Wrestling tournaments tweak emotions

SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP — Elida wrestler Zach Green has faced his share of adversity over the years.

The 152-pound senior has overcome both injury and personal hardship to finally get to where he wants to be in his sport.

At Saturday’s Division II sectional tournament at Shawnee, Green defeated Bowling Green’s Devin Spencer 4-2 in the championship match to win the title and advance to next week’s district tournament at Marion.

The top four placers in each weight class at the sectional tournament advance to the district tournament. Then, the top four placers at the district tournament will compete at the state tournament at Ohio State (March 1-3).

Last season, Green suffered a concussion at the Western Buckeye League Championships and was unable to compete in the postseason tournament.

The year before, Green injured his ankle and also sat out the postseason.

On Saturday, Green not only won a sectional title, but also notched his 100th career victory in his championship bout.

“This was a special day,” an emotional Green said. “It was also three years ago when my father passed away.

“I felt a little tired in the earlier matches. But, I had some extra motivation to keep me going. I felt like he (his father) was with me all the way. Today, it all just came together.”

In the team scores, Wauseon sat at the top of the leaderboard at the end of the day, with 231 points. Toledo Central Catholic finished second (207.50), while Wapakoneta posted the best local performance with a third-place finish (157.5). Elida finished fourth (126), while Bowling Green was fifth (123). There were 13 teams in the sectional tournament.

Wapakoneta, who won the WBL title last weekend, had two champions and one runner-up on Saturday. John Martin won the title at 106, with a 3-2 decision over Toledo Central Catholic’s Matt Pool, who was a state placer at last year’s state tournament.

Holden Hengstler was the other champion from Wapakoneta. Hengstler pinned Bowling Green’s Sawyer Shull to win the title at 170. Teammate Nathan Valentine finished second at 138. There were a total of six Wapakoneta wrestlers who will advance to the district tournament.

Martin said Pool wrestled more of a defensive style, which made it very difficult for him to get a shot on Pool.

“This is the fourth time I’ve wrestled him and I’ve beaten him every time,” Martin said. “I’ve always been the aggressor, so that’s why he had that game plan. I just had to deal with it.”

Hengstler said making it out of the sectional tournament with the first seed is very important.

“It feels great,” Hengstler said. “I get to go to districts as one of the top four seeds. It (No. 1 seed) really helps set you up for the semifinals and then a chance for the finals and on to state.”

Wapakoneta coach Jason Rostorfer said his team competed well this weekend.

“We talked about it during the week, about stepping up to the level of competition,” Rostorfer said. “Overall, I thought we did a pretty good job of doing that. You always want to have more getting out to districts, but I’m still pleased at the way we wrestled. Now, we just need to get ready for next week.”

In the 132-pound championship match, Shawnee’s Colin McDermitt had his hands full with Toledo Central Catholic’s Alex Mossing. Like McDermitt, Mossing was a state placer last season. A few weeks ago, Mossing defeated McDermitt at the Anthony Wayne Tournament.

Mossing’s style made it difficult for McDermitt to shoot on him. However, in overtime, McDermitt finally caught Mossing with a lat-drop move and took him down. In the exchange, McDermitt scored five points and won the match, 9-4.

McDermitt (41-2) said Saturday’s championship match was all about being patient.

“My coaches told me to not be anxious and don’t get frustrated,” McDermitt said. “I just waited for my opportunity to shoot on him. I got my opportunity and went for it.”

The other local champion on Saturday was Kenton’s Gabe King at 195. King pinned Elida’s Nickoli Sackinger to win the title.