Boys district wrestling: Black River sends pair to state

INDEPENDENCE — The Black River wrestling team had no room for error Saturday, and two of its wrestlers managed to thread the needle.Kayden Hendershot and Mason Koberna won all three of their consolation bouts at the Independence Division III District. Koberna placed third at 190 pounds, while Hendershot finished fourth at 160.The pair will wrestle at the state tournament, which begins Friday and concludes Sunday at Ohio State University."It feels great to fight back after losing that second match (on Friday)," Hendershot said. "I took today one match at a time, forgot the last match ever happened and just kept working my stuff."Black River finished 15th as a team with 45 points. Waynedale won with 237, while defending champion Mentor Lake Catholic finished runner-up with 174.5."It's amazing," Koberna said. "This is an exciting feeling. It's one of the best feelings ever, honestly. One match really doesn't matter because I had another day to come in, work hard and show myself. I wanted to go to state, I worked all summer, I pushed myself and now I'm here."Koberna, a senior, opened Saturday with a pin. His third-round consolation bout with Canton Central Catholic's Gunnar Osborne was tied 2-2 after overtime, but Koberna secured an escape with 13 seconds left in his half of the tiebreaker and held on.That was just to reach the consolation semifinals, as Koberna still needed one more win. He took a 3-2 lead into the third period against Mantua Crestwood's Michael Berquist — a sectional champion — and held on 4-2."It was crazy," Koberna said. "I was tired. He's a good shooter with low singles and everything. When Coach (Blake Owen) told me to go into a good stance, I kept it the whole time. The last few seconds he came in, I picked him up and that was the match."Hendershot's road to the consolation semifinals was more straightforward with a 13-7 decision and 17-0 technical fall.His go-to match against Carter Moore, a sectional champion from Akron Manchester, was anything but. Hendershot found himself trailing 1-0 after the second period when Moore escaped with 20 seconds left.Moore started the third period on top, but Hendershot secured a reversal with 1:34 left and rode him out to qualify."I was just trying to get two (points), but if I can't get two I'd just take one maybe on a takedown," Hendershot said. "But once I got on top, it was just keeping that bar locked in and just following his hips."Tristyn Herrick (138), Samuel Dilley (150), Dozier Hendershot (215) and Colton Moskal (285) also needed three consolation wins to qualify. Herrick and Moskal won their opening matches but lost in the third consolation round.Contact Chris Sweeney sports@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.