Stow Wrestlers Split Tri-Meet

The Stow Bulldog wrestling team travelled to Medina on Thursday to compete against Medina and Austintown Fitch in dual meet competition.

The opening meet for Stow was against Medina. The wrestling started at the 195 pound class, where Stow Junior Gage Finegan started the match off by taking a lead on points in his match and then finished it with a pin for the Bulldogs. Senior Dan Garner followed at 220 pounds. After a scoreless first period, the Medina wrestler started from top and tried to pull Garner across himself to score back points. But in the process he exposed his own shoulders and Garner shifted his position and scored a pin to give Stow a 12-0 lead in the meet. However, Stow's heavyweight is out due to illness and Medina got on the scoreboard with a forfeit.

The match then moved to the lightweights. Stow freshman Anthony Valore, at 106 pounds, wrestled a strong match and won by decision 8-2. Stow freshman Justin George then followed, but got caught on his back and gave up the pin. Junior Dylan Hartwig followed with a key contest. In a back-and-forth battle, Hartwig lost a decision 6-4, but was extremely close to a match-tying reversal in the last 20 seconds, but did not get the call. With the team score now tied at 15, senior Mike Edwards followed at 126 pounds. However, he fell victim to a quick pin whistle from the referee as a pin was called when his shoulders went glancing across the mat. At 132 pounds, Stow senior JJ MCCaffery pulled the Bulldogs back to a tie at 21-21 when he wrestled aggressively and pinned his opponent with 4 seconds left in the second period.

The back-and-forth contest continued at 138 pounds. Senior Joe Combs got caught and gave up a pin. Then at 145 pounds, Stow forfeited and now trailed 33-21. However, Sophomore Hunter Massey at 152 pounds wrestled a very impressive match. Facing a very strong opponent, Massey humbled him with several quick takedowns and hard offense from on top to win a 11-1 major decision. Stow senior Connor McMahon followed at 160 pounds and took a fast 12-2 lead before finishing his opponent with a pin in the 2nd period.

With the Bulldogs now trailing 33-31, sophomore Joe Kollar stepped in at 170 pounds. After scoring the first takedown of the match, though, he was caught in a throw and lost by pin. Stow now trailed 39-31 and could not win the meet. But senior Troy Steiger at 182 pounds would conclude the meet with a pin for Stow as he took a single leg takedown in the 2nd period and put his opponent right on his back for the win. Stow lost the meet 39-37.

In the second contest of the night, Stow would face Austintown Fitch. This meet would see nine pins scored between both teams as the referee had displayed an extremely quick whistle for high school wrestling. The meet started at 220 pounds. Senior Dan Garner wrestled through three periods and then three overtime periods and the match remained tied 1-1. The final period was sudden death and the Austintown wrestler scored an escape with seconds left to win. This was followed by a Stow forfeit at heavyweight and Stow trailed 9-0.

However, Stow freshman Anthony Valore put the Bulldogs back in the match with a pin at 106 pounds. Justin George followed at 113, but lost by pin. Junior Dylan Hartwig then went at 120 pounds and he won by pin. Senior Mike Edwards stopped the pin-fest as he scored a solid decision by a 11-4 score to tie the meet for Stow at 15-15. Senior JJ McCaffery jumped out to an early lead in his match, but he got caught by his opponent and the quick whistle and lost by pin. Senior Joe Combs also lost by pin at 138 pounds. Freshman Jacob Seal made his debut at 145 pounds. Seal lost a decision, but showed a lot of grit against a good opponent. With Stow now trailing 30-15, sophomore Hunter Massey earned his second win of the evening as he took an 8-2 lead before scoring a pin in the second period. Connor McMahon followed at 160 pounds by demonstrating a number of moves as he took a 13-3 lead and then finished the match with a pin. Stow now trailed 30-27.

Sophomore Joe Kollar at 170 pounds wrestled into the second period and then pinned his opponent to continue the rally for the Bulldogs. Stow now led 33-30. At 182 pounds, Troy Steiger had a tough opponent and battled hard to avoid the pin, and lost a major decision. The match now hung in the balance as Stow trailed 35-33 and Gage Finegan took the mat at 195 pounds. Finegan was all business, though, and worked to an early lead and then win his match and the meet for Stow with a second period pin. The final score was 39-15 for the Bulldogs.

The Stow wrestlers will compete again this weekend in the Hudson Holiday Tournament.