GALION — The stars aligned perfectly for Clear Fork on Saturday.
The Colts won their first-ever sectional wrestling championship thanks to a confluence of events including a corrected scoring error, a last-second takedown and a pin by a wrestler from a rival school in the final match of the day.
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It all added up to a razor-thin half-point victory. Clear Fork finished with 207.5 points while Sandusky Perkins had 207.
“A sectional title alone is a pretty cool thing, let alone being the first in school history,” Clear Fork coach Nick Allerding said. “It’s super-exciting. I’m proud to represent Clear Fork.”
Winning Formula
The first domino to fall came during 157-pounder Luke Lee’s semifinal match against Madison’s Aiden Proctor. Lee won the match 15-7, but the score was incorrectly recorded as 13-7.
Clear Fork assistant Matt Merendino caught the mistake. The correction changed Lee’s victory from a decision to a major decision and gave the Colts an extra half-point.
“A lot of times you never even pay attention,” Allerding said. “(Merendino) said, ‘I’m pretty sure we won 15-7.’ I came over and we found the bout sheet and we got it fixed.”
The next piece of the championship puzzle to fall into place came in the third-place match at 215.
Clear Fork’s Tre Copeland, who has missed most of the season because of a knee injury, scored a takedown on Vermilion’s Isaac Kyser to break a 1-1 tie with one second remaining in the third period.
The lead official ruled the takedown came after the whistle, but after conferring with the assistant, Copeland was awarded the takedown for the 4-1 win.
“Tre wrestled two matches this year,” Allerding said. “He came back (from the knee injury) and won his first match and in the second match he planted on it wrong and it swelled up again. He hasn’t wrestled a match since then until today.”
Clear Fork’s victory was secured when Madison’s Jaxin Stancombe pinned Perkins’ Jordan Pool in the 285-pound finals. A Pool victory would have vaulted the Pirates over the Colts and into first place.
“I’ve known those guys since I was real little,” Stancombe said of the Clear Fork wrestlers. “I grew up out there in Butler. I went to church with most of them.”
Championship Drive
The wrestlers expected to make the most noise during the postseason all looked the part Saturday.
Ontario’s Aiden Ohl, a projected state finalist at 120, was leading longtime nemesis Colton Wenger of Clear Fork 7-0 in the finals when Wenger had to default with a shoulder injury.
Ohl beat Wenger 2-1 in the finals at last week’s Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference meet and 4-1 in the finals of the J.C. Gorman Invitational in January.
Projected state champ Gradey Harding of Galion beat Ontario’s Tyler Turnbaugh 7-2 in the finals at 132. Harding beat Turnbaugh 4-3 in the MOAC finals.
Harding’s teammate, projected state champ Carter Trukovich, won by forfeit at 126 but dominated in his two matches. He picked up a pair of tech falls.
Galion’s Ryder Alberty, who is ranked fifth at 138, scored a 7-0 decision over Perkins’ Jaycion Everett in the finals for his first sectional title.
“It feels good,” Alberty said. “It’s been a goal for (several) weeks.”
Clear Fork’s projected state finalist Anthony Oscar won by tech fall in the finals at 144 and teammate Caleb Snyder, ranked fourth at 113, scored a first-period pin in the finals.
Third-ranked Stancombe pinned all three of his opponents.
“I feel like I’m really combining things well,” Stancomebe said. “It’s translating from practice.”
Stancombe won his third Ohio Cardinal Conference championship last week and picked up his second sectional title last year. He won a district crown last year at Norwalk.
“There’s only one left,” Stancombe said, referring to a state title. “I just need to keep at it and keep working.”
Local Champs
The area produced two other local champs in Shelby’s Sebastian Cain and Clear Fork’s Lakota Leedy.
Cain won the 106-pound title via a 16-0 tech fall over Madison’s Grady Hunt. Leedy pinned Onario’s Jimmy Unger in the finals at 175.
“I definitely felt good,” said Cain, a freshman. “I felt a little shaky on my feet at the beginning. But I got the hand of it.
“I got the first takedown and it was all good from there.”
