COLUMBUS — Fighting his way back through the consolation bracket after losing his first match Friday, Westfall’s Eli Wright has put himself in position to place seventh when wrestling resumes Sunday morning in the Division II state championships.
Starting Saturday in the second round of 190-pound consolation matches, Wright went up against Coventry senior Evan Owen (36-6).
After a scoreless first period, Owen got a point early in the second round for a technical violation and then followed with an escape to lead 2-0 10 seconds in. Wright scored a takedown midway through the period, but another escape point for Owen had the match tied 3-3 heading to the third period.
Wright scored on an escape 30 seconds in and made that hold up to advance to the consolation quarterfinals.
“They were both evenly matched,” Westfall coach Will Breyer said. “I mean, (coach Tim) Geiger and I were talking about it how there were so many times that they could have got takedowns, we could have got takedowns, and if we would have wrestled another match, that kid could have won — it was that even. He just kept fighting and never gave up.”
Wright faced off against Canfield junior Gabriel Miller (28-5) in the quarterfinals where he lost a 7-3 decision.
Wright was down 3-2 entering the final period and Miller added an escape point and then scored with a takedown with 37 seconds remaining and was able to ride out the clock to get the decision.
“He had really fast hips,” Breyer said. “We went toe to toe with him, and the state matches go so fast. So, once you kind of start to lose, then you gotta start trying stuff that you’re not comfortable with.”
Wright (31-10) will be back on the mat around 11:30 Sunday morning in the consolation finals trying to win the seventh-place match against Boden Ballinger (14-5) from Perkins.
“Leave it all on the mat, really. Breyer’s been preaching it to me — leave with a win, not a loss. So that’s what I’m going to do tomorrow,” Wright said. “Come out and try and get seventh place. And just leave it all out there.
“Regardless, win or lose, I’m placing at the end of the day. But I really want to get seventh and end with a win.”
