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Miamisburg wrestling wins renewal of rivalry

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By John Cummings, Contributing Writer 11:40 PM Thursday, December 22, 2011

When Miamisburg High School wrestling coach Willie Wineberg and West Carrollton coach Angelo Mastro decided to revive the Black and Blue dual meet, a lesson in history had to be taught.

“Some of the kids thought we were starting a rivalry with them,” Miamisburg assistant coach Greg Pittroff said. “I told the whole history to them.”

Part of that lesson was pulling the traveling trophy out of the coaches office, where it has been for most of the five years since the dual was stopped.

“Most of the kids had never seen the trophy,” Pittroff said.

Pittroff was 4-0 in the rivalry as a Pirate wrestler in the late 1980s.

“This is always one of the highlights for me,” Pittroff said. “It is awesome to have it back and I am even more glad because it was a competitive match.”

Miamisburg overcame a slow start to win the match 36-30 on Wednesday, cutting West Carrollton’s series lead to 29-10.

“Everyone from the past came in and talked to us about it,” Miamisburg junior Jordan Branham said. “It was really intense and my nerves were a little different before this match. It is a different atmosphere.”

Pittroff’s son — freshman Grant — claimed a 8-2 decision to run the family’s mark to 5-0 in the dual. For the head coaches, renewing the rivalry was needed.

“It was a fun time, I am glad we brought it back,” Wineberg said. “Selling the sport of wrestling is hard to do and having a match this important helps. Hopefully, we can build it up to where it was in the past.”

Giving back: Christmas for one local family will be a little more special thanks to the Dayton Christian wrestlers.

The Warriors adopted a family for the holidays. The family consists of two grandparents with custody of seven grandchildren ranging from the ages of 10 and younger, including a set of twins.

“It showed there is more to life than wrestling,” DC coach Ted Bray said. “They had never had a Christmas, and to see our kids rally around a family in their time of need was really cool.”

The parents and wrestlers took donations, which included winter coats and money. They also shopped at Walmart, aided by Christmas lists, and wrapped.

“They took a lot of pride in doing this the right way,” Bray said. “For them to step up and help another family the way they did. ... I don’t think I could have a better group of kids.”

Walmart donated money to the cause, which Bray used to purchase a crock pot and other cooking items for the grandparents.

Making an impact: As holiday tournaments near, area freshmen are making an impact.

Bellbrook’s Cameron Kelly is unbeaten. He had three pins and a 15-0 technical fall win to claim the Edgewood title.

Miami Valley’s Matthew Kolodzik advanced to the 106 finals at the Ironman — regarded as one of the toughest tournaments in the country — before falling 3-2 to Johnson Mai of North Torrence, Calif.

Kelly and Kolodzik could meet in the GMVWA Holiday tournament at the Nutter Center on Dec. 29-30.

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