PPT Slide
Sunday, February 20, 2005
By JIM THOMAS Repository sports writer
PERRY TWP. — Dustin and Dante were dominant. Hartley showed heart, and Mizer was miserly. Miller was a killer, Straughn was too strong and Big Ben was as consistent as a clock. Perry High School’s Chris Hartley (119), Zach Mizer (130), Thomas Straughn (140) and Dustin Schlatter (145); Jackson’s Dante Rini (103) and Ben Johnson (125); and Lake’s Mike Miller (160) all won titles Saturday at the Perry Division I district wrestling tournament. Hartley, Schlatter, Straughn and Miller defended their district titles in earning their way back to the state tournament. But GlenOak’s Nick Roman was king, claiming the 215-pound championship the hard way, beating two of the state’s best in overtime to earn his third trip to Columbus. The key to overtime victories, the Golden eagle senior said, “was to get the coin flip and score first.” He should know. Roman lost last year’s district title in overtime before taking fifth in the state at 189. Last week, he lost the sectional title to New Philadelphia’s Mark Sexton in double overtime when Sexton got to choose and escaped to win. Roman got his first district title and avenged his loss to Sexton, both by scoring first, then getting out. Shaker Heights’ Nick Simon bull-rushed Roman during the final minute of the third period of their semifinal match, coming so hard, so fast that the pair knocked into GlenOak head coach Tom Milkovich, who ended up flat on his back with his chair nearly in the stands. But Roman didn’t back down. Not even when his takedown was taken off the board at the last second of regulation. “I knew if I didn’t win I might not get back to state,” Roman said. “I knew I could get out.” Get out he did, as Roman escaped Simon’s hold with six seconds left. Then Roman did to Sexton in the finals what Sexton had done to him during last week’s sectional finals. Sexton held Roman down for 15 seconds, but Roman was able to bust free on his third try with 10 seconds left to win 2-1. “Look at the road he had to take to win this championship,” Milkovich said. “That’s something.” So were the other district winners. Rini edged Brian Blakeman’s projected state champion Tony Jamieson of Fitch, 6-5, in the semis, then beat Shaker Heights’ Aaron Reese, 17-6, in the finals. It was Rini’s second win in four tries this season against Jamieson, a freshman. “I finally got to get him back (for losing in the Brecksville finals),” Rini said of the Jamieson. “The next one will really show (who is best).”Johnson made it two winners for the Polar Bears when he topped Lake’s Cory Smith, 6-3, in a rematch of the Hoover sectional final. He got a first-period takedown to assume the lead, then scored a reverse in the third period to go up 4-1. “Ben is Ben,” Jackson head coach Dan Funk said. “Cory’s a good wrestler and I’m glad he is going. He was trying to keep it close. But we’re fine with that.” Hartley and Mizer kept it close, too. Hartley won, 1-0, over Solon’s Ricky Floyd in the finals needing to control Floyd the entire third period. “He held his own,” Hartley said of Floyd. “But I could have done better. I’m disappointed with how I performed. But it will help me out next week.” Mizer’s final was a 2-1
