Mohawk on top of Wendy’s field

Upper Sandusky in third, Calvert fourth; 22 from area in semifinals

Mohawk doesn't have a wrestler in the four highest classes at the 27th-annual Wendy's Invitational at Columbian High School, but that mattered little in the tournament's first day.

Six of the Warriors' 10 wrestlers reached today's semifinals, boosting them to the top of the 21-team field with 71 points. Lancaster isn't far behind with 69 1/2 points, followed by Upper Sandusky (68), Calvert (66 1/2) and Elida (65) in the top five. Upper Sandusky, a bottom-half regular in the tournament the past few seasons, and Calvert, competing in its home-city tournament for the first time, each have five wrestlers in semifinals.

The host Tornadoes have four semifinalists and sit in sixth with 56 points, while fellow Northern Ohio League schools Willard (12) and Fostoria (8) are at the bottom of the field. Besides Mohawk and Calvert, Hopewell-Loudon, from the Midland Athletic League, has a pair of semifinalists and is in 14th with 34 1/2 points.

Columbian's semifinalists are Derik Kopp (103 pounds), Justin Kopp (112), Isaac Williams (145) and Richard Valentine (152).

"I thought we'd have five, to be honest, but four's good," Columbian coach Chad Long said. "We knew Valentine at [1]52 was gonna have a close match against the Kirby kid (Logan) from Hopewell, but he wrestled his butt off and got a close win. The Kopps and Williams did what we expected to.

"We've got a really good shot in the semifinals with all four kids."

Mohawk's Chad Shellhouse (119 pounds), Kyle Parker (125), Craig Parker (130), Mitch Bloom (140) and Travis Fitzpatrick (152) all pinned their first-round opponents Tuesday before winning in the quarterfinals, and returning state qualifier Devin Cartwright (135) got three wins on the day, including a pin, to improve to 11-0. Cartwright's quarterfinal win was a 3-1 nailbiter over Margaretta's Josh Ackerman, courtesy of a takedown in the third period.

Kyle Parker got an injury default early in his quarterfinal; Craig Parker (3-0) earned four near-fall points for a 6-2 quarterfinal win over Columbian's Derec Blodgett; and Bloom (9-1) avenged a loss earlier in the season to Calvert's Eric Gase with a 6-2 win. Shellhouse and Fitzpatrick take records of 9-1 and 11-0, respectively, into their semifinal bouts.

Grant Price (145) got a pin before losing to Calvert's Jacob Bowers in the quarterfinals, and three other Warriors will compete in the consolations.

Mohawk coach Bud Cook could not be reached for comment.

Upper Sandusky got two wins apiece from Steve Nye (130), Alan Gullifer (145), Chase Kenner (152), Kohl Johnson (160), and Kaleb Raymond (285) on the first day. Top seeds Nye and Kenner now are 11-0, while Raymond is 6-0 after pinning second-seeded Jordan Finney (Galloway Westland) and squeaking out a 3-0 decision of Elida's Devante Williams in the day's final match. Gullifer (10-1) recorded a pair of major decisions, and Johnson (9-2) got pins in 1:20 and 38 seconds.

Also for the Rams, Zach Tiell (125), Brandon Lemaster (140), Trevor Thornton (171) and Collin Bather (189) got wins before falling the quarterfinals.

"The boys are wrestling hard and winning some matches; I'm proud of them," Upper Sandusky coach Chris Rodriguez said.

For Calvert, Joe Brodman (112, 16-4), Jeff Stover (160, 12-3) and top-seeded Dillon Kwiat (171, 15-2) each pinned their first-round opponents. Brodman then reversed H-L's Jake Hohman for a 3-2 quarterfinal win, while Stover scored an 18-2 technical fall of Elida's Jeff Porter in the second period and returning state qualifier Kwiat manhandled St. Francis' Austin Cover for an 11-3 win.

Bowers (12-9) at 145 pounds and Mike Mullen (189, 11-2) are the Senecas' other semifinalists. Mullen got a major decision before recording the day's fastest pin - 22 seconds against Galloway's Zach King in the quarters.

While Bowers' advancement, plus two wins from unseeded Jacob Brodman (152), might have been mild surprises, Calvert coach Shane Kokensparger said he hoped to have Gase also in the semis. In addition, not having Sebastian Williams at 125 pounds for the tournament due to a minor knee injury hurt the Senecas' chances of a team title, he said.

"Joe Brodman had a real tight matchup with the Hohman kid; that's crucial for later in the year seeding," Kokensparger said. "A lot of (teams) we'll see later, and it's also good to see Division I kids. This is a good tournament for us.

"(Today) is gonna be a big day, but it's also gonna be a tough day," he said, noting that

Joe Brodman, Bowers and Mullen face top-seeded opponents in the semifinals.

Also for Calvert, Gase got two wins before his loss to Price, Jacob Brodman got two before falling in the quarters and Mat Buchman (130) also got a first-round win. Three other Senecas also will be in the consolations.

Williams improved to 8-1 with a pair of first-period pins to highlight Columbian's first-day effort, while Derik Kopp (6-2) won by decision and pin and Justin Kopp (8-0) by pin and technical fall. Valentine improved to 7-2 with a major decision in the first round before holding on for an 8-7 win over Kirby.

Drew Desjardins (119), Blodgett at 130 and Trey Tyree (171) also got first-round wins for Columbian before falling, and Caleb Vrancken (140) got a consolation win. Five other Tornadoes also will compete in the consolations.

"They'll battle back through and hopefully get a place," Long said. "Jett Hurt (135) losing in the first round, I thought he would win, and we had a lot of coin flips we could've won or should've won."

Hopewell-Loudon's Miles Chapman, the top seed at 160 pounds and another returning state qualifier, easily improved to 16-2. He wrestled just 9 seconds in the first round before his opponent defaulted, then breezed to a 17-1 technical fall of Margaretta's James Wiedenheft in just 2:29. Kapelka (16-0) had perhaps the easiest day of any wrestlers, getting a first-round bye before pinning Bather in just 38 seconds to earn a semifinal bout with Mullen.

"Both Miles and Aaron are every experienced wrestlers, and very mature," H-L coach Joe Hoelzle said. "They did basically what I expected of them."

Kirby got two wins before his loss to Valentine at 152, and Jared Wickham (140) and Luke Swartzmiller (215) got wins before falling into the consolation bracket, where they will join Hohman.

Fostoria's Angelo Eufracio (135) got one win before falling into the consolations, where he ended the day with another victory. Brandon August (160) also got a win before falling, and nine other Redmen also will compete in the consolations.