COLUMBUS — Five of seven Wood County wrestlers are still in the championship bracket by winning in
Thursday’s first round of the 74th OHSAA State Tournament at Value City Arena.
The other two county wrestlers have been eliminated.
Elmwood’s Nick Goebel and Jake Baker, Rossford’s D.J. Recknagel, Lakota’s Ben Timmons, and North
Baltimore’s Dalton Ishmael each won opening-round matches.
In Division III, four county wrestlers won their first match and moved on to the quarter finals Saturday
morning.
Timmons (119) Dion Perez of Tuslaw were scoreless for the first 3 1/2 minutes when Perez escaped to take
the lead. Timmons answered with a quick takedown at the end of the period.
“When he took the lead at 1-0, I knew I needed a takedown at the end of the first period,” said Timmons.
Timmons scored with a reversal to start the third and using a strong ride hung on to win 4-2.
“I was trying to work the tilt, but he (Perez) was using good hand control so I couldn’t get it,” said
Timmons of his third-period ride.
“He was really thinking out there,” said Lakota coach Rick Whetsel. “I’m just proud to be his coach.”
Goebel (119) scored a takedown early on Nick Chuha from Cuyahoga Heights and then cradled for a
three-point nearfall.
“I got some points off the cross-face cradle and had to pull him back later to get a tilt,” Goebel said.
Goebel added another nearfall, but lost a reversal to end the first period at 8-2. Goebel scored at will
the remainder of the match and won by technical fall, 17-2.
“I’m done until tomorrow morning. It feels good to get done and sit back, relax and get ready for the
next match,” Goebel said.
Ishmael (189) nearly scored a takedown on Phillip Wiggers of Belpre on the edge of the mat at the start,
but was unsuccessful.
Later with the match tied 2-2 Ishmael escaped and nailed Wiggers with a headlock and pinned him.
“I was kind of nervous at first. It was the first time at the state tournament and at the sophomore level
so I thought that was pretty good,” said Ishmael.
Baker (215) took Ben Moser of Bluffton down early to start the match and then released him to make the
score 2-1. Baker’s second period escape was his only scoring for the rest of the match. Despite his
difficulty on bottom and lack of scoring on his feet Baker won the tight match, 3-2.
“I had the nerves, the first day at the state tournament,” said Baker. “I think I’m the shortest 215
here.”
“I thought he did well,” said Elmwood coach Dave Lee. “That was a good Baker match. That guy (Moser) got
that funky arm bar and kept him down.”
In Division II, Recknagel (189) pinned Zeke Eier of Tecumseh in 2:43.
Following a scoreless first period, Recknagel turned Eier from the top for the pin with a power half.
“I sunk the half in deep and grabbed his own wrist and put on the back of his head. That makes for a real
tight half,” said Recknagel. “Historically I’m not the greatest wrestler on my feet. I didn’t want to do
anything stupid. I just wanted to take it to the mat where I wrestle my best.”
Elmwood’s Dusty Ferguson was the only casualty in the first round in Division III. He could only muster
two escapes against Josh Hill of Bishop Ready, losing 4-2. In his consolation match Kyle Ferguson of
Manchester was just too much for the Elmwood sophomore winning 12-2. Ferguson ends the season at 26-7.
Luke Boff of Perrysburg lost two takedowns to Michael Baker of Twinsburg in the first period and it made
the difference. He out-scored Baker in final two periods and lost, 6-4.
In the consolation Boff was pinned in 0:38 by Christian Estes of West Chester Lakota. Boff ends his
junior season at 33-8.
