State wrestling: Dixie’s Coffman ‘right on schedule’ at 46-0

Dixie 285-pound senior Cameron Coffman wore a tired smile following his first-round match at the state wrestling tournament Thursday afternoon at the Schottenstein Center.

After missing state as a junior, Coffman remained undefeated, improving to 46-0 with a pin in 3:26 over Swanton’s Thomas Lytle to advance to Friday morning’s quarterfinals

“I feel like I am right on schedule,” Coffman said. “I think this goes back to everything I put in my little jar and it feels good that my hard work is paying off.”

That hard work began shortly after finishing fifth at the district tournament as a junior.

“I know everybody who got here worked hard, but I feel I made this possible with all the work I did since last year.

“I feel comfortable in my draw, but I’d feel comfortable with any draw because I worked hard enough that I would be OK with whatever it was.”

Miami East’s Graham Shore also feels good with his draw, even coming off his first defeat in the district finals. He cruised to the quarters with a 18-8 win in the first round.

“I’m always nervous before the first match, but I’m not scared like I was my freshman year,” Shore said. “The jitters are out and I wanted to set a tone for the weekend. Once I got going, I felt great.”

Shore spent the week doing some tweaking after losing to Legacy Christian’s Tommy Hoskins in the finals at district.

“It was just working on the finer points,” Shore said. “I need to show all the hard work pays off.”

Coffman and Shore will have a lot of local company in the quarters as local wrestlers went 25-9 in the opening round.

Division I: Centerville 220 Jacob Charette pulled one of the upsets of the first day.

Charette, who exited the district as the fourth-place finisher, knocked off Hilliard Darby district champ Brian Zimmerman of Dublin Scioto 4-3 to advance to the quarters.

Freshmen Andrew Knick (Northmont, 113) and Fairmont’s Nevan Snodgrass (145) also won their first-ever matches at the state tournament while Miamisburg senior Elijah Perkins (132) recorded a four-point move as time expired to claim a 10-4 decision.

It was an up-and-down day for Northmont’s Craft brothers. Chase Craft cruised to a 13-1 win at 126 while Chad Craft dropped a 9-7 decision in sudden victory.

Division II: Graham went 11-for-11 in the first round to jump to the top of the leaderboard in D-II.

The Falcons put 40 points on the board to lead second-place Wauseon by 20 points-

On deck: Wrestling continues today at 10 a.m. Semifinals begin at 6:15 p.m. following the coach-of-the-year ceremonies.

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