Boys district wrestling: Medina's Blake Nicholson, Dominic DeFilippo qualify to state

PERRYSBURG — Cliff Nicholson is headed back to the state tournament. The Medina junior is going as a No. 2 seed in the 285-pound weight class after qualifying out of the Perrysburg Division I District on Saturday. "It feels good to get it again," he said. "Now I feel more comfortable getting to this stage and wrestling there. It's just exciting again, and I know it's going to be a fun time. Just being there before, the nerves are going to be much less. There's not going to be much in my mind — just go out there and wrestle." Nicholson will be joined by Dominic DiFilippo, who took fourth at 106, when the state tournament is held Friday through Sunday at Value City Arena. Taegan Gilmore (120), Tyler Bradshaw (126) and Nick Kaplack (175) earned alternate spots. Medina finished seventh with 81 points. St. Edward won with 344. Nicholson had a dominant run to the final with three pins. "I had a nice draw, and I just wanted to take advantage of it," he said. "I've been thinking all week to go out there and wrestle, just not worry, step up and go wrestle." In his championship match against Caleb Bowman of Toledo St. John's Jesuit, Nicholson went down 3-1 after Bowman secured an early takedown. Nicholson rebounded with a takedown that he turned to a near fall to take an 8-3 lead into the second. The Medina junior went bottom and scored a reversal 30 seconds in, but Bowman escaped to cut the lead to 10-4. Bowman then rolled a takedown into a pin at the 3:49 mark. Like Nicholson, DiFilippo came in as sectional champion but lost 21-2 to St. Edward's Andrew Mlynarczyk in the semifinals. The freshman shook that off quickly and piled up a 12-0 major decision against Uniontown Lake's Andrew Cassetty to clinch a state bid. DiFilippo then lost to Elyria's Bennett Wachter 9-1, taking fourth place. "It feels good," DiFilippo said. "I was doubting myself a little built coming into this tournament, but things played my way and I got it done. I just knew I had to win this match to go to state, that really fueled me. I just need to work more on my shots, getting into them more and finishing them." Gilmore shook off a tough consolation loss to clinch an alternate's spot at 120 with a 7-4 decision against Michael Rusinko of Strongsville. In his go-to match against A.J. Dubendorfer of Toledo Whitmer, Gilmore trailed 4-2 with 1:25 left. The two wrestled to a restart with 25 seconds remaining and Gilmore looked to have secured a takedown at the eight second mark but was ruled out of bounds. Despite a protest, the call stood and Dubendorfer took a stalling call to run out the final eight seconds. Contact Chris Sweeney at sports@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.