No surprise: Perry again dominates at Mentor
Chris Easterling
It's been a couple of years since Perry has hosted the Division I district tournament in its gymnasium. That doesn't mean the school hasn't maintained a certain ownership of the event, even with it being held 70-plus miles away in Mentor the last three seasons.
The Panthers emerged from Saturday night's district tournament at Mentor High School in possession of the team championship, the third straight year they have left Lake County with the trophy. They finished the two-day tournament with 170.5 points, 45 ahead of second-place Maple Heights.
The catalyst for Perry's championship was its seven state qualifiers. That total was the highest of any in the district, one more than Barberton's six.
"Our goal is to win everything," said Perry 160-pounder Josh Arrendale, who took fourth on Saturday. "Our team goal is to win every tournament we're can. We just come out here, and we don't want to lose. It's that simple; we hate it."
The problem for the teams closest to the Panthers in total qualifiers is the number of wrestlers Perry had going for championships. Five Panthers wrestled Saturday night for titles, with three — David Bavery (106), Zack Dailey (152) and JoJo Tayse (195) — winning championships while Isaac Bast (132) and Mitch Newhouse (138) took second.
"You can tell this team has come a long way this year," Perry coach Dave Riggs said. "On paper, we looked good in the beginning, but it took a lot of work to get us to this point. Getting seven guys to the state and then winning the district title is awesome; it's a great feeling."
GlenOak heavyweight Derrick Everett had Stark County's only other individual championship.
The next-highest total of finalists was three, which Solon, Maple Heights and Twinsburg all achieved. Two of those six finalists between the three teams ended up losing to a Perry wrestler in the title match.
But it wasn't just the Panthers who wrestled for titles that helped them to their team championships. All 12 Perry wrestlers who reached the district won at least one match, and 11 won at least two.
None may have taken a more in circuitous route to the state tournament than 220-pounder Stefano Millin. Millin was pinned in 29 seconds in his only match on Friday night, but came back on Saturday to win four straight in the consolation bracket — the last a second-period pin of Stow's Dan Garner to secure his first state berth.
"I just had to think about what I was going to do (Saturday)," said Millin, who ended up one of Perry's two fourth-place finishers. "I had my dad on me, telling me what I should do. You can only take it one match at a time, and that's what I did today."
Perry's seven qualifiers was the most by far from any of the Stark County teams competing. Massillon and Hoover each qualified two, while Jackson, Lake and GlenOak each will have one in Columbus.
Ivan McClay was the Tigers' top finisher, taking second at 120, although he ran into a familiar foe in the title match in the form of St. Ignatius' George DiCamillo. It wasn't an easy win for the nation's top-ranked wrestler, who needed to go to the alternating tiebreaker before winning 2-1 over the Massillon junior.
DiCamillo has handed McClay three of his last five losses, including two of the three he has suffered this season. One was 1-0 in the semifinals of the Ironman Tournament last December.
"At the Ironman, I realized once again that he's only just a man; he's not the Jesus of wrestling," said McClay, who will be joined in Columbus by teammate Lane Louive (fourth place, 182). "I knew I could go toe-to-toe with him. Coming on the mat today, I just kept that in mind."
Jackson also had a second-place finisher in Lucas Marcelli at 145, while Hoover's Sam Wakser took second at 126. Marcelli is the Polar Bears' first state qualifier since Adam Haas, Mike Hillock and Dante Rini all qualified in 2007.
"It's big," said Jackson coach Rocky Laughlin, who had another wrestler — Charlie Dear (182) get within a win of state. "It's something we thought we should've done last year; things didn't go the way we'd hoped. I felt like we had several chances this year. I would've liked to have gotten all three (district-qualifying) kids down, but we're really, really excited about getting Lucas down there."