Goebel shines, FHS wrestling fifth at home duals meet

An injury kept Hudson Goebel off the wrestling mats last season. At the Lee's Chicken/Findlay Duals on Saturday, the Findlay High the senior looked like he was making up for it. Goebel won four contested matches and received a forfeit win as well and Ethan Mitchell and Austin Sertell each went 4-1 in Findlay's five head-to-head bouts in leading the Trojans to a fifth-place finish in the 10-school tournament. Goebel, a state qualifier his freshman and sophomore years, scored first-period pins over Bellevue's Maddox Williams (33 seconds) and Ty Bastin of Lakota West (:59) in the 132-pound division. He posted an 11-1 major decision over North Canton Hoover's Owen Pasek in the match that earned Findlay fifth place in the team standings, and had a 6-4 decision over Wauseon's Zaden Torres, ranked No, 8 in the state in Division II. Ranked No. 3 in the state in Division I, Goebel, who entered the tournament with a 94-18 career record, received a forfeit win in Findlay's match with Breckville-Broadview Heights. That result earned Findlay its only points in a 74-6 loss to the Bees, who went on to beat 2022 state runner-up Perrysburg 37-24 in the head-to-head battle for the team title. Wauseon topped Napoleon 30-25 in the match for third and fourth place and Findlay beat Hoover 46-24 to finish fifth. Lakota West, Tiffin Columbian, Olmsted Falls and Bellevue – in that order – completed the final standings. Mitchell lost his opening match 19-2 to Brecksville's Brock Herman, an Ohio State commit ranked No. 2 in Ohio and No. 15 nationally in the 144-pound class. In a weight class that included seven state-ranked wrestlers, though, Mitchell responded with four straight pins to finish 4-1 in the tournament. He pinned those four opponents in a combined time of 7:47, the fastest of any wrestler in the meet. Sertell, wrestling at 165, also went 4-1, including one forfeit win. Ethan Klotz (138) was 3-2 with three pins, Kellen Bruni (126) was 3-2 with two pins, and John Paul Smith (150) won three of his five matches as well. Josh Strickland (106), William Johnston (120), Ian Smith (215) and Logan Trinko (285) were all 2-3, with Smith and Trinko getting their two wins via pins. CORY-RAWSON DUALS RAWSON – Landyn Lowery, Gabe George and Blake Francis all posted 5-0 records on Saturday in leading Van Buren to a second-place finish in the team standings of the Cory-Rawson Duals. Van Buren defeated Ada, Arcadia, Delphos Jefferson and Cory-Rawson in the head-to-head competition, with its lone loss being to tournament champion Archbold. Ada, with wins over Arcadia, Delphos Jefferson and Cory-Rawson, place third. Lowery posted his perfect 5-0 record in the 132-pound division, Francis at 138 and George at 190. Brooks Young (113), Lucas Brown (165) and Ryan Gifford (215) all went 4-1 in their five matches, with Landen Heath (144) and Nolan Houck (150) going 3-2. Clayton McClain and Josh Arnett went 4-1 for Ada. Marley Bulerin (126) was 2-0 and Jillie Hazelton won her match in the girls competition. BATTLE BY THE LAKE Carey's Lance Rickle pinned all four of his opponents in dominating the 175-pound weight classd at the Madison Battle by the Lake wrestling tournament. After three first-period pins, Rickle pinned Chardon's Will Vuc etic in 5:18 in the championship match. Ashton Ferrier and Mason Rickle were both 2-1 wrestling at 150, Kayden Burgei was 2-2 at 138 and Garrett Boes had a couple of pins and won two matches at 285.