I was thinking, ‘if they do this, this and this, something could happen.’
“But with the way we wrestled in the finals, it was done before it even began.”
“As a coach you never think it’s over. But with the way we wrestled in the finals, it was done before it even began.”
— Riverside coach Justin Toth
Rocha decisioned Mayfield’s Eddie Wallace, 7-2, for the 120-pound title. On the adjacent mat, Christian French won a 4-0 decision over Madison’s Charlie Wade for the 126-pound crown.
A short while later, Tyler Wittreich pinned South’s Austyn Adams in the first period for the 138-pound title. Then Martich followed that up with a 3-2 decision over Kenston’s Ben DiMarco at 160.
Tied, 1-1, in the third, Martich secured a takedown on the edge of the mat for the lead. Even though DiMarco escaped with 22 seconds left, he never got close to taking down Martich in the time remaining.
Martich is the first fourtime champ at Riverside since Erik Lakia (Class of 2005).
“It’s special to finally put my name on the board, leaving my mark at Riverside,” Martich said. “Hopefully I’m never forgotten.”
Daugherty pinned Chardon’s Haydn Haueter to give Riverside five champs.
Speaking of Chardon, the Hilltoppers crowned five champions as well — Will Vucetic (132), Jaden Farris (145), Kaz Rajko (170), Charlie Brosch (182) and Alex McDonald (220).
Coach Nick Salatino praised his team’s effort, noting “we’ve got some guys who drill their butts off, and I think that’s why we succeeded today.”
Chardon was second in the league tournament a year ago.
“We were honestly shooting for six champions and we got five,” Salatino said. “That’s a school record. We’ve had four a number of times. We’re happy we got six in the finals and won dive of them.”
Mayfield had champions
at 106 with Vinnie D’Alessandro and at 113 with Dom Gerome. Both were state qualifiers a year ago.
D’Alessandro is the topranked 106-pounder in the state in Division I.
“Just trying to get fully healed up for state — that’s my focus,” said D’Alessandro after a 15-0 technical fall in the finals. “(The ranking) means people are definitely coming after me. I have to keep focused. It’s the little things that matter this time of the season.”
Kenston crowned two champions in 152-pound Maison Benz and 285-pounder Cale Doyle. Both are first-time WRC champs.
Benz was losing, 4-2, to Mayfield’s Colton Brandenburg when he turned the tables for a second-period pin.
“It feels really good. This was the last chance I had (for a WRC title),” Benz said.
Doyle scrambled for a takedown when Mayfield’s Antonio Mangelluzzi briefly
lost his footing. Doyle, a junior, got the lead and never let it go in a 7-3 decision.
Doyle said he wants to take the current momentum toward the sectional, district and even state tournaments.
“As unrealistic as it sounds, I’ve proven everyone wrong,” said Doyle of his goals. “A second-year wrestler coming off a broken ankle shouldn’t be able to do this anyway. I’m just going to have fun and go as far as I can this postseason.”
Fifth-place Madison was led by second-place finishers Jamie Harrison (106) and Wade (126).
The top finishers for sixth-place South were second-placers Adams (138) and Nick Hollerbach (182).
Seventh-place North was led by second-place finishers Joey Davis (113) and Gabe Meros (132).
Eighth-place Brush got a second-place finish from London Settles at 145.