Bison Gross, Harris Win CVC Championships

Submitted by BeachwoodBison.org:

Beachwood juniors Sammy Gross and Ryan Harris won individual titles in Saturday’s Chagrin Valley Conference wrestling tournament at Kenston High School. Beachwood finished in third place, behind back-to-back league champion Perry and Kenston.

While Gross and Harris were favored to win their respective weight classes, other Bison wrestlers raised the bar in the league tournament.

Senior Alex Angersola finished second at 145, juniors Trevor Sanshuck (170) and Paul Flowers (182) both took second and juniorAndrew Kitay finished sixth at 152.

“I’m starting to get high expectations, because my guys have lost some matches this year against guys I think they should have beaten where I’d come back and tell them they’re better than that,” said Beachwood head coach Dugan Bentley. “We’ve got to start beating guys like that and that’s what they did today. We coach them pretty well and they’re in pretty good shape. I think until today they’ve been kind of underachieving.”

Gross, the 120-pound champion, won his first league championship after finishing second in 2012 and third in 2011. He did it by beating a familiar foe, Berkshire’s T.J. Malkus, a state qualifier last season.

The two have had some close matches in the past but in Saturday’s championship bout Gross cruised to a 20-7 major decision.

“It feels pretty good (to win his first league championship),” Gross said. “I wanted to go out and dominate and I think for the most part that’s what I did.”

Harris, who defended his title won last season, appeared in the finals for the third straight season. He finished second in 2011.

The 160-pound weight class championship match featured two defending champions and Harris and Perry’sAlec Schenk, who won at 145 last season. Harris dominated the match to win with a 12-3 major decision.

“I think Ryan took care of business tonight,” Bentley said. The kid kept coming and usually if a kid keeps coming, Ryan keeps scoring and that’s what he did.”

Angersola advanced to the 145-pound finals, where he dropped a 5-3 decision to Perry’s Drew Jones, the 2012 152-pound champion.

“There was a lot he could have done differently and he gave up a reversal at the end of the first period and that really put us in a bad situation,” Bentley said. ‘All in all, it was a good learning process for him.”

Kitay reached the 152-pound semifinals then dropped his next three matches, including a 4-3 decision to West Geauga’s Rob Alcorn in the consolation semifinals. He settled for sixth place.

Bentley sees a lot to like in Kitay’s development this season and with continued improvement he’s confident the junior could make a post-season run.

“It’s a little frustrating when Andrew puts himself in really awkward positions,” Bentley said. “He has some easy scoring situations he doesn’t identify but he’s still learning.”

Sanshuck recorded two pins and a 10-6 win over West Geauga’s David Eippert, fourth a season ago, to advance to the 170-pound final. He lost to defending champion Ryan Sill of Perry, 3-1.

“He lost trying to make something happen and I’m OK with that,” Bentley said.

The match was scoreless after the first period and Sill took at 1-0 lead in the second. A Sanshuck escape tied it in the third but Sill countered a Sanshuck takedown attempt to win the match.

Flowers knocked off top-seeded Brian McNamara of Aurora in the semifinals to reach the 182-pound championship bout but couldn’t finish off his tournament run with a title.

“He had a really good first period but things fell apart for him,” Bentley said. “Being there was good for him. He’ll be fine; he just has to keep improving.”

Overall, Bentley was pleased with his team’s performance in its last big event before the post-season begins at the Beachwood Division III sectional tournament on Feb. 15-16.

“We’ve identified the problems in our losses and we’ll week working at improving,” he said. “We’ll keep working to get them to the next level.”

Results:

1.Perry 253.5 2.Kenston 159.5 3.Beachwood 147 4.Aurora 121.5 5.Cuyahoga Hts 121.5 6.Kirtland 119 7.Cardinal 106 8.Harvey 100.5 9.Independence 95 10.Berkshire 84 11.Hawken 81 12.West Geauga 61 13.Orange 42 14.Newbury 27 15.Wickliffe 22 16.Chagrin Falls 6 17.Richmond Hts 6

106 1st Demarco (Hawken) dec Orr (Cuy Hts) 7-3; 3rd Neikirk(Cardinal) dec Whitelaw(Aurora) 6-5; 5th Toth (Perry) & Georgian (Kenston).

113 1st Dees(Perry) Fall Mast (Cardinal) 1:48; 3rd Pucci(Cuy Hts) MDec Mroczynski(Independ) 15-2; 5th Mcclain(Harvey) TF Herbruck(Kenston)18-3.

120 1st Gross(Beachwood) MD Malkus(Berkshire)20-7; 3rd Petersen(Aurora) Dec Spino(Independ)10-6;5th Calvert(Kirtland) & Kadas(Cuy Hts).

126 1st Francis(Kirtland) Dec Frye(Cuy Hts)2-1; 3rd Peters(Cardinal) Dec Venturini(West Geauga)2-1; 5th Gramberg (Perry) & Regalbutto (Orange).

132 1st Gessic(Perry) MDec Johns(Cardinal)14-1; 3rd Kirsh(Orange) Fall Nowak(Newbury) 4:20; 5th Driscoll (Aurora) & McManus (Cuy Hts).

138 1st Davidson(Kirtland) by DQ Charvat(Berkshire); 3rd Walden (Beachwood) & Montague (Independ); 5th Bauer (kenston) & Blogna (Cuy Hts).

145 1st Jones(Perry) Dec Angersola(Beachwood)5-3; 3rd Evans (Aurora) & Disanto (kentson) 5th Fomaro 9west Geauga) & Kaser (Berkshire).

152 1st King(Hawken) Dec Turner(Harvey) 4-3; 3rd Alcorn (west Geauga) & Mrosko (Perry); 5th Gambatese(Kenston) MD Kitay(Beachwood)10-1.

160 1st Harris(Beachwood) MD Schenk(Perry) 12-3; 3rd Sealey(Harvey) Dec Miller(Cardinal) 4-1; 5th Sia (Independ) & Ostoyic (Kenston).

170 1st Sill(Perry) Dec Sanshuck(Beachwood) 3-1; 3rd Eippert(West Geauga) Fall Kondik(Kenston) 4:15; 5th Guajardo(Harvey) Dec Christian(Hawken) 5-3.

182 1st Simon(Berkshire) MD Flowers(Beachwood) 10-0; 3rd Cales(Perry) Dec Mcnamara(Aurora) 6-4; 5th Frygier(Kenston) Dec Grice(Harvey) 6-0.

195 1st Brettrager(Kirtland) Fall Stotter(Hawken) 3:09; 3rd Lewis(Kenston) Fall Suchovsky(Aurora) 2:26; 5th Haavisto(Wickliffe MD Jones(Cuy Hts) 12-4.

220 1st Nichols(Perry) Fall Scotton(Independ) 2:52; 3rd Carrasco(Aurora) MD Williams(Harvey) 11-3; 5th Yoho(Kenston) Fall Qualls(Newbury).

285 1st Miller(Perry) TF Lewis(Kenston) 18-3; 3rd Burger(Aurora) Dec Deely(Independ) 2-0; 5th Diemer(Kirtland) Fall Rice(Harvey).