High School Wrestling: Jake Hill's 100th career win highlights Elyria Catholic's victory over Keystone

ELYRIA – Senior night likely will rank among Jake Hill's cherished high school memories. The Elyria Catholic senior wrestler chalked up career win No. 100 on Wednesday night in EC's 60-17 dual meet win over Keystone.A 2025 district qualifier, Hill pinned Keystone freshman Nathan Sheehan at 1:54 of the first period in the 165-pound weight class."It feels good. It's been something that I've been working on since freshman year," said Hill, who will attend Mercyhurst University starting the fall. "It feels good to get it here. All my family being here, just people that have helped me along the way. It's like everything came to me full circle finally."Elyria Catholic evened its won-lost record at one as it won four out of the five matches that were contested. All four EC victories came via the pin. The Panthers won six other matches (106, 113, 120, 126, 157 and 175) by forfeit including the first four to open the match with a 24-0 lead. Keystone won 138 and 285 via forfeit while taking its other win via technical fall at 215."I feel that we're doing very well," said Hill. "I had 31 wins last year and I'm close to 30 this year. We took a long break off from matches. We wrestled at St. Vincent-St. Mary (41-15 Irish win) last Saturday. These two matches are our first time kind of getting back into things. We'll be ready for sure by sectionals and districts."Elyria Catholic also hosted several youth wrestling programs from around Lorain County for Wednesday night's match."Those kids are going to be here one day," said Hill. "I hope that they look up to me and my teammates."Sophomores Hakeen Garcia (132), Juelz Martin (150) and Carter White (190) also had pins for Elyria Catholic.Garcia pinned sophomore Daaron Green at 3:37. Martin pinned Keystone senior Logan Walls at 1:37. White pinned freshman Jamarcus Arnett at 5:37. Garcia and Martin are also returning district qualifiers."It's very important to get our seniors known," said Martin. "Tonight's match was great for our environment. I feel like we're ready mentally and physically. All the hard work we put in. We're ready to dominate."Martin started his wrestling career a little later than some, first picking it up two years ago as an eighth grader at Eastern Heights. Martin's dad, Marvin Cannon, was a high school wrestler growing up in Texas."My dad first got me interested, then Erik Burnett," said Martin. "It was good wrestling in front of the youth tonight. We should do more things like that, to get them come in and make them feel loved and welcomed."Martin is state ranked No. 10 in Division II for his weight by borefan.net. Hill is rated No. 13. Two EC teammates are also state-ranked. Freshman Grady Moos (106) is ranked No. 1 and his brother, Maddox (113), a junior is No. 10."We're just trying to sharpen up things that need work," said second-year EC coach Mick Burnett, Erik's son. "The guys that have seen a lot of action. It's been a good couple weeks of recovery, making sure we're practicing, making sure we're getting better every day. Guys that haven't wrestled as much, tonight was a good kick start. There were five matches and we had very good eyes on all five so we know how to respond."We have our conference tournament (North Coast Conference) coming up soon (Feb. 21). We're definitely in a pretty good spot."Keystone junior Lucas Jirousek (215) won the Wildcats' lone competed match. Jirousek won by technical fall over EC sophomore Dominque Worthy, 21-6 at 5:51."Our heavyweight (senior Justin Rounds) is our best shot to go to state," said Keystone coach Chris Vondruska. "He won conference (Feb. 7). It was a very tough weight class for him. He looked pretty dominant doing it. He's training very hard. He's got a tough sectional (at West Salem Northwestern) but we're excited for it."Lucas (Jirousek) is his training partner. Lucas is getting himself ready to go to. We've got a younger team with some inexperience. They are all in there working out and working hard. Our girls team is working hard, too."Rounds (285) won by forfeit Wednesday, as did freshman Kyriana Rounds (138)."We're excited for sectionals (Feb. 28)," said Vondruska. "We have a couple that are out with injuries. Nick Linden (175) has been out all season with a broken leg from football. He's been awesome supporting the team. He might be coming back for sectionals."Contact Paul Heyse at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.comElyria Catholic 60, Keystone 17106: Grady Moos (EC) won by forfeit113: Maddox Moos (EC) won by forfeit120: Colin Coughlin (EC) won by forfeit126: Gabriel Cook (EC) won by forfeit132: Hakeen Garcia (EC) pinned Daaron Green (Keystone), 3:37138: Kyriana Grahn (Keystone) won by forfeit144: Double forfeit150: Juelz Martin (EC) pinned Logan Walls (Keystone), 1:37157: Joseph Todi (EC) won by forfeit165: Jake Hill (EC) pinned Nathan Sheehan (Keystone), 1:54175: Vincent Reyes (EC) won by forfeit190: Carter White (EC) pinned Jamarcus Arnett (Keystone), 5:37215: Lucas Jirousek (Keystone) technical fall over Dominque Worthy (EC), 21-6 at 5:51285: Justin Rounds (Keystone) won by forfeit