Boys Wrestling: Comets, Eagles take positives from dual meet

AMHERST — Almost any time Amherst and Avon meet, it's likely to be a good matchup. The Southwestern Conference dual meet Thursday was no exception.Amherst capitalized on four consecutive forfeits to open the night and went on to prevail 42-31. Avon hung its hat on strong performances, as the Eagles triumphed in six of the 10 matches that were wrestled.The victory improved Amherst's dual meet record to 8-1 overall, 3-1 in the SWC. Avon slipped to 3-4, 1-2.Forfeit wins by freshman Brock Bottomlee (106), freshman Jax Percival (113), junior Devin Juristy (120) and senior Chaser Chandler (126) gave Amherst a strong cushion from the start.The Comets pushed their advantage to 35-0 with wins by sophomore Cristian Nieves (132) and senior Canin Fritz (136). Nieves won by technical fall over sophomore Cole Schumacher, 17-2 at 5:54. Fritz won by a pin over sophomore Evan Janson as he just beat the first-period buzzer.Avon won the next three matches before Amherst answered with wins by freshman Ali Younes (165) and junior Isaac Vazquez (175) to push its lead to 42-13. Younes decisioned sophomore Gabe Klemona 14-8. Vazquez won by a 10-0 major decision over senior Jack Schumacher."Every single person in our lineup put out (effort) in every single match. There's no question about it," said Vazquez, a 2024 sectional champ. "Avon has a couple studs on their team. Every single match in the conference is important. Every time we face a conference opponent we have to come out and execute."Vazquez and Co. wrestle for coach Tom Milkovich and assistant Dan Ternes, both Hall of Fame coaches.A 1969 graduate of Maple Heights, Milkovich was a three-time state champion, four-time Big Ten champion and three-time All-American for Michigan, where he was an NCAA national champ in 1972. He was undefeated in Big Ten matches.Ternes created a powerhouse at Southview during his 37-year career, compiling a 272-68-3 record in dual meets. He was named conference coach of the year 16 times. His teams won 24 conference championships and had six undefeated dual seasons.He coached seven state champions, 14 runners-up, 17 other state placers and 23 state qualifiers. Ternes was inducted into the Ohio Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Columbus in 2024."No matter what practice we have they're always teaching us some skill that we've never seen before," said Vazquez. "When you have that no one can really stop you. Every single day we grind out in practices continuing to add these building blocks onto this. When we keep building and building, no one can stop us."Milkovich previously coached in the SWC when he led North Olmsted from 1983-89. He succeeded Bill Walker at Amherst after Walker stepped down following the 2023-24 season after 34 years. Walker was a wrestler for Milkovich at North Olmsted, earning state runner-up at 145 in 1985.Milkovich was an assistant during Walker's final season."Bill was stepping down and I told him that I wasn't doing anything in the winter and was willing to take the program over," said Milkovich, who most recently coached at Walsh Jesuit, Norton and Akron Hoban and also coached collegiately for Auburn and Cleveland State. "There are good teams in the conference. They're all pretty competitive."The team did a good job tonight. Avon's a pretty tough team in the upper weights. We got fooled on a couple weight classes but we'll make that adjustment. They've got some good kids, too. We're going to go to work the way we always have and see how that shakes out. We're just trying to get as far as we can into the tournaments. That's what we're interested in."Four of the six Avon wins came via pin by senior two-time district qualifier Anthony Mrosko (144), sophomore Evan Branham (190), senior Connor Krystowski (215) and senior three-time district qualifier Eian Englehart (285). Krystowski's dad, Ryan, was a two-time track All-Ohio for Avon in discus in 1998-99. Connor overcame a 6-4 deficit to pin Jordan Hatfield at 3:10."It was a good match," said Mrosko, who built a 10-1 lead before pinning senior Matt Vidovich at 2:53. "I had some early losses this season so it's good to come out here and to win one. We've been working very hard in the wrestling room with my training partner, Kane Sparks. For us to win as many matches as we did tonight after giving up four forfeits and losing that many is pretty good. We were coming at them."A first-period pin winner over senior Javiaun Bush, Englehart was also upbeat about Avon's efforts."Tonight was my last heavyweight match," said Englehart. "I'm dropping to 215 starting with my next match. It's all about working hard in the wrestling room with my good drill partners. I've been talking to my coaches about adjusting to my new weight class. I just need to keep on working. I was a heavyweight last year. There's a little difference. Need to be a little quicker. We have a bit of a younger team, but they all work hard."Avon's other two wins were by Sparks (150), a senior, and junior Matthew Dooris (157). Sparks broke open a close match with three third-period takedowns to win by major decision over senior Carter Crawford, 10-0. Dooris blanked junior Gabe Shumney 4-0."Silver lining is we won six of the 10 matches competed, but Amherst still won the overall match so kudos to Amherst," said Avon coach Mark Jayne. "I saw some nice adjustments from our guys from previous weeks. It's all I ask for, improving every week and not just making the same mistakes again and again."Some guys were getting aggressive, more physical. That's what we want all of our guys to look like. They work hard. You don't want to take a backseat out there. Sometimes with wrestling that's easy when you see a guy that's strong, that's got credentials. You need to try and give yourself a chance. It's important to go out there and compete."Contact Paul Heyse at (440) 329-7135 at ctsports@chroniclet.com.Amherst 42, Avon 31106: Brock Bottomlee (Amherst) by forfeit113: Jax Percival (Amherst) by forfeit120: Devin Juristy (Amherst) by forfeit126: Chaser Chandler (Amherst) by forfeit132: Cristian Nieves (Amherst) tech. fall Cole Schumacher (Avon), 17-2 at 5:54138: Canin Fritz (Amherst) pinned Evan Janson (Avon), 2:00144: Anthony Mrosko (Avon) pinned Matthew Vidovich (Amherst), 2:53150: Kane Sparks (Avon) major dec. Carter Crawford (Amherst), 16-6157: Matthew Dooris (Avon) dec. Gabe Shumney (Amherst), 4-0165: Ali Younes (Amherst) dec. Gabe Klemona (Avon), 14-8 175: Isaac Vazquez (Amherst) major dec. Jack Schumacher (Avon), 10-0190: Evan Branham (Avon) pinned Landon Reott (Amherst), 3:29215: Connor Krystowski (Avon) pinned Jordan Hatfield (Amherst), 3:10285: Eian Englehart (Avon) pinned Javiaun Bush (Amherst), 1:24