COLUMBUS — The second day of the 89th OHSAA Boys Wrestling State Tournament did not go well for Teays Valley as the Vikings saw both of its wrestlers wrap up their seasons with a pair of losses.
TV senior Josh Zimmer (126 pounds) completes his season with a 39-6 record and Trevor Bridges (113) ends his junior season with a 45-9 mark.
“We knew that this morning would be really tough in the quarterfinal matches,” TV coach Todd Nace said. “We thought we had some really good matches coming back. We scored points in the consolation matches, just not in the right order.”
After winning his Friday night opener, Zimmer went up against Massillon Perry’s Lincoln Rohr. He fell behind 3-0 in the first round and an escape and another takedown had Rohr up 7-0 after the second round.
Zimmer got some points on the board with a takedown 40 seconds into the third round.
After another takedown, Rohr was able to pin Zimmer with just under a minute left.
Dropping into the consolation bracket, Zimmer fell behind 3-1 to Strongsville’s Michael Rusinko in the first period. Rusinko had his lead to 7-1 after the second. Zimmer scored on a takedown early in the third before Rusinko scored a reversal. Zimmer added a penalty point before the match ended 9-5.
“This last match just got out of out of our hands. We let that kid have the tempo and the shots, and we weren’t ready for that,” Nace said. “And that’s our fault in not preparing our kids.”
Zimmer wraps up his Viking wrestling career with three trips to the state tournament and a pair of team records (career takedowns and tech falls) among his accomplishments.
“We love Josh a lot,” Nace said. “He’s a three-time state qualifier — his name’s on the board forever. He’s going to be a hall-of-famer. He broke two school records this year. He’s an awesome kid.”
Bridges came out in the championship quarterfinals squaring off against Brecksville’s Rylan Seacrist. After three takedowns, Seacrist finished off their match with a pin with 19 seconds left in the first round.
In the consolation bracket, Bridges went up against Louisville sophomore Paxton Laughlin.
Bridges had a 3-1 lead with a takedown at the end of the second period.
An early takedown in the third for Laughlin gave him the advantage and he added a nearfall with 30 seconds left to get a 6-3 decision over Bridges.
“Trevor has got one more year to come back,” Nace said. “He’s going to be one of the leaders on the team and set the pace for next year.”
Wrestling from behind is not something the Vikings have a lot of experience with.
“We’re not usually there. So that’s kind of a thing when you get here,” Nace said of the tough competition at the state tournament. “When you have to go down or you have to get out and you’re not used to being there in those positions because we’re tech falling 25 kids a year, then we got to be prepared for those matches in our room.
“We’ll figure it out.”