The Bulldogs wrestled well at the Austintown Fitch Division I Sectionals this weekend. Dan Garner won the Sectional Title at 220lbs. Connor McMahon was runner-up at 160lbs. Additional wrestlers qualifying for Districts include J.J. McCaffrey (3rd), Gage Finegan (4th), and Hunter Massey (4th). Troy Steiger, Dylan Hartwig, and Justin George also earned a spot on the podium as Sectional placers. Division I Districts will be held next weekend in Mentor. GOOD LUCK BULLDOGS!

Full article follows:

This weekend the wrestlers from Stow Munroe Falls High School joined all the high school wrestlers across the state in their quest to conclude their season with a trip to Columbus for a shot at the state title. The first step in that journey begins with the sectional tournaments, followed by four regional district tournaments and then the state tournament. For the Bulldogs, Austintown Fitch High School was the site for their sectional competition and included local rivals from Cuyahoga Falls, Hudson, Solon and Twinsburg. The top four wrestlers in each weight class advance to the district tournament to be held at Mentor High School next week.

After two days of tough competition the Bulldogs had one champion in Senior Dan Garner at 220 pounds. Garner had a bye in the first round. In the quarterfinals he jumped out to a dominant 13-0 lead before getting a pin in the 2nd period. The semi final match would see him face a familiar foe from Hudson, but at the last moment Hudson decided to default the match giving Garner an easy entry to the championship match. The final match would not be so simple as Garner faced another familiar opponent in Cuyahoga Fall's Rudy Ware. Ware has over 30 wins on the year and is known for getting quick pins with a very aggressive style. However in this contest, Ware laid back and played defense. After a scoreless first period, Garner scored an escape in the 2nd period to take a 1-0 lead into the final period. Ware then earned a quick escape to tie the match. After going out of bounds the wrestlers started again in the center of the mat. Garner then drove hard for a double leg take down that was followed by a flurry that ended with Garner trapping Ware on his back for a pin and the sectional title.

Senior Connor McMahon also wrestled for the sectional championship. McMahon, 160 pounds, also started the competition with a bye. In his quarterfinal match he made quick work of his opponent for a pin in 48 seconds. The semi final match would have McMahon also face an opponent from Cuyahoga Falls - Austyn Wilson. The two know each other well and this contest ended with McMahon working for a 13-3 major decision. McMahon had to face a tough Solon opponent in the NOC tournament two weeks ago and in the title match he would face Nico Graziani from Boardman who defeated the Solon wrestler in his semi final to earn the title shot. As in McMahon's only other loss on the season, he was the aggressor in the title match and his opponent waited and countered to score takedowns. Trailing 5-0 in the 2nd period, McMahon mounted a comeback, though. Driving hard all through the final period he came up short, though, as the Boardman wrestler, who at one point was granted a rather vague time out to collect himself, held on to a 6-4 score that gave McMahon a 2nd place finish.

Another Senior Bulldog placing in the tournament was J.J. McCaffrey at 132 pounds. McCaffrey advanced from the first round with a bye. He then faced an opponent from Boardman in the quarterfinals. McCaffrey is a high energy wrestler and he used that aggressive style to earn a 7-6 decision to advance to the semi finals. However, in the semi finals he had to face the top seeded wrestler in the bracket from Twinsburg and lost by a pin. Advancing to sectionals meant a victory had to be earned in the next match against an opponent from Cuyahoga Falls. McCaffrey then used that same tough style to win a close 3-2 match. In the finals, he then defeated a Chardon opponent by a 7-3 score to take 3rd place in the tournament.

Junior stand out Gage Finegan started his tournament with a bye in the first round and then displayed his wide variety of moves as he ran up the score in his quarterfinal match for a 17-1 technical fall. In the semi finals he would face a tough opponent in Myles Campbell from Twinsburg. Finegan defeated Campbell two weeks ago for the NOC title, but this contest went in favor of the Twinsburg wrestler this time as he won a 7- 4 decision. This meant that Finegan would have to win the next match to advance to districts and he did with a pin over a Hudson opponent. He then took fourth place and after dropping a tough 6-3 contest in the finals.

Sophomore Hunter Massey at 152 pounds rounded out the group for Stow that will wrestle next week in Mentor. Massey advanced to the quarterfinals with a bye and won his next match 7-0 to earn a spot in the semi finals. That semi final match was a hard fought contest as Massey trailed 4-3 late and appeared to have the winning takedown at the whistle, but was not given the points. He followed that with a 6-2 consolation win to get in for 3rd and 4th. In the finals he got caught and pinned by an opponent he actually had beaten earlier in the tournament.

In addition to the five wrestler that will advance to the districts, Stow had a strong showing form the rest of the team.

Senior Mike Edwards at 126 pounds lost his quarterfinal match, but then mounted a charge through the consolation bracket. He scored a pin at 1:40 and followed that with a 11-2 major decision to get a shot to advance to the finals for 3rd and 4th. However, he met a tough opponent from Twinsburg and got caught for a pin. He bounced back, though, in his last match and took 5th place with a second period pin.

Junior Dylan Hartwig at 120 pounds dropped a tough quarterfinal match 8-6 in the first day. Always resilient, though, he came back in the consolation round with a 8-0 major decision. In the match for 3rd and 4th Hartwig wrestled hard, but came up just short as he lost 4-2. He then had a strong finals match, winning by a 7-0 score to take 5th place.

Freshman Justin George had a good tournament at 113 pounds. George lost in the quarterfinals to the top seed in the bracket. He followed in the consolation round with a 13-0 major decision. In his next match, he dropped a 9-3 decision that put him in the finals round for 5th place and he won it with a tough 2-0 victory.

Senior Troy Steiger at 170 pounds, has wrestled well for Stow all season entering the tournament with 19 wins, but had a tough draw in his bracket as he had to wrestle the top seed in the first round. He dropped that match, which meant he would have to work back through the consolations for a chance to advance to districts. And he did get that chance as he got a victory with a second period pin and then won again with a 6-1 decision. In the consolation semi final he faced a strong Kent opponent. After falling behind early, Steiger came on strong and worked to a pinning combination in the second period. But with the pin call seemingly imminent, the action was stopped and penalty point was awarded to Kent for a questionable illegal move call. Steiger then worked hard for the final two minutes and came up just that one point short as he lost a tough 11-10 decision. Steiger then placed sixth after dropping a decision in the final round.

Also wrestling for Stow were Sophomore Adam Hunt at 106 pounds. Hunt earned a win by pin on the second day of the tournament before his day ended. Senior heavyweight, Zach Milush, who missed the middle part of the season due to illness, did not get a win, but showed a lot of heart as he did battle with the big boys.

The five wrestlers that advanced to districts will begin competition Friday afternoon at Mentor High School.

In the Tournament team scores the Bulldogs placed sixth. Solon won the sectional followed by Twinsburg, Kenston, Hudson and Cuyahoga Falls.

The Northeast Ohio Conference Wrestling Tournament held this past weekend is said to be more challenging than many sectional tournaments. Featuring the 18 NOC teams and filled with numerous state qualifiers, the Stow Bulldogs had a good showing by earning a fifth place finish with 104.5 points. That score had the Bulldogs tied with Mentor for the fifth spot. Solon won the tournament, followed by Elyria, Twinsburg and Parma. Stow came out as the tournament winner of their River Division, followed by Hudson with 103.8 points and Medina with 99.9 points.

The Bulldogs were led by Seniors Connor McMahon and Dan Garner, and Junior Gage Finegan.

Connor McMahon, 160 pounds, entered the tournament with an undefeated record and again dominated his way to the championship match. He scored pins at 1:20 in the opening round and at 0.59 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals he wrestled into the second period and then scored a pin at the 2:56 mark. The finals would prove to be a challenge, though, against a highly ranked opponent from Solon. McMahon was the aggressor for the entire match and was close to scoring takedowns on multiple occasions. But his Solon opponent used a defensive strategy and countered or worked off the mat to not allow a takedown against him. The result was a 3-1 loss and a 2nd place finish for McMahon in what would prove to be a good warm up match for the upcoming sectional and district tournaments.

At 220 pounds, Senior Dan Garner entered the tournament as the 3 seed, but walked away with the title. After a bye in the opening round Garner scored an 11-8 decision in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, he faced a tough and familiar opponent from Cuyahoga Falls for the fourth time in his career. Garner maintained a 5-2 lead for most of the 3rd period until a flurry in the last 20 seconds had him win by a 7-4 score. In the finals he faced another familiar opponent from Hudson. He had a 4-1 lead to start the 3rd period, and just after the whistle he saw an opportunity and threw a hard half nelson to turn his opponent and eventually get the pin at the 5:07 mark for the championship.

Junior Gage Finegan continued what has been a stand out year for him at 195 pounds. Finegan entered the tournament as the 2 seed with an 18-3 record. He scored a pin at the 1:13 mark to start the tournament. In the quarterfinals he used a variety of moves to score a win by technical fall with an 18-3 score. The semi finals would prove to be a hard fought battle with an opponent from Parma with Finegan wrestling his way to a close 1-0 win. In the title match, Finegan would face a Twinsburg wrestler ranked highly in the state of Ohio by the experts. Trailing in the second period, Finegan used a reversal and a peterson move to score 5 points and take the lead in the match. He then wrestled a smart third period to maintain his lead. With 15 seconds left he stopped a takedown attempt literally with his face resulting in a possible broken nose. However, after a short injury time, Finegan took to the mat and closed out a 10-9 win for the championship, his third tournament win of the season.

Also wrestling in the finals for Stow was Junior Dylan Hartwig (120 pounds) and Sophomore Hunter Massey (152 pounds). Hartwig had a pin in the opening round and won a 5-3 decision in the quarterfinals. After a loss in the semi finals he wrestled in the consolations and lost a close decision and followed that with another close decision loss in the match for 5th to earn 6th place. Massey won his opening match by decision before a loss in the quarterfinals. He continued in the consolations with a win by decision and a pin. He then lost a decision and closed out the tournament by dropping a hard fought contest and getting 6th place in what is a very tough weight class for an underclassman.

Senior JJ McCaffrey (132 pounds) always has entertaining matches and that continued. He opened with a close win. After a loss in the quarterfinals he battled to a tie and won in OT to keep going in the consolations before losing by decision to go 2-2 in the tournament. Senior Troy Steiger (170 pounds) also went 2-2 in the tournament. Steiger opened with a 10-3 win. After a loss in the quarterfinals to the top seed, he came back with a major decision win. That was followed by a loss by decision.

Other wrestlers scoring wins for Stow included Sophomore Adam Hunt with a pin at 106 pounds and Senior Mike Edwards at 126 pounds also with a pin. Also competing for the Bulldogs were Freshman Justin George at 113 pounds, Junior Jon Guy at 138 pounds, Freshman Logan Alboreo at 145 pounds, and Senior Zach Milush at heavyweight.

Stow will compete at Talmadge in a dual meet on Tuesday and then will prepare for the sectional tournament.