State Wrestling Duals: Beavercreek falls to state power; Brookville, Versailles reach semifinals

Teams tagged with high seeds at the OHSAA state wrestling dual team tournament understand moral victories are more common than actual wins.

That was the situation facing Beavercreek on Sunday morning at St. John Arena in Columbus. Beavercreek entered as the No. 8 seed in the eight-team Division I tournament and faced four-time and defending state champion Lakewood St. Edward.

Beavercreek was making its inaugural appearance at the state dual championships. St. Edward hasn’t missed one yet in the tournament’s eight-year run. And when the two teams met back in December at a quad meet, St. Ed’s won 60-14.

“They didn’t score 60 points this time,” said Beavercreek coach Gary Wise said with a good-natured laugh.

St. Ed’s did win 52-13 but the Beavers did score four victories against the perennial state power. Freshman Cameron Mink won 7-6 at the 106-pound weight class, senior Gavin Bell won 18-5 at 182, freshman Tyler Hicks won 3-2 at 195 and senior Justin Knipper won 9-3 at 285.

The experience the Beavers gained from wrestling in historic St. John Arena was well worth the trip.

“This is great. Any time you get a chance to wrestle one more match and you wrestle the level of St. Ed’s, it’s a good thing,” Wise said. “What I’m most impressed about is all our guys fought. Every single guy fought. Nobody backed down. I couldn’t be more proud of the effort they gave knowing we went up against the best team in the state.”

In the Division III meet, No. 5 Brookville also qualified for the first time and No. 3 Versailles made its fifth appearance and third straight. Both reached Sunday’s semifinals before falling.

Brookville knocked off No. 4 Pemberville Eastwood 43-28 in the quarterfinals before losing to No. 1 Milan Edison 56-15 in the semis. Versailles beat No. 6 Canfield South Range 40-20 in the quarters. The Tigers then gave No. 2 Apple Creek Waynedale everything it had in a heartbreaking 33-29 loss.

Versailles trailed 30-17 with three matches left. The Tigers rallied with a pin by senior Isaac Grilliot at 195 pounds to pull within 30-23. Sophomore Brayden Keihl took down his opponent with seconds left in the match but couldn’t get control for the takedown and fell 4-3 to clinch the win for Waynedale. Versailles junior Austin Nerderman finished the match with a pin in 1:32 seconds.

“You look back at every match and could pick up a point here and there,” Versailles coach A.J. Bey said. “The kids wrestled hard. Waynedale has a good team. We can’t hang our heads about a whole lot.”

Brookville won its inaugural match against Eastwood with victories by freshman Logan Jones (109), senior Devin Myers (145), junior Gianni Carey (152), senior Chase Dyer (170), senior Luke Williams (182), senior Sadler Henson (195), senior Matt Hamm (220) and senior Jon Mitchell (285). Williams, Hamm and Mitchell also won their matches against Edison.

Edison beat Waynedale 57-14 in the championship match.

“I was happy with it for the most part. We had to be perfect to beat Milan Edison,” Brookville coach Sam Samuel said. “We just got pinned too many times. We have to let it go. I’m proud of them for a final four finish.

“(St. John Arena) is a cool venue with a lot of history here. I was a little nervous but I tried not to show it to them.”

If the Blue Devils were feeling the jitters wrestling in front of 2,427 spectators – a tournament record for the quarterfinal and semifinal sessions – they shook them off, just like they did Eastwood. Eastwood won five of the first six matches 25-6 lead. The Blue Devils responded by winning seven of the next eight, including four by pin and a forfeit.

“We haven’t been here before so it was a good day for us,” Samuel said. “I’m happy for them.”

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