Garner, Finegan Win Titles at NOC Tournament, 5 Bulldogs Place

The Northeast Ohio Conference Wrestling Tournament held this past weekend is said to be more challenging than many sectional tournaments. 

Featuring the 18 NOC teams and filled with numerous state qualifiers, the Stow Bulldogs had a good showing by earning a fifth place finish with 104.5 points.  That score had the Bulldogs tied with Mentor for the fifth spot. 

Solon won the tournament, followed by Elyria, Twinsburg and Parma.  Stow came out as the tournament winner of their River Division, followed by Hudson with 103.8 points and Medina with 99.9 points.

The were led by Seniors Connor McMahon and Dan Garner, and Junior Gage Finegan. 

Connor McMahon, 160 pounds,  entered the tournament with an undefeated record and again dominated his way to the championship match. He scored pins at 1:20 in the opening round and at 0.59 in the quarterfinals. 

In the semifinals he wrestled into the second period and then scored a pin at the 2:56 mark. The finals would prove to be a challenge, though, against a highly ranked opponent from Solon.  

McMahon was the aggressor for the entire match and was close to scoring takedowns on multiple occasions. But his Solon opponent used a defensive strategy and countered or worked off the mat to not allow a takedown against him. 

The result was a 3-1 loss and a 2nd place finish for McMahon in what would prove to be a good warm up match for the upcoming sectional and district tournaments.

At 220 pounds, Senior Dan Garner entered the tournament as the 3 seed, but walked away with the title. 

After a bye in the opening round Garner scored an 11-8 decision in the quarterfinals.  In the semifinals, he faced a tough and familiar opponent from Cuyahoga Falls for the fourth time in his career. 

Garner maintained a 5-2 lead for most of the 3rd period until a flurry in the last 20 seconds had him win by a 7-4 score.  In the finals he faced another familiar opponent from Hudson.  He had a 4-1 lead to start the 3rd period, and just after the whistle he saw an opportunity and threw a hard half nelson to turn his opponent and eventually get the pin at the 5:07 mark for the championship.

Junior Gage Finegan continued what has been a stand out year for him at 195 pounds.  Finegan entered the tournament as the 2 seed with an 18-3 record.  He scored a pin at the 1:13 mark to start the tournament.  In the quarterfinals he used a variety of moves to score a win by technical fall with an 18-3 score. 

The semi finals would prove to be a hard fought battle with an opponent from Parma with Finegan wrestling his way to a close 1-0 win.  In the title match, Finegan would face a Twinsburg wrestler ranked highly in the state of Ohio by the experts. 

Trailing in the second period, Finegan used a reversal and a peterson move to score 5 points and take the lead in the match. He then wrestled a smart third period to maintain his lead. With 15 seconds left he stopped a takedown attempt literally with his face resulting in a possible broken nose. 

However, after a short injury time, Finegan took to the mat and closed out a 10-9 win for the championship, his third tournament win of the season.

Also wrestling in the finals for Stow was Junior Dylan Hartwig (120 pounds) and Sophomore Hunter Massey (152 pounds).  Hartwig had a pin in the opening round and won a 5-3 decision in the quarterfinals.  After a loss in the semi finals he wrestled in the consolations and lost a close decision and followed that with another close decision loss in the match for 5th to earn 6th place. 

Massey won his opening match by decision before a loss in the quarterfinals.  He continued in the consolations with a win by decision and a pin.  He then lost a decision and closed out the tournament by dropping a hard fought contest and getting 6th place in what is a very tough weight class for an underclassman.

Senior JJ McCaffrey (132 pounds) always has entertaining matches and that continued.  He opened with a close win.  After a loss in the quarterfinals he battled to a tie and won in OT to keep going in the consolations before losing by decision to go 2-2 in the tournament.  Senior Troy Steiger (170 pounds) also went 2-2 in the tournament. 

Steiger opened with a 10-3 win.  After a loss in the quarterfinals to the top seed, he came back with a major decision win.  That was followed by a loss by decision.

Other wrestlers scoring wins for Stow included Sophomore Adam Hunt with a pin at 106 pounds and Senior Mike Edwards at 126 pounds also with a pin.  Also competing for the Bulldogs were Freshman Justin George at 113 pounds, Junior Jon Guy at 138 pounds, Freshman Logan Alboreo at 145 pounds, and Senior Zach Milush at heavyweight.

Stow will compete at Tallmadge in a dual meet on Tuesday and then will prepare for the sectional tournament.