Team Ohio 8th Grade Battle in the Burgh Recap

Team Ohio 8th Grade finishes 6-2 to earn 4th place

Andrew E.Gasber 9/13/21

As the 6th grade team kicked off their start to another wrestling season at “Battle at The Burgh”. So did the 8th graders on Team Ohio. The 8th graders were also at the same event in Wheeling W.V. The Highland Sports Complex hosted the middle school Battle in The Burgh Duals. Our boys wrestled extremely well with some very stiff competition. The 8th grade team is loaded with talent from all around the state of Ohio. Bringing these coaches, parents and wrestlers together to compete and represent their home state is an honor.

The atmosphere was competitive to the fullest. Parents yelling “Squeeze”, “Pin him”, “You gotta score”. Then we have our coaches whom are the absolute best of the best keeping nothing but calm and showing our wrestlers how to correct their flaws all whilst competing. Our coaches and wrestlers all showed resilience and composure throughout the weekend win or loss. This group of wrestlers and coaches on 6th and 8th are all great individuals. We often think of wrestling as an individual sport. However, when it comes to dual tournaments, wrestling gives us another side to show how to compete, and even if a wrestler loses they can still help their team by not giving up extra points or giving up a pin/tech. Dual meets require knowledge of where you are at in the dual. How many more pins do you need, do you need bonus points, etc. The team aspect in wrestling is amazing. Each wrestler has the goal to go out and win to help lead their squad to victory. The bench getting hype when their teammate gets a takedown or a pin. Even when there is a loss the bench gets up to high five their teammate and let them know “Hey it’s okay, we’re still in this, let’s finish this dual and get the dub”. This team was sending their wrestler out there by shouting whoever was up name, followed by “Ohio on 3” “1,2,3. Ohio!”. The bench was getting their guys ready to go out and perform! Knowing your teammate and coaches are there along with the fans is a great feeling to an individual wrestler. We are a team sport no matter how any outsider wants to look at it. We practice together, we dual together, we are a team. Each person plays a role. When it is their turn to step out onto the mat they do so, with pride wearing their state gear. I want to mention also that both of our teams were easily the best dressed when it comes to attire. In fact, the colors of Team Ohio being Red, White and Blue were so very fitting for such a memorable day for our country. September 11th being the 20th year anniversary and we were out there competing for our state wearing “Red, White and Blue”. Wearing it proudly as they wrestled. The wrestlers competing, even in high school had not been born yet when our country was attacked back in 2001. The ref’s even mentioned to our coaches as we were leaving the venue on Sunday afternoon that they truly enjoyed reffing our matches because of how polite and sportsman-like our wrestlers and coaches were. The way Team Ohio handled themselves on and off the mat. Along with the parents, truly speaks volumes as to what type of culture we are creating here in Ohio Wrestling! That made us all feel incredibly good to hear that from officials. So to recap the 8th-grade team lets get it going on who really stood out from Ohio this past weekend.

Our boys on the 8th-grade team finished 6-2 to earn 4th place. It was a 3-way tie for 3rd place and the criteria was team points scored. The first day of wrestling had our boys finishing with a record of 3 wins and one loss. The loss on day one came to “Hammers”. It was a hard-fought, tough, tough dual. Also an extremely winnable one at that. They lost by a score of 30-40. The next one was also an extremely gritty and nail-biting dual to say the least. This dual was against a super tough PA Club known as “Mat Assassins’. Mat Assassins had studs at almost every single weight class and also at all age groups. However, our Ohio boys went out and went to work getting the dub. The final dual score for this one was 31-29. They got the win when it mattered most. The wrestlers who got bonus points they needed, they got. As I talked earlier about how wrestling is a TEAM Sport. This is what I was referring to. When the dual is close and the studs are all dialed in. They know what points need to go up on the board in order to secure victory for their team and this team did just that! Sure there were losses however they all bounced back and finished strong. In dual three the Team went up against another Ohio Squad known as “Scrapyard WC” out of the Youngstown area. They dominated this dual by a score of 44-21. The match started out with Cohen Rear getting a major decision 9-0 followed by a double forfeit from both teams. Connor Whitely then got Team Ohio another Maj. Decision 11-1 followed up by another dominating performance by Lincoln Rohr as he got a Tech. Grey got a Major decision and then Carter Trukovich & Andrew Sorenson got us some more points, with a decision from Carter and a Pin for Andrew. Cooper Driscoll, Nathan Attisano, Alex Taylor and Mason Rohr all got wins as well against their opponents from Scrapyard. These boys all were hyping one another up as they took the mat. Some of these boys know each other and some don’t. This is why I said these duals are so important because it brings them all together. They are all going to have the memories of these events and being on Team Ohio for the remainder of their careers and also lives. These are memories that cannot be taken. These wrestling National Teams that they continue to make will only improve their performance on the mat. They will certainly gel and become more of a team than ever before. That is just how it works. They will improve on their weakness in certain positions and build from that. Wrestling has a way of building character in young men, and women for that. The coaches play such a vital role in the young wrestler’s development. The wrestlers may not realize it at this young age but as they grow into their careers and into high school they will look back and realize how important these matches/duals truly were.

As day two came, Team Ohio started the day off against “Team 84”. They absolutely crushed this squad by a score of 60-21. Cohen Reer again opened up and started the boys off with a Tech Fall. The usual suspects then went out and got bonus points when needed. Those getting the pin or tech were, Grey Burnett, Lincoln Rohr, Connor Whitely, Mason Rohr, Nathan Attisano. Ronald Johnson at 105 pounds also got a super nice win over a tough opponent. Ronald got the win by a score of 5-4. Ronald is an extremely scrappy young wrestler and really stepped up this weekend when his team needed him. It truly is great to see as tournaments and duals go as the weekend gets longer and you watch these wrestlers correct the mistakes that they made earlier. They all help one another as much as a they can. Again this is a learn as you go sport. The learning never, ever will stop. Nobody ever perfects the craft/sport of wrestling. If you have, let me know so I can call you a liar. The 60 to 21 really got the boys hyped as they headed into their next dual. They went up against a club known as “Mat Factory”and won by a score of 75-12.

In the next dual Team Ohio went out and wrestled a tough club “OMP” of PA. They finished this dual with a score of 50-32. Another victory which was huge for them. Cohen Reer was extremely consistent with starting the team off this past weekend with big wins, either Tech Falls or pins from him! There is no better feeling than when you have a lightweight who always goes out first and gets the job done quick every time. Cohen really did an amazing job at this! The second to last dual of day two was against a team I believe may have been from Maryland named “Junior Terps”. Our Ohio Boys made quick work of this club as well by finishing with a dual score of 63-9. Ohio only suffered two losses during this dual and the rest of the team won big! In the last dual of the weekend Team Ohio went up against “Team 922”. Unfortunately, our boys fell short here in this last dual by a score of 33-45. Again this was a very winnable dual, we just ended up falling short when it mattered most. A couple forfeits were given up and even some bonus points were scored from the other squad when they had some surprise wins of their own.

Nathan Attisano lead the way for the weekend with the most Pins for Team Ohio followed by Cooper Driscoll with 3 pins over the weekend. Ohio had a total of 15 pins over the whole weekend. A lot of takedowns. As the same for the 6th grade. Attisano’s pins were combined for a total of 11:19 which lead the way for “Most pins Least Time”. Mason Rohr lead the way with Most tech falls in the least amount of time. Attisano had a total of 4 pins and 1 tech making him the leader on Ohio for most Tech/Pins “Least time”. Cooper Driscoll had the fastest pin on the team over the weekend with a 19 second pin! The Fastest Tech Fall was accomplished by “Grey Burnett” with a time of 2:26! Bringing in the most Team Points for the 8th grade was done by our big man “Alex Taylor”, scoring a team lead of 42 team points! As for the most points scored in one match, the wrestler that scored the most in one was done by the one and only “Nathan Attisano” yet again. When you tally up the match points of all matches throughout the weekend. Nathan Attisano led the way for Team Ohio. He scored a total of 112 points on the mat this weekend! Over 100 points ! Way to go Nathan Attisano! He was also our OW, Selected based off of his performance from this past weekend! Keep up the great work Mr.Attisano! As for the rest of the team. Everybody truly wrestled their butt off! I cannot wait to cover the next event! There is work to be done, room to improve before the next event!