No. 6 St. Edward routs No. 3 St. Paris Graham
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Tim Warsinskey
Plain Dealer Reporter
St. Edward wrestling coach Greg Urbas looked stunned. So did St. Paris Graham coach Jeff Jordan, but for a completely different reason.
A dual meet between the national powers that some thought would end an era for St. Edward turned into a rout by the Eagles, who won, 48-12, Saturday in front of a raucous crowd at St. Edward.
“I’ve got, “Urbas kept saying, over and over. “I’ve got goose bumps. I’m stunned.”
The Eagles have not lost a dual meet to an Ohio team since 1997 against Walsh Jesuit. Graham, a pubic school in Champaign County, was ranked third in the nation by Amateur Wrestling News. St. Edward was No. 6.
Graham is the defending Ohio Division II champion, and St. Edward is the perennial champ in Division I.
The Falcons won three matches and were fortunate to win one of those.
“They wanted to win worse than we did, “Jordan said. “It’s back to the drawing board for us. We train for two weeks out of the year, for St. Edward and for state. We must be doing something wrong.”
The triumph sets up another showdown next weekend, when No. 1-ranked Blair (N.J.) Academy visits St. Edward.
The Eagles had a more difficult time Saturday in a 36-33 victory over ninth-ranked Davison (Mich.). Junior 119-pounder Keith Sulzer secured the victory in the final match when he won, 6-4, on a takedown with 20 seconds remaining.
Graham beat Davison, 36-23.
St. Edward won five of the first six matches against Graham. The meet started with a marquee matchup between St. Edward 125-pounder Lance Palmer and Cameron Doggett. Palmer was the clear aggressor and won a 6-4 decision on a takedown with 1:18 remaining.
Some middleweight shuffling by Jordan did not work. Jordan weighed 135-pounder Jake Kyle in at 140 to avoid St. Edward standout Sean Nemec at 135. Nemec won a major decision, and Kyle was upset by Eagles junior Mike Janik, 7-2.
The Eagles also won the other main event between state champions at 112 pounds. St. Edward sophomore Shawn Harris beat Aaron Hart, 8-0. Hart defeated Harris twice last season.
St. Edward also received pins from Mike McLaughlin (145), Ryan Swift (152), Ben Rios (189) and Ben Kuhar (heavyweight). Brian Roddy (171) won a major decision, and Neil Birt (103) and Sulzer (119) won decisions. Sulzer beat promising freshman Ben Jordan, 4-0.
The Eagles looked good even when they lost. Senior 160-pounder Bryan Koz nearly pulled the upset of the day in an 11-9 loss to state champ David Erwin.
He just missed tying the match twice in the final seconds on a two-point near fall and a failed single-leg takedown attempt at the buzzer.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
[email protected], 440-602-4784
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