A mighty struggle

VAN WERT - St. Marys entered Saturday with a chance to win its first Western Buckeye League wrestling championship since 1977 as the Roughriders tried to pair its regular season duals title with a tournament title at the Cougar Den in Van Wert.

Instead, Wapakoneta dominated the tournament and captured three championships to win the tournament. That, paired with St. Marys' finishing fourth in the tournament, allowed the Redskins to win the overall championship.

"We knew we were more of a dual team than a tournament team," St. Marys coach Larry Gruber said. "Wapakoneta and (Ottawa-Glandorf) pretty much dominated a lot of weight classes. We didn't have the firepower.

St. Marys, which has struggled to fill its weight classes all season, filled just 11 weight classes on Saturday with four competing for a top-four placement at the end of the day.

Sophomore Clayton Drummond gave the Roughriders its lone championship on the day as he faced the host Cougars' Killian Sudduth in the 108-pound championship bout. Drummond led 8-0 after the first period before quickly getting the pin 15 seconds into the second period.

"Last year I got pinned in the finals," Drummond said. "I really wanted to get a WBL title. I went out and got it done."

Roughrider Preston Weichart faced off against Van Wert's Isaiah Bretz in the 138-pound title bout. Bretz began to take over in the second period and scored the pin with 39 seconds remaining in the bout to claim the title.

The 172-pound championship bout went to the wire. Shawnee's Clay Adlesh had the early advantage against St. Marys' Noah Vogel. Vogel made a run in the final period but came up one point short in falling 11-10. At 184 pounds, O-G's Daniel Beemer offered a clinic on taking down an opponent against St. Marys' Tyler Miller as Beemer recorded the 23-8 technical fall victory.

In the third-place bouts, St. Marys' Parker Enoch won an 8-4 decision over Elida's Bailey Gibson. Tommy Mabry posted a 7-0 shutout of O-G's Kobe Noirot to take third at 154 and Austin Giesige pinned Van Wert's Lloyd Eutsler in 2:18 to take third at 220.

Celina, which finished tied for second in the regular season at 7-2, was hit hard by injuries and illnesses that kept several regulars out of the tournament. The Bulldogs had just three wrestlers vying for the top-four spots, but none in championship matches.

The lone victory in third-place bouts came from Nathan Wilson, who rallied in the second period to pin Shawnee's Vincent Ruscio in 2:25.

At 108, Gage Oakley lost via pin to Wapakoneta's Bryce Knapke in 2:15 and Logan Muhlenkamp lost via pin to O-G's Danny Rosales in 2:04.

Celina and St. Marys travel to Napoleon starting Friday for the Division II sectional tournament.