Bellevue's Jacobs wins district title with last-second takedown

NORWALK — Ben Jacobs and Braxden Martin are very familiar with each other's moves on the mat, so it came as no surprise that their 144-pound final at Saturday's Division II district tournament came down the final seconds. Bellevue's Jacobs scored an escape early in third period to tie the match 1-1, then got a last-second takedown after a great scramble to win a 4-1 decision. Jacobs and Norwalk's Andersen Evans (190 pounds) were the area's only district champions at Norwalk High School. The top four finishers at the district level qualified for next week's state tournament in Columbus. Jacobs, who bleached his hair for the postseason, improved to 42-3 this season and will head to the Schottenstein Center with plenty of confidence after defeating Martin, who made the podium last year at state. "I got a nice, clean shot at the end," Jacobs said. "He took it into a scramble and I was able to come out on top. It was a good win, especially leading into the state tournament. Hoping to get down there and place pretty high." Jacobs edged Martin 8-7 in the finals of the Sandusky Bay Conference championships. The rematch wasn't quite as lively. "I was thinking I was gonna try to get a couple quick takedowns, but he had some good defense," Jacobs said. "I had to play it smart and not give up anything that would hurt me in the long run." Jacobs finished fourth at district last year and went 0-2 in Columbus at 132 pounds. "I worked hard in the offseason. Nonstop training," Jacobs said. "Went to multiple facilities to work on my game and push me as far as I can. This puts me in a good spot to go down there and hopefully be in the state finals." Bellevue coach Brett Adkins was pleased with how Jacobs took care of business. "He played it just right," Adkins said. "They kinda felt each other out the first period and he got his escape when he needed it and scored at the end. "Braxden had an underhook on him. The fireman's was open and (Jacobs) went for that. Didn't quite get it but changed to an outside leg, got into a little bit of a scramble and finished it." Jacobs advanced to the finals with a 47-second pin, an 18-2 technical fall and a 7-0 decision. Two other Bellevue wrestlers will join Jacobs at state. Senior Jeremiah Hash finished second at 157, losing a tight 5-2 match to St. Marys Memorial standout Bo Hertenstein in the finals. Hertenstein, the state runner-up at 150 last year, rode out Hash in the final 30 seconds. Hash is 42-3 this season. "That guy's gonna be more of what he sees at state," Adkins said. "Hopefully he can put it together. It was close." Bellevue's surprise qualifier was sophomore 190-pounder Tatum Gore, who finished fourth at sectional and dropped his first district match. That put him in the consolation bracket, but Gore responded with four straight wins — three by fall. In the consolation semifinals, with a state berth at stake, Gore trailed 7-2 late before pinning his opponent in 4:58. "I needed to pull something off if I wanted to keep moving on," Gore said. "I caught him in a move and I felt like I was in better position. I ended up getting some back points after a reversal and it put me ahead. I ended up getting the fall to win the match. "The opportunity to be (at state) is great. It sucks for everybody else; I've been on the other end. Get better or get beat." Gore won by fall in 4:17 and 1:33 before winning a 9-5 decision to advance to the blood round. "To work your way back after losing in the first round is something else," Adkins said. "He came from behind in three matches and pinned kids. To do that to make it to state is impressive. "He had an unbelievable tournament. It's always nice to have a surprise like that." Norwalk's Anderson had two pins and won a major decision to get to the 190 finals, which was quite a feat considering he tore the UCL in his right arm in January. Last week's sectional was his first tournament since the injury. "Absolutely fantastic tournament for him. Really excited for him," Norwalk coach Erich Metzger said. "It was touch and go recovering from a UCL injury, whether he would have much of a season at all. "Sectional and districts were his first tournaments in a couple months. To dominate the way he did is a testament to his hard work. He's got a real good shot at making some waves in Columbus." Evans outlasted St. Marys Memorial senior Cole Donovan 5-0 in the finals. "I'm taking it slow and patient, knowing I'm gonna be on top at the end," Evans said. "I do every match the same and take it slow and be patient about it because I know I'm gonna win." Perkins qualified five for state and had three runners-up: Martin, Law Davlin (150) and Eli Sanchez (285). Davlin pinned his first tourney opponent in 36 seconds before an 18-1 tech fall and a 4-1 decision put the freshman in the finals. Davlin dropped a 7-5 decision to Wapakoneta's Keyno Mendez in the finals while Sanchez — who had a 17-second pin in his first match — was pinned by Mansfield Madison's Jaxin Stancombe. "Not real happy with how we wrestled in the finals. We gotta discuss that this week," Perkins coach Travis Crabtree said. "Overall, not bad. Five is a good number; I thought we could have a little more than that. "I'd like to see a couple more kids fight back through, but that's the district tournament. You have to be mentally and physically tough and we weren't in some matches." Two Pirates punched their state ticket in the blood round. Sawyer Smith scored an 8-0 major decision to qualify for state before falling 1-0 in the third-place match. Haiden Bollini pinned his opponent in 2:07 to qualify for state and won a 1-0 decision to finish third. Bollini had three pins in the tourney. Two state-bound Clyde wrestlers won in the blood round and finished fourth. Heath Norris (113) scored a 9-0 major decision in the consolation semifinals before losing 4-0 in the third-place match. Michael Gessner won a 10-3 decision in the blood round at 144 pounds before losing an 11-0 major decision in the third-place match. Wauseon won the team title with 172 points. Wapakoneta was second at 122 and Perkins took third with 119.5 points. Wrestlers from 41 schools scored points in the district tournament. Division II District (Norwalk) Top 10 teams 1. Wauseon 172; 2. Wapakoneta 122; 3. Perkins 119.5; 4. Clear Fork 112; 5. Napoleon 97; 6. Bellevue 94; 7. St. Marys Memorial 93; 8. Defiance 88.5; 9. Ontario 84.5; 10. Granville 84 First Place 106: Zane Russell (Wapakoneta) dec. Anthony Bergeron (Granville) 4-3 113: Aiden Ohl (Ontario) pin Mykale Schneider (Wauseon) 2:56 120: Marius Garcia (Bexley) tech. fall Carter Stuckey (Wauseon) 19-4 126: Gradey Harding (Galion) dec. Zavian LaFountain (Wauseon) 5-2 TB 132: Tate Hisey (St. Marys Memorial) dec. Carter Trukovich (Galion) 5-0 138: Anthony Oscar (Clear Fork) dec. Ryder Alberty (Galion) 5-4 144: Ben Jacobs (Bellevue) dec. Braxden Martin (Perkins) 4-1 150: Keyno Mendez (Wapakoneta) dec. Law Davlin (Perkins) 7-5 157: Bo Hertenstein (St. Marys Memorial) dec. Jeremiah Hash (Bellevue) 5-2 165: Hayden Groll (Napoleon) dec. Kahle Albright (Wauseon) 7-4 OT 175: Kale Waxler (Wauseon) dec. Blake Schlosser (Clear Fork) 6-3 190: Anderson Evans (Norwalk) dec. Cole Donovan (St. Marys Memorial) 5-0 215: George Eggers (Napoleon) pin Tyler Doeden Kiessling (Defiance) 0:38 285: Jaxin Stancombe (Mad. Comprehensive) pin Eli Sanchez (Perkins) 1:22 Third Place 106: Ethan Saneholtz (Napoleon) maj. dec. Cohen Shinault (Heb. Lakewood) 17-6 113: Colton Wenger (Clear Fork) dec. Heath Norris (Clyde) 4-0 120: Caden Mellott (Wapakoneta) tech. fall Tyler Turnbaugh (Ontario) 22-3 126: Joe Curry (Licking Valley) dec. Sawyer Smith (Perkins) 1-0 132: Gavin Ridenour (Wapakoneta) dec. Owen Beard (Napoleon) 10-6 138: Mason Ducat (Defiance) pin Gavin Miller (Ontario) 1:04 144: Jordan Cook (Wauseon) maj. dec. Michael Gessner (Clyde) 11-0 150: Michael Walz (Defiance) tech. fall Nic Ramirez (Granville) 15-0 157: Anthony LaVerdiere (Bexley) maj. dec. Ethan Lewis (Upper Sandusky) 16-4 165: Aiden Proctor (Mad. Comprehensive) maj. dec. Dameon Wolfe (Bryan) 11-2 175: Wyatt Buell (Wapakoneta) pin Jayden Gordon (Maumee) 3:06 190: Landon Sowards (Ontario) pin Tatum Gore (Bellevue) 0:37 215: Haiden Bollini (Perkins) dec. Ben Tule (Wauseon) 1-0 285: Alex Hinojosa (Defiance) maj. dec. Breese Bollenbacher (Van Wert) 11-2 Fifth Place 106: Owen Bates (Van Wert) dec. Brian Camacho (Wauseon) 9-3 113: Aiden Mcmahan (Licking Valley) pin Jax Van Gundy (St. Marys Memorial) 2:42 120: Owen Sterritt (Bellevue) dec. Ayden Douglas (Licking Valley) 11-5 126: Cohen Lewis (Bowling Green) pin Hunter Pollock (Clyde) 2:22 132: Antonio Torres (Wauseon) dec. Damon Hoskins (Clear Fork) 5-2 138: Andy Sanchez (Granville) dec. Jaycion Everett (Perkins) 8-1 144: Nick Toth (Norwalk) dec. Alejandro Reyes (Lima Shawnee) 9-6 150: Luke Conaway (Licking Valley) dec. Noah Russell (Celina) 10-8 157: AZ Hicks (Wauseon) dec. Aiden Kyser (Vermilion) 12-9 165: Luke Sanchez (Granville) def. Lakoda Leedy (Clear Fork) Default 175: Kevin Howard (Norwalk) pin Brice McDaniel (Galion) 4:59 190: Thomas Zemaitis (Bowling Green) def. Vaughn Zimmerman (Columbian) Default 215: Tre Copeland (Clear Fork) dec. Zaden Williams (St. Marys Memorial) 8-2 285: Taylin Bell (Columbian) pin Cooper Gee (Norwalk) 3:26