L-B outdistances Elmwood for BVC wrestling crown

BVCVAN BUREN – Liberty-Benton had only two weight class champions, but the overall depth of the Eagles allowed them to advance eight wrestlers to the finals and compile enough points to win a fifth straight Blanchard Valley Conference title during a joint BVC/N10 Conference meet held at Van Buren on Saturday.Colin Bates at 175 and Will Granger at 285 were BVC champions for L-B. Bates pinned Van Buren's Tommy Basinger in 34 seconds of their final; Granger also won by pin, stopping Elmwood's Chris Clark in 3:04.Six other L-B wrestlers reached the finals, with Alex Coldren (106), Avery Springer (126), Will Pask (132), Austin Collert (157) Ben Beard (165) and Issac Sum (215) all placing second. Trevor Weyer (150) and Maddyx Vermillion (190) were third as L-B compiled 162.5 points to outdistance Elmwood (146) in the team standings. Cory-Rawson, which competes as member of the Northwest Central Conference in all other sports, was third (111), followed by Van Buren (97.5), Arcadia (94), Ada (82.5) Riverdale (60), McComb (34) and Pandora-Gilboa (9).Elmwood had a pair of BVC champions in Peyton Schafer at 144 and Gavin Solarik at 157. Schafer pinned Ada's Liam Vieira in 2:22 in their final, and Solarik decisioned Collert 6-1.Zecharian Paterson (106), Zach Schafer (132), Ryken Ziegler (138), Connor Sterling (165), James Blair (175) and Logan Evans (215) all placed third for the Royals.Riverdale's Grady Phelps, a freshman ranked No, 3 in the state in the 132-pound division, decisioned Pask 7-1 to win his title, and Kydin Reed won the 190-pound competition with a narrow 2-1 victory over Cory-Rawson's Hunter Niese.Cory-Rawson fared well at the lighter weights, with Hayden Walters winning at 106 with a major decision over Coldren, and Zyven Smith taking the very next title, at 113, with a pin in 1:30 over Arcadia's Patrick Ebright. C-R's Jaiden Smith was runner-up at 120, falling by pin to Ada's Silas Riblet.Arcadia and Van Buren had two champions each.Arcadia's Kelen Derck pinned Springer in 44 seconds to win the 126 title, and Kale Price also won by pin over McComb's Kyle Heller at 150.Van Buren's Brooks Hill pinned Arcadia's Levi Crawford in 1:56 in the 138 final match, and Drew Phillips won the 165-pound division with a pin in 5:22 over Beard.In addition to Riblet's victory at 120, Ada's Landon Simon won a BVC title at 165.Cory-Rawson's Wesley Thomas (126) and Mason Hall (144), placed third in the BVC meet, along with Van Buren's Lochlyn Phillips (113) and Jacob Harrington (120), Pandora-Gilboa's Maddux Blank (157) and Ada's Easton lane (285). N10 MEETVAN BUREN – Upper Sandusky wrestlers swept the first three weight classes but Carey won out in the end, edging Mohawk by a 132.5 to 129.5 margin to win the Northern 10 Conference wrestling championship.In two finals matches that played a pivotal role in the final standings, Carey's Jordan Hertel at 150 and Mason Rickle at 165 won head-to-head matches with Mohawk wrestlers.Hertel won his final with a 12-1 major decision over Mohawk's Kyle Kirian, and Rickle scored a 14-1 major decision victory over Mohawk's Lance Frankart.Carey's Emery Littleton at 113, Kayden Burgei at 144, Dawson Birchnaugh at 175, Reid Blankenmeyer at 190, and Isaac Peters at 285 all placed second.Upper Sandusky dominate the lighter weights, winning three straight N10 titles from Braylon Shepard winning at 106, Graham Wolf at 113 and Abraham at 120. Ethan Lewis added a fourth N10 title for the Rams at 157. NORTHWEST CONFERENCE LAFAYETE –-In a three-team race for the title, Bluffton scored 217.5 points and held off Allen East (207) and Columbus Grove (199) to win the Northwest Conference wrestling championship on Saturday.Winning individual titles for Bluffton were Ronald Kaufman (106), Brandon Cross (120) and Mason Shank (285).Alex Nance was a meet runner-up for the Pirates, along with Hephaestion Weyer (126), Wyatt Knauss (132) and Jett Blackburn (150).Columbus Grove's Alex Meyer earned the Bulldogs an NWC title at 132. Zaine Schroeder (106) and Ty Meyer (215) were tournament runners-up for the Bulldogs. NORTHERN BUCKEYE CONFERENCE FOSTORIA — Xzavier Willmarth took runner-up honors and three teammates ended fourth Saturday to top Fostoria's efforts at the Northern Buckeye Conference Championships.Willmarth took second at 190 pounds after getting pinned by Eastwood's Connor Norton (5:18).Redmen Carter Breitigam, Barrett Hernandez and Silas Raney each added a fourth.Otsego 126-pounder Eli Henderson scored an 18-2 technical fall against Breitigam, Maumee 138-pounder Landon Coy pinned Hernandez (2:42) and Otsego 175-pounder Brayden Sadler pinned Raney (:53).Genoa powered past Oak Harbor 182-155 1/2 for the team crown. Fostoria ended eighth (41 1/2).