Delphos Jefferson wins first NWC wrestling title

COLUMBUS GROVE — Before the season began, first-year Delphos Jefferson wrestling coach Mike Wilson made it clear to his team that winning the Northwest Conference was well within its reach.

At Saturday’s NWC Championships at Columbus Grove, Wilson’s squad did it in dramatic fashion, slipping past Lima Central Catholic for the team title, 291-279. Columbus Grove finished third (240), while Bluffton was fourth (234) and Spencerville placed fifth (209). There were nine teams in the conference tournament. Saturday’s NWC Championship was the first sporting event to be held in Columbus Grove’s new gymnasium.

Heading into the finals, Delphos Jefferson was leading the field of teams. At the end of the tournament, the immediate results revealed LCC winning the title, Columbus Grove was second and Delphos Jefferson was third. However, after a few corrections and a re-run of the final results, Delphos Jefferson came out as the team champion. Saturday’s NWC wrestling championship for Delphos Jefferson is the first in school history.

“The emotional rollercoaster of us going into the finals ahead by three points, finding out that we lost and then finally finding out that we won, was really something else,” Wilson said. “(Today) we had five NWC champions and one runner-up, so I couldn’t be happier.”

Wilson said he told his team, before the season started, that this season had the potential of being special.

“(In) my very first meeting with the kids and parents, I told them that it was our goal to win the NWC,” Wilson said. “We worked very hard and we did it.

“We had three goals at the beginning of the season. First, we wanted to win an NWC team championship. We wanted to get 10 to districts, and then get three to state.”

Gaige Rassman (113), Darren Edinger (152), Colin McConnahea (195), Curtis Miller (220) and Geoff Ketcham (285) all won titles Saturday for Delphos Jefferson. Tanner Vermule was runner-up at 132. Coach Wilson was named NWC Coach of the Year after Saturday’s tournament.

On Saturday, Miller improved his undefeated record to 46-0. Bluffton’s Zach Wilson, who won the title at 145, improved his unblemished record to 41-0.

With both of their solid performances on Saturday, Miller and Wilson shared the “Most Valuable Wrestler” honors.

Wilson defeated LCC’s Jake Tremoulis, 9-2 in the championship match. Wilson said he and Tremoulis were quite familiar of each other.

“I’ve wrestled him a couple times before,” Wilson said. “He’s one of the stronger 145s that I’ve wrestled this year. He knows what I’m going to do, so it makes it a little tougher to shoot.”

LCC coach Pat Murphy said he was pleased on how his team performed.

“We’re finally getting guys to where they should be (weight classes),” Murphy said. “We’re very balanced, (Division III) sectionals (next weekend at LCC) should be very interesting. You take all these teams here, add in Coldwater, Wayne Trace and Bath, and it will be an interesting tournament.”

At 160, Allen East’s J.R. Conyers looked dominant as he pinned Columbus Grove’s Alec Gladwell at 5:29 in the championship match. Conyers said his opponent did a good job of defending his take-down moves.

“He’s watched a few of my matches, so he knew how to stay away from my double-leg,” Conyers said. “That’s my signature move. But, he’s a strong kid and a pretty good wrestler.”

Other NWC champions on Saturday were LCC’s David Gremling (182), Bobby Sunderhaus (170), Brandon McCormick (126); Allen East’s Colt Lovejoy (138), Tyler Baker (120); Bluffton’s Jacob Garmatter (132); Columbus Grove’s Tregg Keysor (106).

WESTERN BUCKEYE LEAGUE

Wapakoneta came into Saturday’s WBL Championships as the top team in the league with a perfect 9-0 dual record. The Redskins left no doubt by winning the WBL Tournament on Saturday at Defiance. Wapakoneta finished with 174 points, while second-place Elida had 138. Defiance finished third (131), while Bath was fourth (116) and Shawnee was fifth (96). There were 10 teams in the tournament.

Wapakoneta had three wrestlers win titles on Saturday: John Martin (106), Holden Hengstler (170) and Alec Brown (182) all won for the Redskins.

Other champions on Saturday were Bath’s Tre Wheeler (120), Zavier Meeks (138); Elida’s Zach Green (152); Defiances’ Gabe Gonzales (113), Zach McCarthy (145), Shallus Beatty (160); Shawnee’s Colin McDermitt (132); Kenton’s Gabe King (195); Ottawa-Glandorf’s Wyatt Karhoff (220) and Van Wert’s Zack Burk (126) and Terrin Contreras (285).

MIDWEST ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

The MAC Tri-Meet was held Saturday at Coldwater. Coldwater won the team title, Versailles was second, while Delphos St. John’s was third.