PLYMOUTYH — Cameron Wagers dodged a bullet.
Plymouth’s senior 120-pounder, Wagers won a sectional championship Saturday afternoon but not before surviving a first-round scare at the Division III Plymouth sectional.
Because there were only seven wrestlers in the 120-pound bracket, the top-seeded Wagers earned a double-bye into the semifinals where Norwalk St. Paul’s Ty Glavich awaited. Wagers held on for a 4-2 win over Glavich, before pinning Edison’s Quentin Cox in 38 seconds in the finals.
“That match was definitely a wake-up call,” said Wagers, who improved to 41-4. “He was a good kid, good competition.”
It didn’t help that the flu burned through Plymouth’s wrestling room during the last couple of weeks. Not even coach Jeremiah Balkin was spared.
“I had it for four days. I felt terrible,” Balkin said. “That is something you can’t plan for.”
Like his coach, Wagers was also laid low by the flu.
“I was waking up with a soar throat,” said Wagers, a four-time district qualifier. “I had to take two weeks off work.”
Plymouth’s Noah Robinson defended his sectional title at 215 pounds. The junior pinned all three of his opponents in the first period, including Seneca East’s Brett Martin in the finals, to improve to 41-5.
The area’s only other sectional champ was Crestview’s Caleb Cunningham. The senior heavyweight ran his record to 35-3 with a pair of first-period pins.
Crestview will send seven wrestlers to next week’s district meet. Plymouth boasts five district qualifiers, while Bucyrus has four.
Firelands Conference champ Monroeville won the sectional title with 215.5 points. Edison, the projected state runner-up, finished second with 199.5 points, while Crestview placed third with 140.5 points.
Edison produced six sectional champs, including 165-pounder Kohen Horvath. The senior and projected state champ beat sixth-ranked Brencyn Evans of Monroeville in the finals 10-2 in the what was the most anticipated match of the tournament.
In another battle of top-10 wrestlers, seventh-ranked Owen Patchen of Monroeville beat 10th-ranked Mason Hermes of Edison 4-2 in the finals.
The top four wrestlers in each weight class advance to next week’s district at Rossford. The top four finishers at Rossford qualify for the state meet.