By: Jessy Archer, Guest Writer/Photographer
After a strong showing at the 2021 Sectional Tournament in Wadsworth last week, the Knights brought nine wrestlers to the District Wrestling Tournament this weekend at North Canton Hoover High School. Known for being one of the most competitive district tournaments in the State, featuring powerhouse programs like Brecksville, Perry, and Wadsworth, many eventual state placers come out of Canton. The Knights are hoping this remains true for Sal Perrine, Israel Petite, and Gino Perrine, who have qualified to make the trip to Columbus next weekend at the 2021 Division One State Wrestling Tournament.
This weekend’s tournament was set up in two sessions over two days. The first session was for weight classes 106 – 145 and the second session was for weight classes 152 – Heavyweight. Each wrestler was only able to have two tickets on Friday for their session only and three tickets on Saturday. Wrestlers and fans were not able to stay to support their teammates who were wrestling in a different session. While this presented coaches with some logistical challenges, North Canton Hoover administration did a good job putting a system in place that ensured Covid-safety protocols were followed.
Our Knights fared well after Friday’s competition. Nick Hamad (106), Nathan Miller (113), Gino Perrine (120), Israel Petite (132), Caleb Ridgely (138), Tyler Angus (145), Jeremy Olszko (152), and Sal Perrine (182) all made it out of the first day of competition and wrestled Saturday.
Senior Tyler Angus was the only first session Knight who entered Saturday morning in the championship side of the bracket after beating Braden Cowger from Stow and Josh Jordan from Uniontown Lake on Friday. In the semi-final round, Angus lost to Jimmy Scavuzzo from Highland, dropping him to the consolidation semi-final round vs. Mason Valencia from Barberton. Angus out-shot and out-wrestled Valencia but couldn’t overcome Valencia’s defense. Tied 2-2 going into the 3rd period, the choice went Valencia’s way as he chose down and was given an escape point by Angus, who works best on his feet. Despite great effort, and at least one missed stalling call, Angus and Valencia ended up in a stalemate after every shot. Angus lost 3-2 and finished sixth place overall in the tournament.
Freshman Israel Petite, who has only been wrestling for a few years but consistently impresses people with his agility and quickness made an exciting run to earn a ticket to Columbus. He won in the first round, beating David Shannon from Austintown Fitch but lost his second match to the second seed, Manny Scordos from Brecksville. On Saturday, Petite pinned Dwight Fritz from Mayfield, then major decisioned Christian Giltz from Perry, and finally tech-falled Ben Sponseller from Uniontown Lake in his go-to blood round match. Petite met Scordos again in the finals, securing his 4th place finish.
Freshman Gino Perrine also wrestled quite a bit to secure his 5th place finish as a state alternate. This year, more so than any other, the alternate must be prepared to wrestle next weekend. If this happens, Gino will be the first Perrine to wrestle in a state tournament as a freshman – a feat even his state champion and state placing brothers Anthony and Sal did not do. Gino lost in his first round match to Solon’s Dominic Gerome 7-3. He bounced back quickly, beating Theordore Griffin (Will. South) 4-3, then Hamzah Abdelrahim (Firestone) 7-5, then Alex Boske (Hoover) 7-4, and finally Joey Vazsonyi (Highland) 2-1 to finish 5th.
Senior Sal Perrine’s district tournament road to state was much more direct. Coming into the tournament 41-0 and seeded first, Perrine made quick work of his first round match, pinning Antonio Bottiggi from Painesville Riverside in just 43 seconds. He tech-falled his second round opponent, beating Will Edmondson from Stow 23-8. In the semi-final round, Perrine pinned Lukas Stiles from Highland in 3:51. Perrine ended the day with an 18-3 major decision over Blake Shaffer from Green. Simply put, Perrine is in a class all his own, hungry for the title he missed out on last year when the state wrestling tournament was cancelled.
The 2021 State Wrestling Tournament will take place next weekend, March 13th and 14th. Instead of being held at Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center, each division will be held at a Columbus-area high school. The Knights will compete at Hillard-Darby High School. Follow Jessy Archer and NordoniaHills.News on Twitter for live coverage updates!
