State Boys Wrestling: Avon Lake's Brayden Patterson, Ambrose Ieropoli grateful for first chance in Columbus

If there's one thing Avon Lake's Brayden Patterson and Ambrose Ieropoli have learned on their way to the Division I state wrestling tournament, it's to never take anything for granted.For Patterson, it was a near miss last season during his junior year when he came one match from earning a trip to Columbus, finishing instead as a state alternate.For Ieropoli, it's simply been about staying healthy."The first two years he was injured — different injuries that kept him out the whole season," Avon Lake coach Scott Sedlick said. "So he had like seven or eight varsity matches before this year."Ieropoli tried to battle through a nagging injury throughout his freshman season."It was super frustrating because I didn't even find out that I had broke my elbow until my sophomore year," he said. "There was a small part of it that had been fractured for a while and I had no idea what was wrong with it. Finally I was like, 'this is enough … I'm getting this checked out.'"Ieropoli said the frustration mounted as he couldn't compete and help his team during dual meets and tournaments. He was finally able to get through a varsity season this year, only to have another scare just a couple of weeks ago."I got injured just days before (the postseason)," he said. "I wasn't sure I was going to be able to wrestle, but I was really thankful that nothing was actually wrong."I was trying to do a standing Granby (roll) and I leaned a little bit too far and I ended up flying like a javelin to the top of my head and I hurt my neck. I didn't practice for two days after but I was able to get a practice in on Thursday."After winning a sectional championship in his home gym, Ieropoli earned a spot in the district semifinals with a tough 11-8 decision in sudden victory overtime against Holland Springfield junior Ryan Siler, before suffering a 15-0 technical fall defeat against eventual Perrysburg district champion Drew Moro of Brecksville.Ieropoli bounced back for a 9-1 major decision over Mentor freshman Corbin Bissett to earn a state berth before finishing in fourth place.It was an identical bracket path for Patterson, who dominated his way to the district semifinals with a 50-second pin of North Ridgeville's Jon Florczyk Jr. in the first round and a 10-0 major decision over Brecksville's Mark Clark in the quarterfinals.Patterson lost a 21-6 technical fall to Perrysburg's Sully Karmon before bouncing back to pin Anthony Wayne's Jacob Bergman in the consolation semifinals to earn his spot in Columbus. Patterson will also be a No. 4 seed at state after finishing in fourth place at the district tournament."I'm just excited and ready to see what I can do at the state tournament … hopefully make some noise," Patterson said. "It's always been my goal to get on the (state) podium for the past two years but I've never been able to make it (this far). Now I just have to remind myself who I am and what my goals are, and just realized that I may have to crush other people's dreams if my dreams want to be made."While Patterson steadily climbed the ladder of success during his varsity career, Ieropoli had to take a different route because of the injuries."He wrestled a lot of freestyle and Greco for our club and ended up going to Fargo in both freestyle and Greco," Sedlick said of the nationals. "So he wrestles all offseason, all through the summer, goes to all the camps and he's put together a lot of hours on the mat. So we kind of knew what kind of talent he had and we couldn't wait to see it this year."Ieropoli said the offseason disciplines came into play several times this season."I often get into positions where if I wasn't proficient in Greco I would feel threatened," he said. "I was at Medina (Invitational) and I was facing a dude who had literally thrown everybody in the tournament … like he lat(eral) dropped everyone. I was like, 'this is my position.' I love over-unders and he tried to lat drop me four times and couldn't. I ended up winning because I was able to counter one of them and score off that."Now the two Shoremen are hoping to teach their opponents the same lesson they've learned during their journeys."It's the state tournament … it's super tough," Sedlick said. "No matter where you are in the bracket you're going to run into some hammers, right? But they made it, they're one of (the best). Every year there's brackets that get busted. Every year a kid that's supposed to be a state champ loses, so you can be that guy that's out there upsetting that top kid … you just have to believe it's going to happen."Contact Shaun Bennett at (440) 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @ShaunBennettct on X.