Stebbins’ third leads Generals in OCC wrestling championships

  • brian questel
  • February 8, 2012
  • 319
                        
021330 OCCwrestling Promo: Lexington defends title, rolls through Ohio Cardinal Conference wrestling championships Stebbins’ third leads Generals in OCC wrestling championships By Brian Questel It wasn’t the result that Wooster wrestling coach Troy Worth was looking for, but deep inside he knew it could happen. “It was about what I expected. I had hoped not to finish last, but we did,” said Worth, whose team hosted the Ohio Cardinal Conference wrestling championships. “It wasn’t pretty.” Lexington defended its 2011 OCC crown with an easy win as it piled up 228.5 points to easily outdistance West Holmes’ 162.5. Orrville slipped past Clear Fork, 130-127, while Mansfield Madison clipped Ashland 99-96 to finish fifth. Mansfield Senior closed with 65.5 points and the Generals, who had five open weight classes, scored 42. Wooster’s top finish came from senior Nate Stebbins, who was third, and it added a pair of fourths from Phil Wentz and Trever Chapman. Stebbins finished 3-1 at 126, while Wentz was 2-2 at 113 and Chapman split his four matches at heavyweight. “Nate only lost to the kid who won it by two points,” said Worth. “He lost a close match to (Clear Fork’s Doug) Hicks, who is a decent wrestler. Nate wrestled tough until the end.” Stebbins opened with a 6-4 win before losing a 7-5 overtime decision to Hicks. He closed with a pair of major decisions, winning 22-10 and 16-5 to put a strong finish on his day. Wentz opened with a quick 51-second pin in his opening bout, lost an equally quick one to OCC champ Brandon Laynard of Lexington and then lost his third match via pin in 4:10. “Phil wrestled tough in the beginning,” said Worth. “In his (third) match against Danny (Wallo of Orrville) he made a mistake and Danny caught him … and kept him in a front headlock and tied the score. Phil thought he was losing and did it again. When you make a mistake under high pressure and the kid’s as good as you, you get caught. “Trever was fourth and he lost to a kid he had pinned earlier in the tournament,” added Worth. “In that one he was doing really well and he made a mistake. You’ve gotta pay attention. Trever’s not one to get cocky, but I think he might have been a little overconfident since he had wrestled and beat him earlier.” Chapman was 2-2, winning his first match against Ashland’s Zac Brenner in 3:06 but then losing to Brenner in the match for third via a pin in 2:42. At 120, Logan Gable went 0-2 with a pair of close setbacks via decision, while Jadon Shaftic lost both of his matches at 145. Todd Williams had a bye at 152 and then lost a 2-1 nail-biter, while Jeb Beeman was 0-2 at 160, losing his opening bout to eventual champion Brad Metz of Lexington. Aaron Saal (170) lost his opening match to another champion from Lexington, Brandon O’Neill and was 1-2, while 220-pounder Colin Anderson lost his two matches. “We did wrestle hard for being as young as we are,” said Worth. “There are some good kids in the conference. Lexington is well coached and a top-10 team in the state, Clear Fork has good kids and so does West Holmes and Orrville. In some of our matches we ended up against the No. 1 seed right off the bat, which happens where there are only eight teams in the tournament. “We wrestled hard. For the most part we were aggressive the whole time and attacking, making sure we were not tentative and doing the best we could. … For the most part we did what we were supposed to do.” Wooster closed the regular season Feb. 7 with a triangular with Northwestern and Orrville. It will return to action Feb. 18 for sectionals. It will be a new venue for the Generals this year as they head west to Marion Harding instead of heading to North Canton for its two-day eliminator. “It was unbalanced,” said Worth. “North Canton Hoover had 13 or 14 teams and Marion Harding had eight. They asked if anyone wanted to switch and I think it was Cloverleaf and us who decided to go. “I hope it’s a good thing for us,” he added. “I think it will help guys like Nate, Trever and Todd get some experience and an opportunity to go deeper and maybe even make districts. North Canton is just tough … so we might have a better chance. I hate to drive and hour-and-a-half to Marion, but it’s a one-day tournament, so it’s a good thing.” Should anyone advance to districts, Wooster will only have to travel to Ashland for the Division I tournament.


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