Related: Brackets
Related: Team Standings (Top 10)
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio -- Every year, the Walsh Jesuit Ironman is hyped as "the best in-season tournament in America." Well, this year's edition of the Ironman more than lived up to the hype. The intensity, electricity, and competitive atmosphere of Ironman Saturday was surreal to say the least.
Blair (Photo/Kevin Schlosser, BuckeyeWrestling.com)The major moment of concern for Blair came in the semifinal round, when No. 2 St. Edward, Ohio took a temporary hold on the team point lead after a crazy sequence of matches from 126 through 138. In the semifinals at 126, No. 8 Dean Heil (St. Edward, Ohio) earned a 4-2 victory over No. 5 (at 132) Brandon Jeske (Cox, Va.). That came after a 3-1 Heil victory over No. 3 Joey Dance (Christiansburg, Va.) in the quarterfinal round.
At 132 pounds, the two top wrestlers in the nation were upset within a five minute span. No. 1 ranked Mark Grey (Blair Academy, N.J.) was upended by No. 18 (at 126) Randy Cruz (Bethlehem Catholic, Pa.) 9-4. Cruz took an early lead in the match, Grey was able to cut the deficit down to 6-4, but Cruz escaped and got a late takedown to close it out. "Grey is real tough," said Cruz, "I've seen him at many events, but never wrestled him before today."
Making it even worse for Blair, Edgar Bright (St. Edward, Ohio) upset No. 2 Alex Cisneros (Selma, Calif.) 5-2 in the tiebreaker. In the next weight, at 138, No. 5 Todd Preston (Blair Academy, N.J.) was upended 3-1 on a late takedown by No. 16 Austin Matthews (Reynolds, Pa.) off a crazy scramble.
However, the Buccaneers were able to recover from that, starting with Dylan Milonas at 145 pounds, who upended No. 9 Zack Dailey (Massillon Perry, Ohio) 7-5 in the tiebreaker on a reversal during the semifinal round. That came after a 1-0 victory over No. 19 Jack Clark (McDonogh, Md.) in a quarterfinal battle of National Prep runners-up with a third perod rideout. In the final, Milonas was the first of three Blair champions with a 5-3 overtime victory over No. 20 Blake Kastl (St. Paris Graham, Ohio).
"My endurance really keeps me going in these close matches," said Milonas. "It's all about the training partners that I have (at Blair, like Grey and Preston, and others) that keep pushing me and keep me going."
In that semifinal round, Blair was also able to get wins from No. 19 Frank Mattiace at 195 and No. 1 Brooks Black at 285. Those wrestlers also earned championships during the final round.
Mattiace earned a 6-1 victory against Seth Calvert (Broken Arrow, Okla.) on a five-point move late in the third period of a match that was previously tied 1-1. "Calvert hit a low ankle pick, and I trapped it to a cradle," said Mattiace.
"Being at Blair has helped me improve a ton, and I give thanks to the coaches for making me ten times a better wrestler," Mattiace added. "Competing nationally has enabled me to improve."
Black earned a 3-1 victory over No. 7 Greg Kuhar (St. Edward, Ohio) in the championship round on a third period takedown with 45 seconds remaining. That was a fifth victory for Black over Kuhar in as many meetings. Having seen him so many times, "I just have to go and execute the same plan, push the pace, and it will come," Black said. "It feels great to win a second (Ironman) title, I worked hard for it, and am thankful for the coaching (from Buxton and staff)."
Dean Heil pinned Jimmy Gulibon to win the title at 126 pounds (Photo/Kevin Schlosser, BuckeyeWrestling.com)"I warmed up the same (before each match), I knew my competition, and I wrestled my match (in all three matches)," said Heil in analyzing his run through the Saturday gauntlet at the Ironman. "I was able to overcome some distractions in training (not being able to practice the week before this one due to injury), kept my focus, and knew this was a chance to be No. 1 in America."
He more than stated his case on Ironman Saturday, and the performance was sufficient to earn Outstanding Wrestler honors. "It's totally amazing, and I fought through a heck of bracket," Heil responded when asked about earning the award.
Despite that dynamic performance from Heil, St. Edward came up just short in their attempt to upend Blair, as they scored 240-1/2 points. That total for the Eagles was the highest ever accrued by a runner-up team. No. 8 (at 160) Mark Martin gave the Eagles a second titlist with a 2-1 victory over No. 10 (at 160) Eric Morris at 170 pounds. After being ridden out in the second period, and giving up an escape with about thirty seconds remaining, the match-deciding sequence started with about fifteen seconds remaining.
Martin seized the moment, got in on a double leg attack, and blasted through the space for the match-winning takedown. "I went to what I do best," said Martin, "Morris does a good job staying in position, so I just had to go find an explosive moment to create a gap."
The Eagles placed eleven wrestlers in all, championships coming from Heil and Martin, with runner-up finishes from Bright, No. 11 Domenic Abounader at 182, and Kuhar.
Third place in the standings was No. 7 St. Paris Graham, Ohio with 167 points and a trio of champions, which tied Blair for the tournament high. Falcon champions were No. 2 (at 160) Bo Jordan winning at 152, No. 3 (at 170) Isaac Jordan winning at 160, and No. 3 (at 195) Huston Evans winning at 182. They also tied St. Edward with a tournament high five finalists, as No. 4 Ryan Taylor and Kastl were upended at 120 and 145 respectively.
Bo Jordan upended No. 2 Isaiah Martinez (Lemoore, Calif.) for his second consecutive Ironman title, by a 2-0 score on a second period takedown from a head-inside single to a dump finish. Facing such a tough opponent, Bo focused on his basic match plan, "Just go out there, do what I do, get the inside position, push the pace, and get in his face."
In the next weight, his cousin Isaac Jordan followed suit with a 5-2 victory over No. 4 (at 170) Geordan Speiller (Pine Castle Christian, Fla.). Takedowns in the first two periods were key -- they came off a head inside single and a sweep single. This was a bounce-back year for Isaac, after failing to place in last year's Ironman, then sitting out the rest of the regular season due to a hurt hamstring before winning a state title.
"I feel much better (this year)," Isaac commented, also adding that, "(Bo) is a great partner, and I have many others in the room that also push me."
Finally getting an Ironman title after finishing second last year, fourth and seventh the years before that, was Evans who upended Abounader by a 3-2 score. The match-deciding takedown came in the third period after multiple attempts fell just short of scoring. "It feels great to get one, since I've been working for this for a long time," said Evans, "I feel great this year, especially not having to cut (much if any) weight."
Earning second Ironman championships this year were No. 2 Nathan Tomasello (CVCalif., Ohio) and No. 1 Nate Skonieczny (Walsh Jesuit, Ohio) at 113 and 138 pounds respectively. Tomasello had a very rough road to his title having to get off his back in the first period against No. 14 Zeke Moisey (Bethlehem Catholic, Pa.) and catch up to a 5-0 deficit. Trailing 9-8 late in the match after three takedowns to dent into that lead, Tomasello got the go ahead takedown and pin with one second remaining in the match.
The championship match against No. 5 Joey McKenna (Blair Academy, N.J.) was no easier, despite Tomasello getting an early takedown. With the score tied 2-2, McKenna rode tough for much of the third period before Tomasello got the escape with about 30 seconds left before fending off a deep McKenna attack towards the edge of the mat inside the last ten seconds.
"I trust god, and wrestle for his glory," said Tomasello, "Just able to let things go, focus in on the task at hand, and work very hard to be in better shape (than my opponents) to be able to wrestle the full six minutes."
Skonieczny won a second title in three years at his home tournament with a pin against Matthews at the 4:41 mark. Leading 4-3 after takedowns in the second and third period, Skonieczny was in attempting a third takedown to extend the margin. Matthews tried to scramble through the attempt, but Skonieczny trapped Matthews on his back for a brief moment for the fall from the neutral position.
"I got a good pace going, hit some good shots," Skonieczny said, "When (Matthews) rolled through, I just stopped it, and got the pin, which was an especially nice feeling."
Winning additional maiden Ironman titles were No. 4 (at 113) Zahid Valencia (St. John Bosco, Calif.) at 106, No. 2 Kyle Snyder (Good Counsel, Md.) at 220, and Randy Cruz at 132.
Though ranked as the No. 1 freshman regardless of weight in the country, this was Valencia's first major in-season test. He did more than pass this test, though all three matches on Saturday were one point affairs. The quarterfinal was a 6-5 victory over Vincenzo Joseph (Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pa.), then a 5-4 victory over No. 11 (at 113) Johnson Mai (North Torrence, Calif.) before the 3-2 finals victory over No. 5 Matthew Kolodzik (Miami Valley School, Ohio).
Key to the Valencia finals victory was a second period takedown, the only one of the match. "The Ironman comes with pressure, but I've been here before over my youth career," said Valencia, "I also have great partners that push me and help prepare me for challenges during the matches."
Snyder, a sophomore sensation who is ranked No. 2 in that grade, added another notch to his resume with a 3-2 finals victory over No. 6 A.J. Vizcarrando (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.). A first period takedown held up as the key part of the margin, as he was able to replicate his National Prep finals victory over the same opponent.
"It's been a lot of hard work with some great people and coaches that have enabled me to elevate to that next level (so early in my career)," said Snyder.
Rounding out the champions was a three-time Ironman champion No. 3 George DiCamillo (St. Ignatius, Ohio) at 120 pounds. He became just the ninth wrestler to win three Ironman titles; David Taylor (Penn State/St. Paris Graham, Ohio) won four titles, and would make it ten that have won three or more. DiCamillo did so in entertaining fashion, as he made a statement against Ryan Taylor with an 11-4 major decision victory. Keys to the match were a Peterson counter takedown in the first period and five-point reversal to the back in the second period, which made it 7-0.
Having wrestled Taylor on multiple occasions, including last year's 6-5 Ironman finals victory, DiCamillo knew that he "had to mix it up a bit and keep (Taylor) guessing."
"It hasn't really sunk in yet," said DiCamillo of winning a third Ironman title, "however, I'm really excited."
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