OLIVESBURG — Steve Haverdill can’t say for certain how the dream match would unfold, but Crestview’s veteran wrestling coach sure would like to see it.
Haverdill was the head coach when heavyweight Caden Hill terrorized the state as a senior in 2020. Hill was 45-1 and the overwhelming favorite to win a Division III state championship when the tournament was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fast-forward four years and the Cougars have another prohibitive favorite to win a 285-pound state title in Caleb Cunningham.
The imposing 6-foot-5 senior is 24-3 with two of his three losses coming against out-of-state competition at the prestigious Walsh Ironman in December, where he went 2-2.
So what would happen if Hill, a more traditional heavyweight, and Cunningham, a long and lean 285-pounder whose weight is closer to 240, squared off?
“It would be two very different styles, but I would like to see them go at it,” said Haverdill, who stepped down as Crestview’s head coach after last season but still serves as Nate Godsey’s assistant.
“Caden weighed 285 pounds and was just a mammoth, strong brute. He out-willed you. Caleb is a smaller heavyweight who wrestles with more technique and leverage.
“They are complete opposites. It would be fun to watch, though.”
Cunningham’s only loss to an Ohio wrestler this season came in the finals of the Kenston Invitational in late-December. He was pinned late in the third period by Riverside’s Antonio Bottiggi, the third-ranked Division I heavyweight in the state.
Since the calendar flipped to 2024, Cunningham has been untouchable.
He won the 285-pound title at the 61st J.C. Gorman Invitational at Mansfield Senior in early-January, beating Division II No. 2 Alex Griffith of Galion 10-0 in the finals.
His performance at the Gorman vaulted Cunningham to the top spot in Ohio high school wrestling analyst Billy Schaefer’s Division III weight class rankings.
He was the third-ranked heavyweight going into Gorman, but moved up after beating Griffith and has been on top ever since.
“Being ranked number one, everyone takes their best shot at me,” Cunningham said. “I liked it better when I was the underdog. I’ve got a target on my back now.”
That target has been with Cunningham since last March, when he placed eighth at the Division III state meet at 215 pounds. He’s grown a couple inches and packed on about 20 pounds of muscle since then.
Cunningham weighed about 250 pounds during football season according to Haverdill, also Crestview’s head football coach. Cunningham was an All-Ohio first-team pick in Division VI as a defensive lineman.
“It’s hard to imagine him wrestling at 215 now, but he maintained his quickness as he got bigger,” Haverdill said. “Heavyweight sometimes becomes a pushing match, but Caleb wrestles. He’s faster than most heavyweights.
“He came up wrestling at 190 and 215. As long as he doesn’t get stuck underneath somebody … and that’s where his angles come into play. He does really well with his angles.”
As for a match against Hill, Cunningham isn’t sure how it would develop.
“Oh my gosh. He was big,” Cunningham said. “He was the top-rated heavyweight wrestler in the state regardless of divisions. I just don’t know.
“I was in eighth grade (during Hill’s senior year) and I watched a few matches. I know he was good and I know he was big.”
Ironically, Hill would no longer wrestle in the heavyweight division. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and now weighs 208 pounds, according to Haverdill.
“He has spent the last year at Guantanamo Bay,” Haverdill said. “His decision to go serve our country says a lot about him.”
Haverdill would like nothing more than to see Cunningham complete the journey Hill started but was never able to finish.
“Caden missing out on the state tournament his senior year was a huge disappointment, but he wasn’t the only one who lost the opportunity,” Haverdill said.
“He was the best heavyweight wrestler in the state of Ohio that year and we still honor him as a state champ, even if it comes with an asterisk because of COVID. He wasn’t able to go out and earn it, but we know he would have.
“Now we have an opportunity to get Caleb up there. Everyone is coming after him, but he has been wrestling most of his life. I think he will be able to handle it.”