PPT Slide
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Bears’ Johnson posts two pins, moves to semis
By JIM THOMAS Repository sports writer
NORTH CANTON — Ben Johnson says nothing beats losing.Well, almost nothing.“The best matches are the ones I’ve lost,” the Jackson High School senior 125-pound wrestler said Friday night at the North Canton Division I sectional tournament.Johnson, the tournament’s top seed, has lost only to last year’s 112-pound Division III state champion Adam Koballa of St. Peter Chanel; last year’s Division II state champion in Eastwood’s Ryan Cubberly and Mayfield’s Matt Lerer, the Brakeman Report’s projected 130-pound Division I state champion.But losing is not an option. Johnson posted two pins, each in a minute or less, to improve to 32-4 and advance to today’s 11 a.m. quarterfinal match against GlenOak’s Brandon Cantera.“I just like to get them over with quick,” Johnson said. “Get off the mat, keep focused.”Johnson has been focused since losing the 112-pound sectional championship to Perry’s Chris Hartley last year. It was Hartley’s first win over Johnson.“That was just a bad match, my head wasn’t in it,” Johnson said. “But it ended up a good finish.”Hartley went on to take third in the state and Johnson grabbed fifth. The two won’t meet this year, however, as Hartley moved up a class to 119.“It’s nice not to be in the same class with Chris for once,” Johnson said. “It’s my senior year. I’m trying to step it up and win a state title. I’m definitely a lot more serious.”It took some experimenting for Johnson to figure out what weight to get to.“I started at 130. I did well,” he said. “Then I went to 125, and did well, and I decided to stay at 125. I’m not losing as much energy on the mat.”Johnson is trying to go on offense more. He’ll need it to win a state title at 125. None other than Lakewood St. Edward’s Ryan Palmer, last year’s 112 champion and a two-time state champ, has also bumped up two weights.“We’ll worry about (Palmer) when we get there,” Johnson said.There was one win that has stood out above the others this year, even more than the losses, Johnson said.“Probably my best match was against Nick Bodnar of Austintown Fitch,” he said. “I bumped up two classes and wound up beating him. He’s the predicted state runner-up at 135.”That win was something to build on, just like Friday’s wins were a starting point for the rest of the tournament.
As expected, Perry built on a great regular season by advancing 11 into today’s quarterfinals. The Panthers had 10 of the 11 earn at least one pin, with Hartley, Zach Mizer (130), Dustin Schlatter (145), Corey Nelson (152) and Dustin Shilling (189) each getting two pins.Danny Genetin (103), Scott Rooney (112), Greg Busby (171) and Devyn Hoffner (215) each had a pin and a win for Perry. The Panthers also got a major decision and a decision from Adam Phillips (160) and a pin and bye from Thomas Straughn (140) to roll atop the team standings with 110 points, followed by GlenOak (75.5), Green (73) and New Philadelphia (72.5).Lorenzo Grizzard, Massillon’s 189-pounder, and GlenOak’s 103-pounder, B.J. Boosz, each scored two pins to power into the quarters. Also winning twice to reach the quarters were Jackson’s Derek Spuhler (112) and Mike Filicky (119), Kyle Allesandro (135) of GlenOak and Hoover’s Chris Douglas (112).
