Handell and Blevins Place Runner-up at Bucyrus Pool Tournament

Four wildcat wrestlers placed at the Bucyrus 37th Annual Pool Tournament this weekend.  Senior, Matthew Handell and Sophomore Isaac Blevins lead the way with second place honors for the tournament. The team placed twelfth out of fifteen teams from Northern Ohio with 41.5 points. 

Bluffton High School won the tournament with two champions and eight placers scoring 140 total points.  Riverdale, with only a five team roster, managed to place sixth with three placers scoring 76.5 points. Upper Sandusky placed 8th with 51.5 points.

Handell, wrestling at 215 lbs, pinned his first four opponents during the pool rounds over Cole Seifert of Calvert (:15), Andrew Jones of Calvert (:24), Jesus Rivera of Bluffton (:12) and Alex Ellis of Northwood (1:00) to advance to face Hayden Butcher of Bucyrus in the finals.  After a scoreless first period, Butcher chose down and was able to secure a reversal, but Handell was able to regain control and scored a reversal also to tie up the match.  However, still in the second period, during a scramble, Handell was hit with a locking hands penalty and then gave up an escape to Butcher that left him two points down going in the final period.  Handell chose the nuetral position to start the third on their feet, but wasn’t able to secure a takedown to regain the lead.  Butcher was hit with a stalling penalty for one point, but end up coming out on top with a score of 4-3.  Handell placed second going 4-1 on the day.

Blevins also won all his pool round matchups at 165 lbs defeating Ashland’s Cooper Smith (TF, 15-0), Gabrial Garcia of Lorain (Dec. 9-3), Butler’s Jayce Butler (TF, 15-0), and Wyatt Makeever of Bucyrus (TF, 15-0) to advance to the finals.  Blevins faced last years district qualifier, Ethan Lewis, from Upper Sandusky.  Lewis was able to score three takedowns in the match, but wasn’t able to keep Blevins down who scored two escapes and a late takedown himself late in the third period.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to overcome the early deficit and Blevins dropped a decision by a score of 9-5.  Blevins also placed second going 4-1 on the day.

Senior, Karson Davis, defeated Kyle Heller of McComb (TF, 18-3) and Mohawk’s Hezekiah Ramirez (Maj. 11-0) in the early rounds to a four-man championship bracket.  Micah Rehm of Bluffton narrowly defeated Davis (12-9) in the semi-finals and then Davis bounced back and pinned Corey Pounders (1:57) of Clay High School to earn third at the tournament going 3-1 for the day.

Despite going 2-1 on the day, Brison Laubis, fell victim to a three-way tie-breaker in the pool rounds, leaving him watching an opponent he defeated place third.

The team will travel to Riverdale for a Tri-meet with Ada and then travel to Elida to face the bulldogs on Thursday next week.

Team Results:

113 – Sierra Vansky (0-4)

132 – Harrison Brien (2-3)

144 – Karson Davis (3-1) 3rd

165 – Isaac Blevins (4-1) 2nd

175 – Isaiah Poland (0-3)

175 – Michael Hare (2-2) 8th

190 – Braxten Lyon (0-2)

215 – Matthew Handell (4-1) 2nd

285 – Brison Laubis (2-1)