High school wrestling: Wadsworth humbled, coming up on short end of match with Brecksville

BROADVIEW HTS. – The fourth-ranked Wadsworth wrestling team got taken down a few notches Friday and was not happy about how it performed. On the big stage — literally and figuratively — the Grizzlies were dominated 37-24 by ninth-ranked Brecksville on the auditorium stage at Brecksville High School. The Grizzlies (4-1) won just five matches — one by forfeit — and dropped too many close ones to have a chance against the Bees (5-0). "We need to get back in the room and get back to work," 126-pounder Mason Brugh said. "We need to get tougher as a team. We lost a lot of those close matches, me being one of them. We're a great team with great coaches. We have a great community surrounding us. It's us. We need to put in the work and get better as a team." The fourth-ranked Brugh lost the match of the night 2-1 in the ultimate tiebreaker to fifth-ranked Kaden Jett. Brugh chose the top position in the final period and Jett managed the escape to take home the win seven seconds into the tie-break period. "I knew going into the match that a takedown would decide the match," Brugh said. "I felt like I was pushing the pace the whole match trying to get that takedown. At the end I wasn't able to hold him down. I didn't get to my breakdowns and I got stuck with two cautions, so I wasn't really able to get a jump on the whistle. I felt like I am good on top and I can ride people out. In that situation he was just better than me." The Grizzlies had one other match head to extra time — Brecksville's Manny Scordos outlasted Nick Humphrys 4-3 at 144 — and had close losses at 106 and 132. Brett Stanley edged Jack Dinwiddie 3-1 at 106 and Chase Pluhar snuck by Kade Mellon 1-0 at 132. Jaxon Joy won by pin for the Grizzlies at 120, planting Cayden Pluhar at 2:41 to keep things interesting for a bit. "In the first period I was just trying to get some work in on my feet," Joy said. "I wanted to break my opponent down a little bit. In the second period I was just looking for the fall for our team." Also picking up wins for Wadsworth were 150-pounder Adam Ryder, who took a 4-3 decision over Frank Gallo, and 285-pounder Aaron Ries, who had the quickest pin of the night, 50 seconds, against Justin Habig. "We didn't wrestle tough enough as a team, honestly'" Ries said. "We needed to win big matches and we didn't. It happens. We have a lot to work on in the room and we are going to work on getting tougher in the room. Come back and hit these guys hard."" Contact Chad Grant at sports@medina-gazette.com. Brecksville 37, Wadsworth 24 106 – Brett Stanley (B) dec. Jack Dinwiddie (W), 3-1. 113 – Harrison Haffner (B) pin Payton Halleck (W), 1:06. 120 – Jaxon Joy (W) pin Cayden Pluhar (B), 2:41. 126 – Kaden Jett (B) dec. Mason Brugh (W), 2-1 (ot). 132 – Chase Pluhar (B) dec. Kade Mellon (W), 1-0. 138 – David Shue (W) dec. David Zambounis (B), 5-2. 144 – Manny Scordos (B) dec. Nick Humphrys (W), 4-3 (ot). 150 – Adam Ryder (W) dec. Frank Gallo (B), 4-3. 157 – Chris Earnest (W) won by forfeit. 165 – Evan Rizzo (B) pin Hunter Buckland (W), 1:26. 175 – Luke Vanadia (B) dec. Louis Schaeffer (W), 8-2. 190 – Shawn Earle (B) maj. dec. Maverick Blackburn (W), 8-0. 215 – Max Vanadia (B) pin Eli Kaufman (W), 3:53. 285 – Aaron Ries (W) pin Justin Habig (B), 0:50.