By Gary R. Rasberry
grasberry@dailystandard.com COLUMBUS -- Day two for the Coldwater wrestling team was not nearly as successful as day one.
As the smoke cleared on Friday at the Schottenstein Center, the Cavaliers will still have a representative on the podium Saturday night, but not as high as planned.
Seniors Andy Schmidt and Kenny Platfoot both lost their opening bouts in the Division III portion of the 69th State Wrestling Tournament, dropping them to the consolation bracket.
Schmidt recovered to win his first consolation match, securing a place on the podium, going for a chance at seventh place this morning at 11 a.m.
For Schmidt, the start of the day was a rough going. Otsego's Sli Bostelman was the foe at 152 pounds and like Wetzel against Platfoot, got the early takedown, finally pinning Schmidt in 3:09. "I knew I didn't want to be on the bottom," said Schmidt. "I wrestled him before at (the) LCC (Invitational) and he killed me when I was on the bottom."
Schmidt dropped down to face Andrew Scavuzzo of Woodbridge in the consolation round. Trailing 2-0 early, Schmidt got a reversal late in the third period and put Scavuzzo on his back for points. A second before the end of the match, Schmidt got the pin to earn a place on the podium.
The win also made Schmidt the winningest Cavalier wrestler in school history with 130 wins, breaking Kyle Oswalt's mark of 129 set last season.
Now Schmidt will join Oswalt as the only Coldwater wrestlers in school history to place at the state tournament.
"I achieved my goal to make the podium," said Schmidt. "The record isn't that important. It's doing as much as you can at state while you're there."
A win in his second consolation match on Friday gave Schmidt a chance to place as high as third place on Saturday. Schmidt faced off against Nelsonville-York's Jake Mohney. Mohney got the early takedown and was able to hold off any counters by Schmidt, getting a third-period pin to send Schmidt to the seventh-place match.
"I was able to get my shot in. He just somehow rolled on top of me every time," said Schmidt about his last bout on Friday.
Platfoot faced off against Clayton Wetzel of River Valley in his opeing 125-pound bout. Wetzel got the early takedown and compiled the points against Platfoot before getting the pin in 1:44 during the first period.
That put Platfoot in a win-or-go home battle against Chase Clark of Belmont Union Local. Clark scored early on Platfoot and kept the pressure up, picking up an 18-5 win over Platfoot, who ends his season at 35-11.
The last Cavalier to reach the mats on Friday was Tyler Kunk, who was in a must-win situation after losing his first match of the day on Thursday.
Waynedale's Adam Kelley was the first opponent in the first round of the consolation bracket on Friday.
Kelley got out strong and didn't take long to send Kunk home for the season, pinning the Cavalier sophomore in 58 seconds. |
