BARBERTON — One would think Aurora wrestling coach Johnny Papesh would be a happy man on the night his Greenmen retained the dual meet title in the Suburban League American Conference.
However, Papesh was not pleased with all of his team’s performance.
Aurora finished 6-0 in the American Conference by sweeping a tri-meet at Barberton with Tallmadge Thursday night.
The Greenmen built up a lead and hung on to beat Barberton 38-32, handing the Magics their first dual-meet loss of the season. Aurora defeated Tallmadge 71-6 in the opening match, while Barberton beat the Blue Devis’ 63-18.
Papesh noted, while the Greenmen won eight individual matches, he was not happy his team gave up so many pins.
"We gave up bonus points in just about every one one of losses," Papesh said. "That’s unacceptable. We’ve got to have a little bit more attitude when we’re on our back."
Aurora moved to 14-2 in dual meets overall, but Barberton dropped to 10-1 and finished 5-1 in the American Conference.
"I was a little disappointed they screwed up the scoring in the match at 132," said Magics coach Dave Mariola Jr. "I was happy with everything else. We don’t have a lot of kids, but the ones we do (have) work very hard."
The match Mariola referred to at 132 pounds pitted Aurora’s Jack Gorman vs. Barberton’s Michael Kelley. Gorman was given a decision win 11-7 officially, but the Magics coaches claim their own scoring books were inaccurate.
Papesh noted two of the biggest wins of the night came from Aurora 120-pounder Ben Rogge, who scored a 6-3 win over Travis Gwinn, and 126-pounder Kyle Petersen, who gutted out a 3-2 decision wrestling up one weight class from his usual spot.
Aurora also got pins from 106-pounder Robbie Sagaris (51 seconds) and 145-pounder Andy Garr (1:23) against the Magics, as well as a 16-0 technical fall victory from 160-pounder Willie McGhee.
Papesh also lauded 170-pounder Jacob Loudon for his efforts. Loudon suffered an ankle injury in his first match of night vs. Tallmadge’s Richie Eyre and had to drop the match by injury default.
However, Loudon would return for the Barberton match against Tommy Brunt and score a pin in 2:46. The victory clinched the match for the Greenmen.
"If he doesn’t come back, we have to forfeit and that’s a 12-point swing," Papesh said.
It turned out to be Aurora’s last win of the night, as Barberton won the final four bouts.
Against Tallmadge, Aurora won seven different forfeit matches. Petersen, Garr, McGhee and heavyweight Dante Leone each scored pins vs. the Blue Devils, while 113-pounder Antwan Sagaris squeezed out a 1-0 win over Tallmadge’s Fred Berry.
Greenmen 195-pounder Colin McNamara scored a 9-0 win over Tallmadge’s Ben Blankenship.
Blue Devils coach Jason Shaw said he knew his team was in for a tough night, even before illness and injuries left him with just seven healthy wrestlers.
"Barberton and Aurora tend to be the toughest teams in our conference, so to wrestle them both on one night is not great," Shaw said. "Coming in with only seven kids, there’s not much you can do."
Eyre was Tallmadge’s lone double winner on the night. Along with the default win over Aurora, he pinned Barberton’s McKenna Calhoun in 45 seconds.
Tallmadge also got a pin from 160-pounder Jesse Kanatazar in 1:48 over Barberton’s Channing Valencia, while 113-pounder Fred Berry won by forfeit.