5 local wrestlers find the podium in D-II

MARENGO – Going a perfect 4-0 in the state wrestling tournament is difficult to do. That's what it takes to be a state champion.When things don't go perfectly, it can be tough to bounce back in a grueling consolation bracket.Out of 10 local wrestlers in Division II, five placed Sunday at Highland High School.Columbian's Bret Minnick (132 pounds) began his quest for a state title with a dominating 18-4 win over Streetsboro's Donovan Paes Saturday. He then edged West Holmes' Dylan Strouse 8-6 to advance to Sunday's semifinal.Minnick, who was a projected state champion, fell behind early to Kyren Butler of Copley. He fell behind 4-1 after one period and then further (8-3) after two periods. Butler controlled the match and the pace, dropping Minnick, 9-3. Butler did go on to win the state title later Sunday.So Minnick dropped to the consolation bracket where he lost to Graham Local's Nick Hart 3-1, before taking fifth place by topped St. Vincent St. Mary's Elliott Alessia 11-5."It was a huge clash of styles," Columbian assistant coach Travis Salyer said about Minnick's loss to Butler. "He was super quick and he's a duck, double-legs wrestler and we are an underhook, slow-you-down type wrestler, he was able to get to his offense first and capitalize and took us out of our offense. By the time Bret was trying to figure out ways to score to get back in it, it was a little too late, but it was a really good wrestler. I think he's going to Virginia, so he's no slouch. He just controlled the match first. Hard to overcome deficits like that against really solid kids."Didn't wrestle his style and bounced back for the consolation semis … it can be a brutal day for guys. You can see guys with high hopes and then you see guys not being able to bounce back and take sixth. It took him until the fifth-place match for him to go out on his own terms to finish with a 'W.'"Columbian 145-pounder Maddox Simcoe dropped his first match Saturday 4-2 to New Lexington's Wyatt Abele. Needing a win to stay alive, Simcoe topped Poland Seminary's Jacob Caudle 4-3 before defeating Ashland's Jayden Jones 2-1.Jones beat Simcoe at sectional and district, but he got the win when he needed it.Sunday, Chardon's Jaden Farris beat Simcoe 8-3. He the was placed in the seventh-place match, which he went out to due an injury he sustained Saturday."Maddox got a bit banged up yesterday, fought through an injury and didn't get the match earlier to go his way, so just a personal decision to take the default for eighth," Salyer said. " We didn't want to cause any more injury. He's just a sophomore and he got on the podium, which is a goal."The fourth Tornado was sophomore C.J. Poole (138). He dropped his first two matches Saturday.Bellevue's Jayden Mayes, who entered the tournament undefeated and ranked No. 1 at 182, lost a 2-1 match in the quarterfinals in overtime, on an ultimate tiebreaker, to Revere's Zayne Lehman."I couldn't escape," Mayes said. "He rode me out for 30 seconds."Mayes won two consolation matches before dropping an 8-2 decision to Mansfield Madison's Nate Barrett in the consolation semifinals. He had defeated Barrett in two previous meetings. Mayes responded by dominating Louisville's Brenden Severs 6-2 to claim fifth place.Mayes won three of his four matches Sunday and finished the season 53-2. He finished third at 160 in 2019 and will wrestle collegiately at Cornell University. His career record at Bellevue was 181-18."I want to have an impact for the guys in the future and set the bar high," he said. "I hope some of them beat my records."Bellevue sophomore Max Ray, a runner-up at last week's district meet, pulled off an upset in the quarterfinals at 160 to advance to the semifinals. He won a pair of tight decisions -- 5-3 and 5-4 on Saturday – including a win over unbeaten and top-seeded Aaron Ferguson from Steubenville by one point in the quarters.On Sunday, Ray dropped three close matches to finish sixth and end his season with a 46-8 record.Upper Sandusky senior Emery Pahl had a memorable last tournament.He dropped his opening match 8-4 to Lisbon Beaver's Logan Ours, but then went on a streak to reach Sunday. Pahl beat Eaton's Owen Hewitt 8-3 and then topped Bowling Green's Mike Kinzel by the same score to reach Sunday.He handled New Lexington's Abele 10-3, before taking an 8-0 loss from Norton's Jayden Morr. Pahl found himself in the fifth-place match where took sixth place. Chardon's Farris beat him 6-3.Sandusky Register's Brian Kollars contributed to this story.