Woods, Masters take titles, 8 others make top 6 at Knights Invite
Senior Cael Woods turned in another strong performance, capturing a Knights Invite title along with classmate Tyler Masters.
The West Holmes High School varsity wrestling team finished with a runner-up team finish on Saturday, Jan. 25 at the Knights Varsity Invitational Tournament held inside The Dungeon at West Holmes High School near Millersburg.
With titles from seniors 113-pounder Cael Woods and 120-pounder Tyler Masters leading the way, eight other Knights’ wrestlers garnered top-six finishes, and WHHS racked up 220 points for second place in the 16-team field. Medina Highland pocketed the team title with 268.5 points with Wintersville Indian Creek in third with 167.5, followed by Carrollton’s 131.5 and Medina Buckeye’s 124.5.
Gavin Greer (152 pounds, 4-1, three falls) and Walker Uhl (160, 4-1, two falls) both finished runner-up while Jack Welsh (106, 2-2, one fall), Kendel Weber (126, 3-2, three falls), Colt Cox (195, 2-3, one fall) and Skylar Anderson (220, 2-2, one fall) all pocketed fourth-place medals. Tucker Kaufman (132, 4-1, two falls) placed fifth, and Conner Varnes (138, 3-2, three falls) took sixth to round out the Knights’ placers.
“Pretty good showing for the wrestling team today,” Knights wrestling head coach Scott Vaughn said following the tournament. “Seems to be a trend that we can’t enter a tournament or exit a tournament healthy. To finish second here without a full lineup, I’m pretty happy. We had some good matches with our kids beating really good kids and then a couple that we would really like to have back.”
Woods (5-0) was once again dominate in his weight class, chalking up four fall wins before posting a 9-0 decision victory over Eddie Pinc of Medina Buckeye in the title match. The win gave Woods his fourth Knights Invite title, and to top off his weekend, the three-time state placer was voted by the coaches as the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler. And in his first match of the day, Woods pinned Tyler Sipes of Indian Creek in 20 seconds for his 100th career fall win.
Turning in a gutty performance, Masters also finished a perfect 5-0 for his third Knights Invite gold medal. Masters chalked up three fall wins in his qualifying matches and capped the day with a 3-0 decision win over highly touted Joey Vazsonyi of Medina Highland.
“Tyler was battling some injuries coming into the tournament,” Vaughn said of his two-time state placer. “I was really proud of how he competed. He did his best to put it past him and continue to wrestle. For that he is dubbed as the West Holmes Varsity Wrestling Knight of the Week award winner.”
Greer had a solid tournament in taking runner-up honors. Greer knocked off the number-one seed in the second round and then eked out a 1-0 decision win over Zevan Simon of Cuyahoga Falls in the championship semifinals to reach the title match. There he lost by fall to William Scavuzzo of Medina Highland.
“Gavin Greer potentially wrestled his best tournament of the season,” Vaughn said in assessing Greer’s performance. “He really looked good out there.”
Uhl was looking for his first Knights Invite title, but his hopes were thwarted when he lost by fall to number-one seed and DI state qualifier Brady Linder (senior, Medina Highland) in the title match.
Of his other placers, Vaughn said, “Jack had a very competitive weight class. He really had to grind out there. Kendel was in a similar situation as Jack. Kendel had a couple highly ranked competitors in his weight class. I know Tucker wants his last match back in his pool. He could have very easily been in the finals. Conner put together a nice tournament wrestling to sixth place. Colt Cox had his best tournament of the season. I was very encouraged with how he wrestled this weekend. Skylar Anderson put together some nice matches. He is coming along as the season goes on.”
Also competing for the Knights were seniors Hunter Bowling (145, 2-2) and Josh Sayers (182, 1-2, one fall), as well as freshman Collin Gardner (285, 1-2). Competing as extra/no team scoring wrestlers were Mason Taylor (106, 1-2, one fall), Brady Smith (106, 1-2), Caleb Larimore (113, 1-2), Blake Norman (113, 0-3), Noah Tish (120, 1-2), Corbin Miller (120, 0-2), Dylan Strouse (132, 2-1, one fall) and Hunter Eberhard (138, 0-3).