High school wrestling: Buckeye dominates non-league match against Cloverleaf

YORK TWP. — Punch someone in the gut once and they might come back for more. Land a haymaker to the jaw and they might wobble. Do the latter repeatedly and the fight is over. The Buckeye wrestling team did both enough times to land two impressive non-league wins. Cloverleaf opened the triangular Saturday with a 42-25 win over Avon Lake. The Bucks beat the Shoremen 69-6 and then knocked out the Colts 52-22. More often than not, those wins came with someone looking up at the lights. "Before every match, Coach (Mike) Tecco tells us how important pins are," Buckeye 138-pounder Eddie Neitenbach said. "That's what's in our head before we go. It's pin to win." A competition between teammates has become the staple for the Bucks (16-1), who seem to race each other to see who can get off the mat the fastest. Buckeye won 21 of the 28 matches against Cloverleaf (12-2) and Avon Lake (3-5). Seventeen came via pin. "Pins are the key to winning dual meets," Bucks 182-pounder Joe Maitland said. "They give us extra points that a decision doesn't give us. It drives the team to pin every match to win in order to be a state-contending team. When someone starts with a pin, you just want to keep going and win every match that way." Buckeye shared the wealth, with Neitenbach, Maitland, Eddie Pinc (126), Preston DiMarco (145), Trevor Baidu (152), Dillon Badiu (170) and Todd Allen (285) each picking up two pins. Add Colyn Limbert, Mark Stanton and Josh Lowry and York Township could have changed its name to Pin City over the weekend. "Pins are what win," Dillon Badiu said. "It keeps the ball rolling. You have to keep that ball rolling. You can't not pin if somebody else did it before you. It's a pride thing." That pride spilled over to Tecco, whose team scored bonus points in all but one win. "Bonus points are one of the things we stress in our pre-match meetings," he said. "Get the win first and take all the bonus points you can get after that. The way you win the dual meet is through bonus points. We stress the tech falls, the majors, the pins. Once the ball gets rolling, it's hard to stop it." The Colts, who have a penchant for pinning as well, found out the hard way. While Garren Leffel (120), Lakota Hagenbaugh (195) and Brandon Ridenour (220) won both their matches, Cloverleaf never could find any momentum against Buckeye. "In these dual meets, when one team can get some momentum going it really carries," Colts coach Mark Mole said. "They were able to get that. We just had a hard time righting the ship for a while. They're a tough team. We know it's going to be a battle against them. Today, it was just too many mistakes. "Everything we're doing right now is for the end of the season. As long as you're not making the same mistakes, you've got a good shot at making something happen late." Therein lies the biggest takeaway for Buckeye, which will likely have Cloverleaf in its district when the sectional fields are drawn up at a Jan. 31 meeting. Any chance to get into the head of an opponent early could pay big dividends down the line. "Every day coaches preach to us to go out and make a statement," Neitenbach said. "We want to show we're the best on the map. That's what we come out to do." Contact Brad Bournival at bournival929@gmail.com. Buckeye 52, Cloverleaf 22106: Colyn Limbert (B) m.d. Sean Barker, 13-0; 113: Logan Cravatas (B) m.d. Kane Surrarrer, 12-1; 120: Garren Leffel (C) p. Nick Brunst, 2:54; 126: Eddie Pinc (B) p. Connor Jenkins, 4:27; 132: Hayden Jarvis (C) m.d. Katie Vogt-Shields, 13-1; 138: Eddie Neitenbach (B) p. Tristan Craddock, :50; 145: Preston DiMarco (B) p. Josh Dunn, 5:16; 152: Trevor Badiu (B) p. Cameron Arthur, 5:16; 160: Brandon Hayner (B) d. Austin Peterson, 12-7; 170: Dillon Badiu (B) p. Xavier Watts, :54; 182: Joe Maitland (B) p. Ben Kott, 1:37; 195: Lakota Hagenbaugh (C) p. Mark Stanton, :44; 220: Brandon Ridenour (C) p. Jacob Lowry, :30; 285: Todd Allen (B) p. Timmy Shores, :26. Records: Cloverleaf (12-2), Buckeye (16-1). Buckeye 69, Avon Lake 6106: Limbert (B) p. Jacob Dzik, :38; 113: Cravatas (B) d. Nathan Perry, 8-2; 120: Michael Valerino (A) d. Brunst, 9-4; 126: Pinc (B) p. Ethan Danninger, 2:52; 132: Vogt-Shields (B) by ff; 138: Neitenbach (B) p. Joe Marconi, :14; 145: DiMarco (B) p. Jack Shepard, 147; 152: T. Badiu (B) p. Jack Marconi, 1:10; 160: Lucas Marconi (A) d. Hayner, 10-4; 170: D. Badiu (B) p. Andrew Sullivan, 3:10; 182: Maitland (B) p. Jackson Lester, 3:42; 195: Stanton (B) p. Josh Heath, 3:40; 220: Lowry (B) p. Nick Brun, 1:32; 285: Allen (B) p. Hunter McHugh, :52. Records: Buckeye (15-1), Avon Lake (3-5). Cloverleaf 42, Avon Lake 25106: Barker (C) p. Dzik, 1:03; 113: Perry (A) m.d. Surrarrer, 9-0; 120: Leffel (C) d. Valerino, 9-5; 126: Danninger (A) d. Jarvis, 6-4; 132: Craddock (C) by ff; 138: Cass (C) m.d. J. Marconi, 8-1; 145: Dunn (C) p. Shepard, 1:45; 152: Arthur (C) d. Clay, 9-6; 160: L. Marconi (A) d. Peterson, 6-0; 170: Sullivan (A) by ff.; 182; Kott (C) d. Lester, 6-0; 195: Hagenbaugh (C) p. Heath, 3:16; 220: Ridenour (C) p. Brun, :58; 285: McHugh (A) p. Shores, 1:46. Records: Cloverleaf (12-1), Avon Lake (3-4).