NORTH RIDGEVILLE — Prior to its match against the Midview Middies, the North Ridgeville wrestling program honored the five senior athletes that will be leaving the team at the completion of the season.
Once all the congratulatory hugs and handshakes were exchanged, the seniors got to work and left their mark as four of them earned victories en route to the Rangers’ 40-27 win over Midview.
“It’s good to win on your Senior Night, always,” said North Ridgeville coach Ed Haller. “That’s a good thing. They all wrestled (well) and that helps us.” The match served as a good warmup for both teams. North Ridgeville (9-1, 7-0 WSC) will host Midview (8-1, 6-1) and the rest of the West Shore Conference next weekend for the league tournament.
“We can learn a lot,” Midview coach Don Caramell said. “We’ve just got to regroup and try to get a good week of practice. We get to come back here in a week and see where we stand. We’re not giving up, I’m not giving up, so we’ll see what the scoreboard is at the end of next Saturday.”
“You have to win it to get things done,” Haller said. “We’re at least tied for a championship, probably. There’s some other teams that are tough that are going to pick away and eat at each other. We’ve just got to stay at the top of our ballgame and do what we’ve been doing.”
The tone was set in the first match of the night when senior 119-pounder David Evans defeated Midview’s Zack Carreras via a 9-6 decision.
“That kid is a good kid,” Haller said of Carreras. “He’s been off wrestling for a while, but he was a conference champ a couple years ago, so that’s a good win for David.”
Carreras gave up the first point to Evans when he ran out of bounds to escape a takedown. At the start of the second period, Evans could not hold Carreras down and the escape tied the match at 1. Later in the period, Carreras took Evans down, but he responded with a pair of takedowns and a reversal in the third to seal the win.
“I was happy when they drew the names in the locker room,” said Evans. “I was excited to wrestle first because I was energetic and I just wanted to go out there and wrestle. I knew it was going to be a tough match, so it just made me aware.”
In the 140-pound match, North Ridgeville’s John Whipkey scored an 11-3 major decision over Mitch Eppich. Whipkey put on a takedown clinic early, but earned the majority of his points on near falls.
Senior 160-pounder Steve Lopez made quick work of Midview’s Ethan Pickering when he earned a pin in 1:40. After letting Pickering escape a reversal, Lopez took him to the mat and worked toward the pin for the next 24 seconds.
While the three seniors who wrestled before him set a tone, it was returning 215-pounder John Flesher who sealed the win for North Ridgeville.
Just over an hour after being a part of a duet for the national anthem, Flesher made his return to the mat after getting medical clearance to wrestle.
Flesher was taken down early by Midview’s Kevin Patrick, but was able to escape. After regaining his composure, Flesher bullrushed Patrick and rolled him up for the pin.
“I hadn’t practiced for the last two weeks because of an injury, so it meant a lot to me to come back and get this win,” Flesher said. “I had an infection in my eye. We’re not really sure what it was, but it kept me off the mats so I couldn’t spread it or for it to get worse.
“I was just getting back into it,” he added. “It didn’t feel right when hetook me down.I was just trying to get a feel for him. When I finally got a feel for him, I just went after it. It felt really good. Because I didn’t have a whole lot of time in the first period, I felt pretty accomplished.”
North Ridgeville 40, Midview 27
- 103: Drew Dickson (NR) dec. Vinny Lupico 7-4 4OT
- 112: Conrad Doehne (M) pinned Frank Rogers 3:25
- 119: David Evans (NR) dec. Zack Carreras 9-6
- 125: Josh Ayers (M) dec. Marc Carosello 5-0
- 130: Nate Hart (NR) dec. Tyler Gusky 10-5
- 135: Matt Zepp (NR) forfeit win over Paige Gusky 0:57
- 140: John Whipkey (NR) major dec. Mitch Eppich 11-3
- 145: Adam Davis (M) pinned Chase Walters 2:00
- 152: Brandon Mundell (NR) dec. Tom Lemons 7-4
- 160: Steve Lopez (NR) pinned Ethan Pickering 3:40
- 171: Mike Mees (NR) pinned Nick Cicone 5:00
- 189: Jeff Miller (M) pinned Matt Alewine 1:39
- 215: John Flesher (NR) pinned Kevin Patrick 1:50
- HWT: William Emery (M) pinned Vinny Rodriguez 2:46
Contact Matt Florjancic at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.
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