The City Series and Suburban League wrestling postseason events are Saturday. History is expected to repeat itself in both events.
Kenmore will host the City Series wrestling championship dual meets at 10 a.m. Saturday. The Cardinals are seeking their eighth consecutive league title under coach Lee Thompson.
Thompson said Kenmore returns two City Series champions, seniors Caleb Easton and Steven Vinson. Easton won at 145 pounds and Vinson at 215. They will compete at 145 and 220 Saturday.
Firestone returns three City Series champions, juniors Austin Qualls (119 last year, now 120), Tom Lehman (140/145) and Vince Musci (160/182).
Falcons coach Mark Avcollie said Firestone defeated Kenmore 48-23 in a dual earlier this season, but that six wrestlers from the team that day will not be competing Saturday due to injuries and other issues.
“Kenmore is the favorite until somebody beats them,” Avcollie said.
Thompson said there will be five teams competing: Kenmore, Firestone, Ellet, Buchtel and North. There will be five rounds of team duals, and each team will have a bye round.
A short coaches meeting will follow the fifth round to decide what weights will need a final match to decide individual places.
Wadsworth coach John Gramuglia said the Grizzlies will be competing for their 20th consecutive outright or shared Suburban League title Saturday when the finals start at 5 p.m. at Revere.
Wadsworth posted a 7-0 record in league dual meets. Seniors Kagan Squire and Nick Tavanello return as league champions. Squire won at 125 in 2011 and will be at 132 Saturday. Tavanello won at 215 last year and will be at 285 Saturday.
Highland, Nordonia and Green will also be in the mix at the top of the standings.
Walsh defeats rivals
The Walsh Jesuit wrestling team defeated rivals St. Vincent-St. Mary (42-28) and Archbishop Hoban (46-27) on Wednesday at Hoban.
Walsh had seven wrestlers post 2-0 records in the tri-match — freshman Stefan Plevris (112), junior Cory Stainbrook (119), sophomore Michael Kostandaras (125), senior twin brothers Nic Skonieczny (130) and Nate Skonieczny (140), junior Brad Ward (145) and junior Nick Rumple (160).
“They wrestled real well,” Walsh coach Fred Daugherty said. “We are starting to get ready for the postseason, and they are starting to turn it up a little bit.”
St. V-M had five wrestlers go 2-0 — freshman John Chell (103), sophomore Ryan Skonieczny (135), sophomore Aaron Adkins (171), senior Ray Stone (215) and freshman Dre’k Brumley (285).
The Fighting Irish defeated the Knights 56-24 in a dual.
Senior Jake Huber (112) and junior Peter James (152) paced Hoban.
Manchester is No. 1
Coach Tucker Pappas has led the Manchester girls basketball team to the No. 1 ranking in the Associated Press Division II state poll, edging previously top-ranked Dayton Carroll.
The Panthers are among seven area girls basketball teams that are ranked, and four others are almost in the top 10.
Reynoldsburg is No. 1 in Division I, but Lake (second) and Twinsburg (fourth) are not far behind. Canton McKinley is 10th. Wadsworth, North Canton Hoover and Hudson are just outside the top 10.
Ravenna is third in Division II, and Archbishop Hoban is eighth. Smithville checks in at No. 3 in Division III, and Orrville is just outside the top 10.
Alliance and East give the area two ranked boys basketball teams in Division II, with the Aviators No. 2 behind Dayton Dunbar and the Dragons seventh.
Norwayne, at No. 7 in Division III, is the only other area boys basketball team ranked.
East vs. Firestone II
The East and Firestone boys’ basketball teams will play again at 7 tonight in the City Series regular-season finale at East.
It will be round two for the Dragons (15-1, 11-0) and Falcons (13-3, 9-2), who have each clinched spots for round three, the league playoff title game at 7 p.m. Feb. 17 at Firestone.
“There’s going to be a sellout crowd [tonight] at our place,” East senior guard Davonte Brunson said. “Everybody wants to see the top two teams in the City, and that will be the game Friday and then next Friday. I am pretty sure a lot of people will come out and watch both games.”
The Dragons won the first matchup over the host Falcons 100-97 in double-overtime Jan. 17 after senior guard Mycle Shadie banked in a 3-pointer from near mid-court to complete a dramatic comeback.
“I was home [the other night], and I watched the East game twice,” Firestone coach Dave Milo said. “It is amazing how bad we looked in that game. Some of it is their defense, but I’m thinking, gosh if we play semi-normal we will be OK. We just really looked bad. They played pressure D, but I’m thinking we will be able to handle that a little better the second time around.”
East coach Ross Fiorello was not pleased with his team’s effort during a 68-60 victory over host Kenmore on Tuesday. East faces Archbishop Hoban on Tuesday between the Firestone games and then plays Austintown Fitch before the postseason starts.
“We could lose all three coming up,” Fiorello said. “If we bring what we brought [Tuesday] to those three games we could get swept. Then we have Fitch on the 18th, and that could be four in a row if we don’t bring our game.
“I don’t think we match up real well with Firestone. We just don’t. There are certain teams you don’t match up well with. Their guards are bigger than ours and their post guys are quicker than ours. We are not going to score 100 this time, so I am just going to maybe pray a lot.”
Junior forwards Jerome Lane and Kevin Gladney guided Firestone over host Walsh Jesuit 69-65 in overtime Tuesday. Both expect the games with East to be close.
Falcons senior guard Stefan Willis said his team needs to cut down on its turnovers offensively and play better transition defense.
“That first one [with East], we will come out and mix it up and see what we can do better,” Willis said. “That last game was a good game down to the wire, double-overtime and they won on a buzzer beater. We come into this game with the mindset that we know we can beat them, so this time we will try to cut back on the mistakes we made and get a W this time. Then going into the championship we will try and make a repeat [performance].”
East will have other plans as it will try to add a league playoff title to the league regular-season percentage title it already earned.
“These next two games with Firestone are going to be real tough,” Dragons junior forward Brandon Townsend said.
College commitments
• Walsh Jesuit senior Zack Leonatti has made a commitment to continue his academic and baseball careers at Ohio Northern University.
Leonatti, a 6-foot-3 and 205-pound first baseman, posted a .313 batting average in 2011 and helped the Warriors compile a 20-3 record.
• Cuyahoga Falls senior Alex Tulley will sign today to continue his academic and soccer careers at Shawnee State University.
Michael Beaven can be reached at 330-996-3829 or mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the high school blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/varsity_letters/. Also follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MBeavenABJ. Follow ABJ sports on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sports.abj.
