Vince rallies to take Wendy's 135-pound title
By Andy Cole
Sports Writer
After watching him have to stop the match twice for a hurt arm and leg, and trailing Huntington's Chad Nelson 9-7 with 20 seconds to go anyway, some were surprised when Upper Sandusky's Trey Vince rallied to force an overtime and eventually won the 135-pound championship at the 20th Annual Wendy's Invitational. The temptation was to view it as a "Rocky IV"-type comeback.
For Rams coach Bill Thornton, it may have seemed a little bit more like "Ground Hog Day". He's seen this before, and has come to expect nothing less out of the senior two-time state placer.
"At the state meet last year, he popped an ankle and didn't give up," said Thornton, whose team didn't lose a match in the final round and finished with four placers. "It just shows you the true competitor that Trey is. He's not going to give up, and he's not going to stop no matter what, even if I tell him to.
"He wrestled in what was a very competitive weight class, and finished by winning what I think might have been the best match here today, and I thought he deserved the MVP. Everything's geared towards state for him, and he's not going to let anything get in the way of that."
Columbian's Jeremy Smith placed second at 215, while Luke Hoerig won the third place match at 189, and Brandon Gaskins turned in sixth at 152. Tom Karcher (275) was third for Upper Sandusky, while the Rams got fifths out of Eric Zamora (140) and Brandon Beltran (119).
Huntington made the trip from West Virginia worthwhile, scoring 195 1/2 points to take the team title, followed by Groveport Madison (155) and Miami Trace (142 1/2). Upper Sandusky finished 10th with 76, and the Tornadoes were 14th with 53 1/2. Whitmer's Dan Gurney was named Most Outstanding Wrestler after pinning his way through the 152-pound class.
To reach the finals, Vince blanked David Bork of Toledo Central Catholic 12-0. Against Nelson, his takedown with 8.2 seconds left forged a tie, giving him the opportunity to take Nelson down in overtime. Vince placed second at the Wendy's Invitational last year.
Smith decisioned Lancaster's Mickey Reid 13-10 to put himself in the finals. Taking on Huntington's Kenny Hutchinson, Smith rolled to a 7-2 lead with five back points in the first period, only to see Hutchinson turn a pair of second period takedowns into an 8-7 lead, and eventually a pin in 3:52.
"I think we might have gotten a little confident after the first period," Columbian coach Greg Glover said. "I say 'we' because I did the same thing, and I think [Hutchinson] sensed that and took us on it.
"We had nine guys wrestle here, and three were in the finals, so I really am pretty happy with the way we finished up. We seem to be getting better each time out now, and I'm pleased with our improvement."
At 189, Hoerig was pinned in 1:26 by eventual champion Josh Rodden of Miami Trace, but came back with a technical fall over Western Brown's Terry Manning and a 7-4 win over Whitmer's Ben Wright for third place. It was the second win of the weekend over each of those opponents, as Hoerig pinned Manning and Wright in the first two rounds on Friday.
Gaskins started his day with a 12-9 win over Marc Conway of Upper Sandusky. He then lost to Western Brown's Ryan Noble (13-4) and Blake DeWeese of Miami Trace (7-3).
"We've got a young team, and in tournaments you have to learn to pace yourself," Glover said. "We're learning it, and it's nice to be able to do this at home in a familiar environment. This is a great tournament, and for it being the first Wendy's Tournament I've coached in, I'm very impressed with how well it's run.
"Right now, we just want to improve a bit more each week. We're seeing things that we need to work more on in practice, but they're things that can be fixed."
Karcher was pinned by Pete Highlander of Margaretta in 2:20, but did not lose in the consolation bracket. He stopped Groveport Madison's Joey McGee 12-5, and beat Corey Modrowski of Toledo St. Francis for the second time in the tournament, 5-3.
Beltran went 2-1 Saturday to earn fifth place. He sandwiched an 8-6 win over Jesse Wood of Groveport Madison and a 10-2 major decision of Whitmer's Ryan Macut around a loss in Lancaster's Vaughn Hamricks.
Zamora (140) made quick work of Blake LeMaster of Miami Trace (52 seconds) and Paul Hanus of St Francis (2:04) with pins before a 17-6 loss to Elida's Ryan Odenweller. He then edged Kyle Rogers of West Carrollton, 12-10.
"There was some tough competition here, and I think the guys felt real good about how we did," Thornton said. "We had a few guys who probably should have been in the finals along with the four we had, but the big thing is that those guys learn from those mistakes and move on.
"We're young, and there are a lot of little things that, once we correct them, we're going to be a much better team."