Tag Archive for: OHSAA State Tournament

FINAL OBSERVATIONS FROM COLUMBUS

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By Gary Althiser


COLUMBUS OH- To say things went well for the YSN family at the state tournament would be putting it mildly. In 2023, 19 wrestlers finished in the top eight, while this season the number increased to 22. Like last season, two wrestlers were crowned champions, but unlike last season one of them – East Liverpool’s Makyah Newlun – become YSN’s first female to win a gold medal. A lot of other interesting and exciting things happened over the weekend, here are a few.

Cardiac Kids

In what might have been the most exciting match of the tournament for YSN, East Liverpool freshman Paige Cowan pulled off an improbable win over Harrison’s Caiden Baird in the opening round. Down 4-2 with 12 seconds remaining, Baird was penalized with her second stalling call, giving Cowan a point, and cutting the lead to just one. With the clock ticking, Cowan took a shot near the edge of the circle, popping her head out to the side with control as time expired. The official raisedhis hand with two fingers pointing up, signaling Cowan was awarded a takedown, giving her a 5-4 win. The win proved to be an important one for Cowan as she finished 8th for the potters.

Following suit in his finals match, Cowan’s teammate on the boys side, Tristan Eckles, also pulled off a win with time expiring. Down 3-1 with 14 seconds remaining in the third period, Eckles worked from the bottom position to not only secure a reversal but also two near-fall points in the process. Those final four points gave Eckles a 5-3 win and a 7th place finish.

Heart

Louisville’s 126-pound wrestler Kolten Barker might have wrestled more minutes per match than anyone else in the tournament. Barker finished 3rd, and in his five matches, not only were there no pins, but three of the matches went to overtime, with the other two being decided by just two points each. In two of Barkers three overtime wins, the matches went to a tie breaker which means a full minute overtime period, followed by two 30 second periods after the full 6-minute match. The other overtime match went to an ultimate tie breaker, which means three 30 second periods were wrestled after the first full minute overtime. That is 36 minutes and 30 seconds of wrestling in just five matches. To put that into perspective, that’s 31 minutes and 10 seconds more than Newlun spent on the mat the entire tournament. Barker’s only defeat was a 5-3 semi-finals loss to Saint Mary’s Memorial’s Tate Hisey, the eventual state champion.

Heartbreaker

Four YSN wrestlers made it to the semi-finals, but only two came away with wins, Newlun and Garrettsville Garfield’s Keegan Sell. The other two wrestlers, United’s Dallas McCracken and Southern’s Gabriel Blissenbach, suffered defeats in overtime. Both McCracken and Blissenbach scored just before time expired in the third period to force overtime. McCracken secured a takedown that saw the 285-pounder leap over his opponent to score, while Blissenbach was awarded a stalling point with about five seconds left in the match. Unfortunately, both gave up takedowns in overtime to seal their fate. McCracken finished 5th to become a three-time state placer, while Blissenbach finished 3rd to become Southern’s first all-state wrestler.

Teammates

While they may not technically wrestle and score points for the same team, I do not think anyone will argue against using the word teammates when discussing boys and girls wrestlers from the same school. Most practice at the same time in the same wrestling room, and you can see success from one bleeding into the other. For United, McCracken was joined on the podium with two female wrestlers: Auston Brown who finished 3rd, and his sister, Dakota, who finished 7th. For Hubbard, Nick Bowser placed 4th, and Emily Flynn 6th. Howland had two wrestlers in the top eight: Adam Heckman 2nd, and Madison Burns 5th. Salem had multiple boys and girls wrestlers qualify for the state tournament, with one placer – Annika Murray who finished 6th.

68 Years

East Liverpool ended two long droughts while in Columbus, both of which have stood since the 1950’s. Newlun became the first wrestling state champion for the school since brothers Darryl and Jim Hoppel brought home titles in 1955. A year after that in 1956 was the last time three Potters placed at the state tournament in the same season until Cowan, Eckles, and Newlun accomplished the feat last weekend. The Potters girls finished 11th overall out of over 100 teams represented.

IRISH PARTY LIKE ITS 1994!

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By Ty Bartell

CANTON OH- Hop in the delorean and send that baby back 30 years because The Ursuline Fighting-Irish boys basketball team is in the state final four for the first time since 1994! Following a convincing, 60-35 regional final win in a regular season rematch against The Canfield Cardinals! The Irish will now head to Dayton for the first time under 21-year head coach Keith Gunther.

The first quarter started off with Ursuline’s freshman Jaylen Gunther blowing the roof off The Canton-Memorial Fieldhouse with his 3-point shooting in the first quarter, knocking down four shots from distance, Gunther helped lead Ursuline to a 20-10 lead after the first quarter. Ursuline kept momentum into the second, as the tempo of the game changed, different players stepped up for The Fighting Irish and in the second quarter it was Jayden Payne! Grabbing a total of four offensive rebounds in the quarter, Payne also managed eight second chance points in the second quarter alone, enabling Ursuline to hold a 32-16 edge over Canfield at the halftime buzzer.

Out of the half, Ursuline continued to pile it on, increasing the lead to as much as 24 points in the third! Off the bench, The Irish got big contributions from Myles Miller who locked things down defensively and found his shot more than once offensively. Senior Jayden Payne brought the pain in the fourth quarter, opening up with the first seven points scored in the frame, Payne helped push Ursuline past the markers and book The Irish’s ticket to the state final four for the first time in 30 Years!

Jaylen Gunther and Jayden Payne earned Players of the Game honors with Gunther scoring 16 points and Payne scoring 15 points in the win. Beyond that, Ursuline had a key 12 points off the bench from Myles Miller while Geno Lucente did all the little things right to helpt the Ursuline machine run! Through adversity in the last two decades, Ursuline Head Coach Keith Gunther finally realizes a dream of a lifetime, getting his Ursuline Irish team to the state final four! Although some tough times in the past with plenty of heartbreaks and questioning of oneself in the last 21 years, Coach Gunther can finally say what he and The Fighting Irish basketball community have longed for. The Ursuline Fighting Irish are going to Dayton!

Ursuline (24-3) has now won 12 consecutive ball games this season as they will match up with The Kettering Archbishop Alter Knights (21-7) on Saturday, March 23rd with a 10:45 a.m. tip-off at The University of Dayton. Meanwhile, Canfield ends the season 23-5 as their 14 game win streak was snapped; however, a memorable and successful season nonetheless for The Cards! With legendary Cardinals Head Coach John Cullen electing to hang up the boots after this season, a decision made in the regular season, Coach Cullen coached The Cardinals from 1982-2010 and this latest stint from 2022-2024, capturing six district championships in his time with Canfield and 11 as a head coach, overall.
Thank you for keeping up with Canfield and Ursuline basketball all season long and stay tuned for continued high school athletics with live games, scores, stats, stories and more on YSN!