SPORTS ROUNDUP: Cuyahoga Falls Highlights

Sports this past weekend in Cuyahoga Falls could be summed up with one word - busy!

State swimming championships, district wrestling, and regional pairings for boys’ basketball will give you an idea of just how important our sports are to our community.

Below is a highlighted look of what recently took place, and what we can expect in the upcoming days (minus the snow, rain, and flooding). Thank you for making Patch a part of your day!

BOYS BASKETBALL

Cuyahoga Falls' venture in the Division I tournament was short-lived as Nordonia ended the Black Tigers' season with a 58-44 win on Tuesday night. Cuyahoga Falls had been placed in the Akron/Toledo regional bracket / Copley District. All games through March 12 have been scheduled for Copley  High School.

The Black Tigers (7-14) led by one after the first quarter (12-11), trailed by one entering the half (21-20), and lost the game in the third quarter when the Knights outscored them by a 19-5 margin.

Cuyahoga Falls top scorer was junior Cory Asbury, who scored a game-high 16 points and the only player to score in double-digits for the Tigers. Sophomore Chris Scott and senior Nick Robertson paced Nordonia with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

The Knights' next game will be Saturday against second-seed Uniontown Green at 6 p.m.

Both Walsh Jesuit and Woodridge will open Division II tournament play this week as both teams have been placed in the Canton regional bracket / Stow District. All games through March 12 will be held at Stow-Munroe Falls High School.

On Friday, the Bulldogs (7-13) take on Benedictine and, on Saturday, the second-seeded Warriors (16-3) play Warrensville Heights. Game times for both games are 7:30 and 2:30, respectively.

In Division III tournament play this week, Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy is seeded fourth in the Canton regional bracket / Painesville District. The Royals (12-8) will play Brooklyn on Friday at 8 p.m. All games through March 11 have been scheduled for Painesville Harvey High School.

WRESTLING

Cuyahoga Falls wrestler Colin Taylor’s outstanding season will last one more weekend as the senior grappler will advance to the OHSAA State Wrestling Tournament Thursday through Saturday at the Jerome Schottenstein Center on the campus of The Ohio State University. 

Cuyahoga Falls entered the Lorain District - nicknamed the 'Meatgrinder' with six of its wrestlers  hoping to keep their season alive one more week.

Only Taylor survived.

Wrestling at 135-pounds, Taylor placed fourth overall. In his first match, he downed North Ridgeville's Matt Zepp, 10-3. He then earned a pin on his next trip to the mats - the fastest of the tournament - in just 16 seconds over Ashland's Zach Carter.

Taylor then lost a trip to the championship round when he fell to eventual champ, Nick Barber of St. Edward. He followed up his loss with a hard-fought 3-1 decision over Wadsworth's Chris Baughman, before bowing 4-3 to Lakewood's Nick Ramsey in another tough match.

Other Black Tiger’ wrestlers included Austin Wilson (145-pounds, 21-18 record), Tyler Eastman (171, 22-7), Kyle Meade (189, 27-15), Roy Ware (215, 30-11), and Derek Rhodes (285, 29-9).

Each of the five wrestlers earned at least one win during the tournament, with Ware and Rhodes each pinning their opponent.

Ware got his lone win via fall in 1:33 over Mansfield's Marcus Coffee, while Rhodes tallied his win over Lorain's Deshonte Davis in just 50 seconds. Wilson's win was also a nice match, as he didn't let his opponent - Ashland's Nate Hissom - score a point in a 12-0 major decision.

-- Matt Pawlikowski

In Division II District wrestling at Akron Firestone, Walsh Jesuit dominated, finishing first in the 41-team field with 192 points. Runner-up was Crestwood with 169.5 points. Woodridge finished in 21^st place with 23 points.

The Warriors, who will advance seven wrestlers to this week’s state championship, had nine of 12 grapplers place fifth or better (five first-place, two third-place, two fifth-place).

First-place winners included junior Cory Stainbrook (112 pounds), freshman Mike Kostandaras (119), senior Johnni DiJulius (130), junior Nate Skonieczny (135), and senior John Novak (145).

Both junior Nic Skonieczny (140) and senior Anthony Melchiorre (189) finished in third-place, good enough to advance onto the state championships.

Freshman Anthony “Toots” Tutolo (103) and junior Dominic Scarberry (152) won their consolation bracket fifth/sixth place matches.

In Division III District wrestling at Garfield Heights, Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy finished second in the 52-team field with 160 points, trailing only winner St. Peter Chanel (190).

The Royals will advance six wrestlers to this week’s state championship, with undefeated sophomore Nathan Tomasello and 189-pound standout Alex Utley heading up a talented team.

At 103-pounds, Tomasello (38-0) continued his dominance at District. He opened with a pin of Wickliffe’s Collin McLaughlin at 1:12, then followed with a technical fall over Alex Tschiegg of Orrville, 15-0. In the semifinals, Tomasello topped St. Peter Chanel’s Aaron Assad, 3-0 to advance to the finals where he stopped Mapleton’s Zach Durbin by majority decision, 12-4.

Utley (37-2) opened with a pin of Garfield’s Tyler Price in the second period, then followed up with a 12-4 majority decision over St. Peter Chanel’s Jon Schafer. In the semifinals, the Royals senior stopped Triway's Zach Zody via maj. decision, 18-6, and advanced to the title match. Utley would top Kurt Schaefer of Northwestern by decision, 8-1.

Other Royals’ advancing to the state championships include sophomore Josh Decatur (125 pounds, 28-15 record, second-place District finish), senior Seth Powers (135, 28-11, fourth), sophomore Matt Dobben (140, 28-8, second), and junior Matt Meadows (215, 37-6, third).

SWIMMING / DIVING

The Cuyahoga Falls boys team finished tied for 34^th (of 47 teams) and the girls finished 28th (of 56 teams) in the OHSAA Division I State Swimming and Diving Championships held at C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton this past weekend.

The boys’ team finished with 11 points, well behind first-place winner Cincinnati St. Xavier (312). The Lady Black Tigers finished with 20 points with Columbus Upper Arlington taking the women’s team crown (286).

Cuyahoga Falls highlights included senior Haleigh Bartlett winning the 1-meter diving title. Bartlett’s 482.35 points edged out Avon Lake senior Morgan Srail’s 473.75 to earn top honors in the state.

Sophomore Andrew Appleby turned in a strong time of 47.16 in the boys’ 100-yard freestyle to earn eighth place. His time was two seconds behind event winner Michael Meldon of Strongsville, who touched the wall at 45.09.

Junior Morgan Lydic finished in 21^st place with a time of 24.63 in the girls’ 50-yard freestyle.

In the Division II state championships, the Walsh Jesuit boys’ team finished in 37^th place (of 57 teams) and the Lady Warriors finished 13^th overall (of 56 teams).

Highlights from the boys’ team included senior Joe Simpson’s 13^th place finish in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 53.83 and a 15^th place finish by the Warriors in the 400 freestyle relays. The team of sophomore Michael Petras, senior Michael Mausser, Simpson, and senior Bryan Kirkpatrick turned in a time of 3:24.41.

The girls’ team enjoyed more success, starting with the 100-yard breaststroke which saw Walsh Jesuit sophomore Danielle Margheret win with a record-time of 1:02.74.

Margheret’s time eclipsed the previous state mark of 1:03.09 set in 2010 by Maddie Lawhorn of Baltimore Liberty Union. Margheret’s teammate, senior Brittany Geyer, finished the same race with a time of 1:06.41 to earn eighth place.

Geyer also cracked the top-10 in the 200IM, finishing 10^th with a time of 2:09.15, nearly six seconds behind event winner Sarah Koucheki of Hawken (2:03.94).

In the relays, the Lady Warriors’ finished sixth in the 200-yard medley relays. The team of Geyer, Margheret, senior Rosalie Woolf, and sophomore Lauren Tullis touched the wall at 1:50.65. First place in this event went to Hawken, who set a state record with a time of 1:45.72.