by JOHN HOWLEY / sportingpumpkin.com
COLUMBUS — Westfall’s Gage Bolt still has a shot at third while Antony Hoty will be wrestling for seventh when action reconvenes Sunday morning at the Division III OHSAA Boys Wrestling State Tournament.
Bolt (39-3) went up against a familiar foe in the consolation semifinals – Newark Catholic’s Brendan Sheehan. Sheehan (46-4) came out on top in championship matches with Bolt at the sectional and district tournaments this year.
Facing off at Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center Saturday night, it was Bolt coming out on top with a 6-3 win in the 165-pound matchup.
He thought he might have won a little sooner when the head referee whistled a pin.
“I’ve never seen it. They called the pin then the other ref came in and said his knee was out of bounds,” Westfall coach Will Breyer said. “So, they then gave him two points and two near-fall, which they didn’t count it out or anything. Whatever, it gave us the 4-1 lead and we knew we could win from there.”
Despite the way the match proceeded, Bolt will take the outcome.
“It was awesome. I thought I had it done early and wish I had gotten it done early. My lip’s bleeding but it’s been fun,” he said. “I wrestled him twice now and lost to him both times. I knew he was going to try to go upper body and try to throw me, so I had to stay smart, stay low in my stance, elbows in and go for the ride.”
“They were in the sectional finals, the district finals and they met at state,” Breyer said. “That kid got the best of the first two times, and we got the best of him here finally – I’d rather get this one.”
Consolation semifinal matches begin at 9:30 Sunday morning and Bolt will be facing Lakota’s Braxton Quaintance (39-10).
Hoty (44-7) will be wrestling for 7th place at 113 pounds against Delta’s Tyler Barnes (33-10) after being pinned in his quarterfinals match by Bethel-Tate’s Logan Dean (42-3).
“He was significantly stronger than me. He also was better than me, I’m not going to lie,” Hoty said. “I’ve got to focus on honing in on beating whoever I have.
“I’m just hoping I can win that. I don’t want to be put on the wall as eighth place. At least seventh – I’d be fine with that.”
“He just got caught,” Breyer said of Hoty’s match. “Sometimes he relies on his flexibility, which wins him a lot of matches. At the same time, he got caught and when you get a pin called you can’t reverse it – but I guess you can reverse it – I can’t say that statement anymore.”
Hoty’s match for seventh place should start around 11 a.m.
