PPT Slide
Perry puts scare into Ohio kingpin
The Perry Panthers came so very close to ending Lakewood St. Edward’s seven-year run as champions of the Division I Ohio Duals on Sunday afternoon inside Wadsworth High School. With the rest of Ohio’s Division I schools helping out in a month and a half, the Panthers hope to be able to put a halt to another seven-year stretch for the Eagles: that as Division I state champions. If nothing else, Perry came away from its 29-28 setback to St. Edward in the championship match of the Ohio Duals feeling even more confident it can make a run at being the first team other than the Eagles to hoist the state championship trophy since 1996. “I think now they know that we’re right on their heels,” said Panther senior 145-pounder Dustin Schlatter, who posted a technical fall over St. Edward’s Mike McLaughlin to go with a pair of pins in the first two rounds of the tournament. “We’re really after their state title.” The one-point loss to St. Edward, who last lost a dual match to an Ohio opponent in 1997 (Walsh Jesuit), came on the heels of a 39-13 first-round win over Lakota West and a 42-24 victory over Wadsworth. It is the second time in three years the Panthers have finished second to the Eagles in the tournament. Perry had five wrestlers go 3-0 on the afternoon: Schlatter, Danny Genetin (103), Chris Hartley (119), Thomas Straughn (140) and Dustin Shilling (189). Another four – Scott Rooney (112), Zach Mizer (130), Adam Phillips (160) and Adam Richards (heavyweight) – went 2-1 in the event. St. Edward was deducted a team point during the 215-pound match – one won by the Eagles on a major decision – for unsportsmanlike conduct by its coaches for arguing an official’s decision. That made the score 29-22 Eagles heading into the heavyweight bout, meaning – barring another unsportsmanlike penalty against St. Edward – Perry could not win the match. Yet Richards went out and provided a boost for the Panthers as he recorded a pin of Steve Anthony for the final margin. He had also pulled out a 1-0 win against Wadsworth’s Cole LoGuidice. “We came out and did the best we could in this,” Richards said. “I wasn’t quite warmed up in the first match. But I felt in a rhythm in my last two matches.” Key for Perry remaining with a chance late was its ability to avoid surrendering pins to the Eagles. Of the eight matches won by St. Edward, five were worth bonus points, but only one was a technical fall and the Eagles were unable to pin any of the Panthers. Mizer, in his only loss of the day, may have also boosted Perry’s chances in limiting two-time state champion Lance Palmer to an 18-10 major decision at 130 pounds. It was a match in which Palmer needed to get a last-minute takedown to pick up the extra point which goes with a major decision. “Mizer’s style just matches up better with Palmer’s,” Perry coach Brian Dolph said. On the flip side, Perry received bookend pins from Genetin and Richards. The Panthers also had technical falls Schlatter and Hartley, matches in which both were close to recording pins, but ran out of time in a period before finishing it off. “There’s a lot of things that should’ve happened or could’ve happened,” Dolph said. “There’s a number of kids who could have scored an extra bonus point and there’s a couple of kids who should have won, but lost. Any one of those things happen, and we beat them.” St. Edward coach Greg Urbas certainly came away impressed with what he saw of Perry. The Panthers “They’re very, very good,” Urbas said of Perry. “They beat us as the Beast of the East (back in December) and they almost beat us at the Ironman. They’re an outstanding team and they showed that again here.” The most anticipated match of the day for the Panthers may have actually been their second-round contest with Wadsworth. But Perry took the wind out of the Grizzlies’ sails off the bat with back-to-back-to-back pins by Genetin, Rooney and Hartley for an 18-0 lead, an opening Wadsworth – which saw its 18-match win streak ended – never could completely recover from. “I think they (Wadsworth) were equally as hyped up as us,” Dolph said. “We just went after it. I think that’s the most points we’ve ever scored on them and the biggest margin of victory we’ve ever had over them.” Cincinnati Moeller finished third in the tournament, followed by Wadsworth, Lakota West, Beavercreek, Mount Vernon and Shaker Heights.
