Stow Wrestler Wins Dies Memorial Tournament

Connor McMahon walked off the center wrestling mat at Firestone High School on Saturday Night and was met by a reporter and a TV cameraman for a brief interview.

High school wrestling is a very popular sport in Northeast Ohio among its participants and fans, but televisions cameras are rare.  When there is a television camera present, it means the event is a big deal and that is exactly what the Bill Dies Memorial Tournament is to the the sport of high school wrestling in greater Akron.

The Stow wrestling team participated in the Bill Dies Memorial Tournament this past weekend.   The Bulldogs placed 17th of the 38 teams participating.  The finals will be televised on Time Warner Cable. 

Wrestling in the final round for the Bulldogs was Connor McMahon at 160 pounds.  McMahon started the tournament as the top seed with a bye in the first round.  He then scored pins in 0:55, 1:44, and 4:34 to advance to the semi finals.  In the semi finals he won a 12-4 major decision.  In the finals McMahon had one of his hardest matches of the season, but was the aggressor in the entire match and prevailed with 5-0 decision to take the title and remain undefeated on the season.

Also placing for Stow was senior Troy Steiger at 182 pounds.  Steiger started the tournament with a 17-2 technical fall.  After dropping the next match, he won his next three matches, which included two pins.  He lost another match and then came back to win the match for seventh place with a 8-2 decision.

Stow senior Dan Garner did not place at 220 pounds, but went 3-2 for the tournament.  Garner dropped his opening bout and then worked back through the consolations and had two pins and a major decision before dropping a close 3-1 match.   Senior JJ Mcaffrey at 132 pounds also went 3-2 for the tournament.  McCaffrey opened with a 13-0 major decision.  After dropping the quarterfinal match he battled back with hard fought decisions of 5-2 and 4-3, before losing a 6-2 decision.  Junior Gage Finegan at 195 pounds contributed as well with a  3-2 performance. Finegan entered the tournament without a loss on the season and continued with a pin in the first round.    He lost the next match and then won decisions of 7-4 and 4-3 before losing a close 8-5 match.

Stow wrestlers also with wins in the tournament included Sophomore Joe Kollar at 170 pounds.  Kollar went 2-2 for the tournament and had wins 5-4 and 11-3.  Junior Dylan Hartwig at 126 pounds faced some tough competition and fell twice in close matches by 2 points, but earned an 11-3 major decision along the way.  Sophomore Hunter Massey at 152 pounds also found the sledding tough, but scored a pin to help the Bulldogs.

Other wrestlers for Stow included Senior Joe Combs at 145 pounds, Senior Mike Edwards at 120 pounds, and sophomore Adam Hunt at 106 pounds.

The Bulldogs will have their hands full this Saturday when the travel to Barberton for a tri-meet with Barberton, who took second as a team in this tournament, and Coventry, who placed fourth as a team.