Rock Jordan of St. Paris Graham gets his hand raised after winning the Walsh Ironman (Photo/Sam Janicki)Ohio's two best teams for a generation will collide in their annual dual meet on Saturday at 7 p.m. when No. 5 St. Paris Graham travels to Lakewood to take on No. 8 St. Edward. The traveling Falcons seek to avenge last year's 30-26 defeated, which ended their four-year dual meet win streak over St. Edward; both teams were short-handed in last year's dual meet, so hopefully each squad has their most representative team on the mat come Saturday night.
St. Paris Graham finished runners-up at last month's Walsh Jesuit Ironman. Though winning their last three events, the Falcons have done so while not at full strength. Though returning state champion and 126-pound Ironman runner-up Jordan Crace is no longer on the roster, all indications are the remaining best available lineup is set to take the mat. Graham has won the last seventeen individual state titles in Division II, and is prohibitively favored to do so again, while they have swept the five dual team state tournaments so far contested.
St. Edward placed sixth in the Walsh Ironman with four medalists in that tournament, but another six wrestlers that missed placement by a single match. The previous week the Eagles swept a pair of nationally ranked teams in dual meets, and subsequently have competed in eight dual meets against nationally ranked opponents, winning seven of them (the lone loss coming via a blowout against Montini Catholic (Ill.) in the championship match at The Clash XVI). This program has 31 individual state tournament titles in Division I, including 19 of the last 21, and are favored to add to that collection this season; while on dual team side, the Eagles have back-to-back titles and three of the five.
Upping the ante this season is that the match on Saturday night may be a prelude to the state dual team tournament final in three weeks, as St. Paris Graham has opted to compete up in the Division I dual team tournament. Below are the projected lineups for the match on Saturday night.
106: Trace Braun (G) vs. Richard Delsanter (SE)
In a dual meet projected to be extraordinarily close, every match carries a heightened importance, even this one between a pair of relatively unheralded freshmen. While each is viewed as a projected state qualifier, it is the Eagle freshmen Delsanter viewed as the favorite in this match; he went 2-2 at the Walsh Ironman, while Braun went two-and-out. Should Delsanter somehow get to bonus points in this bout, that would be a hidden bonus for St. Edward
113: No. 20 Tanner Jordan (G) vs. Scott Richter/Hudson Poole (SE)
The Jordan who is not related to the Jeff and Jim whose sons are Ben, Isaac, Bo, Micah, and Rocky is a good wrestler in his own right. Tanner placed third at the state tournament last year as a freshman, and had a most excellent Ironman placing fourth in this weight class. Fellow sophomore Richter has made it to the second day of the Ironman each of the last two seasons, finishing one match short of placement last month. However, he has been in and out of the lineup since then, with fellow sophomore Poole available in reserve.
120: Alek Martin (G) vs. Angelo Rini (SE)
Martin entered high school already well known as a junior high state champion, and further emerged with his eighth-place finish at the Ironman. Rini placed fifth last year as a sophomore at 106 pounds one year after being closed out of the lineup by a state chamion; this season he missed placement at the Ironman by one match. Both Martin and Rini lost their last Ironman match to the same opponent (Matt Lackman), Martin by a 1-0 decision and Rini 6-4 in overtime.
126: Nick Moore (G) vs. Bryce Hepner (SE)
The freshman Moore also entered high school a junior high state champion, and also known commodity based partly on older brothers Brent (a starter at Virginia Tech as a redshirt freshman) and Mitch (a senior on this Graham team). He did not compete at the Ironman, but since has jumped into this spot with Crace no longer in the picture. Hepner was kind of an unexpected state runner-up last season as a freshman. After not doing so well in Cadet freestyle this summer, he bounced back at the start of this season, placing eighth at the Ironman with wins over Illinois and California state champions; subsequent performances have been a mixed bag.
132: Isaiah Stickley (G) vs. No. 16 Matt Kazimir (SE)
Outside of the 285-pound match, this is the best opportunity for the Eagles to find bonus points, which could play a valuable role in this dual meet. Two-time state medalist Kazimir missed out on placement by a match at the Ironman this year, though he placed at the Ironman last year as a sophomore. The sophomore Stickley went two-and-out at the Ironman.
138: No. 4 J.D. Stickley (G) vs. Bryce Andonian (SE)
Returning state champion J.D. Stickley came out of nowhere last year at the Ironman to appear on the podium after two years as a backup. After a second day appearance at the Super 32 Challenge, but not placing, the Ironman served as another major leap for Stickley last month when he emerged as champion. Andonian won state two years ago as a freshman at 106 pounds, but had a disappointing state tournament last year placing fifth at 120. He was one match from placing at the Ironman, but is coming off an extremely big win, 10-8 in overtime over No. 10 Kevon Davenport last week.
145: No. 7 Mitch Moore (G) vs. No. 15 Sam Dover (SE)
The second of four tossups in this dual meet, with 120 being the first, and the next bout also being a tossup. The Virginia Tech bound Moore is extremely talented, as evidenced by placing four times at the Ironman, four times at the Super 32 Challenge, and being in the hunt for his fourth state title. However, size has been somewhat of an obstacle in this weight class. He placed eighth at the Ironman suffering three narrow losses to nationally ranked (at least at some point of the season) opponents. The junior Dover is a two-time state placer, also finishing fifth at last month's Ironman. Moore and Dover had two common opponents in that tournament: both lost narrowly to Quincy Monday in consolation, while Moore lost to Bele in the quarters with Dover beating him for fifth.
152: Joey Sanchez (G) vs. Padraic Gallagher (SE)
This match was as close as close can get at the Walsh Ironman last month. Wisconsin signee Sanchez, a two-time state placer, beat the freshman Gallagher via rideout in the ultimate tiebreaker after a 4-4 bout up to that point. Gallagher is one of the nation's top freshmen, having earned All-American honors at the UWW Cadet Nationals and Cadet Nationals in freestyle this past summer.
160: No. 4 Ryan Thomas (G) vs. Hudson Hightower (SE)
Returning state champion Thomas has been superlative this fall and early winter, winning titles at the Grappler Fall Classic and Super 32 Challenge in the pre-season and the Walsh Ironman to start the season. Hightower is among the top 25 freshmen overall nationally, but failed to place in Cadet freestyle this past summer and missed placement at the Walsh Ironman by one match in this weight class.
170: No. 3 Rocky Jordan (G) vs. Matthew Garcar (SE)
This is the biggest mismatch of the dual meet from a Graham standpoint, and might be their only realistic option to score bonus points, which could play a crucial role in this dual meet. Rocky is a three-time state finalist, two-time state champion, and the youngest of head coach Jeff Jordan's three children. All will end up wrestling for the Buckeyes, and Rocky also was named Outstanding Wrestler at the Walsh Ironman last month. Garcar is a game but undersized sophomore, who finished eighth at the NHSCA Freshman Nationals last spring in the 138-pound weight class.
182: Andrew Shaffer (G) vs. Jiryes Zakaib (SE)
Next to 285 pounds, this is the least heralded matchup of the dual meet. However, as is many times the case in dual meets, it looms as a very important one. This is the fourth of the projected toss up bouts in the dual meet. Both wrestlers in this match have split time between the 170 and 182-pound weight classes. Shaffer went 1-2 at the Ironman in this weight class before placing fourth at 170 in the GMVWA at the end of December; while Zakaib went two-and-out competing at 170 in the Ironman before competing in this weight class at both the Clash XVI and the Detroit Catholic Central Super Duals.
195: Gage Braun (G) vs. No. 7 Cody Howard (SE)
While the previous weight is two unheralded wrestlers facing one another, this weight class features two rather talented wrestlers facing off. Both wrestlers finished as state runners-up last season, while Howard was a Junior National freestyle All-American in Fargo and Braun had placed fifth at state as a sophomore the year before. The two wrestlers met in the consolation final at the Ironman last month with Howard winning a 12-7 decision.
220: Johnny Shafer (G) vs. Seamus O'Malley (SE)
These two wrestlers met in the consolation quarterfinal at the Walsh Ironman, with Shafer winning by fall in twenty-eight seconds over fellow junior O'Malley. Shafer went on to place sixth with O'Malley finishing seventh. Shafer is already a two-time state placer, while O'Malley is a first-year varsity starter after backing up Howard and Jared Campbell (now at Missouri) the last two years.
285: Khrizdon Van Hoose (G) vs. Brian Kilbane (SE)
Though these are two unheralded wrestlers, there is a clear favorite in the dual meet, and that would be the sophomore Kilbane. In any upper-weight match, the opportunity for a pin is there, and that is something the Eagles hope Kilbane can seize. At the Ironman, Van Hoose went two-and-out losing both bouts by fall, while Kilbane went 1-2.
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