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Coldwater's Gavin Zibrida tries to turn Celina's Zach Greber over for a pin attempt during their 150-pound bout at Friday's wrestling contest at the Palace. Greber rallied to win a 5-4 decision en route to the Bulldogs winning the match 51-19.
COLDWATER - Instead of the dribbling of basketballs on the Palace floor on Friday night, mat action was the main event as Coldwater and Celina faced off in a battle of Mercer County teams for the fifth time on Friday nights. The theme of the night was Heroes Night, honoring veterans, police officers, firefighters and first responders with each Coldwater wrestler wearing a warmup shirt that honoring a name of a veteran or first responder.
The Bulldogs retained the traveling trophy for county bragging rights by beating the Cavaliers 51-19 on a night that also featured junior high and elementary bouts.
"This is always a nice event," said Celina coach James Miracle. "Lot of community people here. Good night of wrestling. Nice thing we've had going for five years on Friday night. Good night whenever you win, but we might have a few injuries that's concerning this late in the season."
Coldwater's Austin Hamilton and Celina's Aaren King lock up during a 132-pound bout.
Opening at 113 pounds, Celina jumped out right away with Kaleb Krogman pinning Aiden Norris in 2:21. The Cavaliers voided out at 120 and 126, but Coldwater picked up the first of three straight wins at 132 as Austin Hamilton took an 11-1 major decision over Aaren King. Tanner Stammen followed at 138 with a pin on Payten Staugler in 3:17 and Brady Hamilton picked up a 10-3 win over Luke Maxwell at 144 to cut Celina's lead to 18-13.
The 150-pound bout had excitement as Coldwater's Gavin Zibrida got a takedown in the third period to tie the bout at 4-4. After being unable to turn Zach Greber for back points, Zibrida cut loose to make it 5-4 Greber. Zibrida tried to score a winning takedown, but Greber held on for the 5-4 decision.
Celina's Luke Lazarich tries to pull Coldwater's Aidan Laux down for a pinfall attempt.
The started another Celina streak. Carver Harris picked up the win at 157 via a 10-6 decision over Sam Rismiller. At 165, Wes Greber pinned Jordan Houser with 22 seconds remaining in the bout. Celina's Luke Lazarich made it two straight Bulldog pins, recording his in 1:21 over Aidan Laux. At 190, Celina's Josh Sweeney went the distance against Eddie Cervantes before getting the 12-6 decision.
After Coldwater voided at 215, the Cavaliers picked up a final victory at 285 as Troy Milligan pinned Brady Steinbrunner in 2:45. The last bout of the night came at 106, where Celina's Kenzie Miracle needed just 18 seconds to score the pin on Linda Rohrer.
Despite the margin, Coldwater coach Aaron Alig came away pleased with his team's determination.
"I don't think the score shows it all," said Alig. "We had to void three spots and knew (the 106 match with All-Ohioan Kenzie Miracle) was one we weren't going to win. I thought we wrestled great overall. (Celina) is solid from 150 to 190 and we only gave up two pins. I was happy with how we wrestled."
Celina is back on the Palace mats this morning as it competes in Coldwater's second invitational of the season.
