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The Twinsburg Tigers are Northeast Ohio Conference wrestling tournament champions in 2010.

GARFIELD HEIGHTS -- He wondered if his opponents saw him "as this short kid they could push around." His coach said he hadn't won a tournament since eighth grade.

But senior wrestler Drew Rader's Northeast Ohio Conference championshipship at 189 pounds now stands as Exhibit A-1 that Twinsburg is back, and just in time for the biggest three weeks of the season.

All six Tigers to reach the semifinals advanced to the finals and that splurge of points lifted Twinsburg to the overall NOC team title 195.5-143.5 over runner-up Medina. The Bees led 77.5-77.0 after Friday's preliminaries.

After placing eighth a year ago at the OHSAA Division I state meet, veteran coach Dave Mariola and his Tigers were expecting big things for 2009-10. But right from the start a variety of factors kept Twinsburg from fielding its anticipated lineup.

Rader's energy and effort in defeating Elyria's Jason Gott 12-9 in the title bout inspired his teammates and could become a rallying point as this senior-dominated team now has almost two weeks to prepare for sectionals.

In addition to Rader, the Tigers had individual champs in Mike Labry (119), Waquiem Comar (152), and Chet Bissell (160). Michael Baker (171) and Brandon Bucknell (285) each placed second.

Medina had one champion in Mike Griffith (112). The Bees had three wrestlers on the center mat Saturday evening, including Matt (130) and Teddy Hammer (152). Cuyahoga Falls, which started the day 4.5 points off the pace, won three of seven bouts Saturday night and finished fifth with 131 points.

"Maybe the cloud has lifted," said Mariola, who suggested after a 31-30 dual-meet loss to Mayfield on Jan. 14 that "a black cloud" was hovering over his team.

Mariola said that maybe the coaches wanted the dual-meet season more than the athletes. But he's thrilled with the team's sense of urgency and almost complete turnaround.

"We just want to make sure that we're one of the best team that's gone through Twinsburg," Rader said. "We want to make our mark, make ourselves known before we leave."

Twinsburg senior 160-pounder Chet Bissell, recently back from an injury, defeated Falls senior Tyler Tesny 7-6 for the title. Tesny led 6-5 with less than 30 seconds to go, but Bissell managed a 2-point reversal to snag the title.

"We knew we had to come in here and win," Bissell said. "The way our coach saw it, we tied for the NOC (Valley Division), so we better come in here and win the tournament and show that we did win the league."

Bissell talked about the eight Twinsburg seniors. "It's our time," he said. "It's the last chance we get to wrestle. We're pulling everything out that we can."

Mariola cited sophomore Michael Baker for having wrestled exceptionally well during the tournament. Baker lost the 171-pound title match to Mayfield's Tylan Coleman.

Medina's Griffith, Outstanding Wrestler at the Hephner Memorial, posted an impressive 13-4 win over Mayfield's Brandon Birr in the semifinals and then topped Solon's Anthony Collica 5-2 in the 112-pound final.

The Bees were short-handed after the first round with a head injury to Al Ewing (119) and a pulled muscle coming in for Matt Meuer (135).

Stow-Munroe Falls senior heavyweight Nick Rajcsak improved to 31-1 with a 5-1 championship decision over Twinsburg's Brandon Bucknell. The Bulldogs went 3-for-3 Saturday night when senior Zack Messinger (152, third place) and Dylan Hartwig (103, fifth place) also posted wins.

NOC FINALS

Championship

103- Brandon Thompson (Solon) dec. Mike Reese (G.H.), 6-2

112- Mike Griffith (Medina) dec. Anthony Collica (Solon), 5-2

119- Mike Labry (Twinsburg) dec. Matt Yurkovich (N.R.), 5-2

125- Tywan Claxton (Brush) dec. Dan McNulty (Mayfield), 6-2

130- Dan Yurkovich (N.R.) dec. Matt Hammer (Medina), 7-1

135- Francis Calarco (N.R.) major dec. Eric Brooks (Strongs), 11-1

140- Kyle Marrone (Parma) pin Devon Range (Brush), 5:20

145- Michael Travagliante (Normandy) dec. Mike Benson (Nordonia), 5-4

152- Waquiem Comar (Twinsburg) dec. Teddy Hammer, 11-5

160- Chet Bissell (Twinsburg) dec. Tyler Tesny (Cuy Falls), 7-6

171- Tylan Coleman (Mayfield) dec. Michael Baker (Twinsburg), 3-1

189- Drew Rader (Twinsburg) dec. Jason Gott (Elyria), 12-9

215- Michael Samijlenko (Normandy) dec. Caleb Curtis (Brunswick), 3-1

285- Nick Rajcsak (Stow) dec. Brandon Bucknell (Twinsburg), 5-1

Consolation

103- Nate Miller (Elyria) major dec. Nick Bishop (Mayfield), 8-0

112- Del Vinas (Twinsburg) dec. Yousef Abdel-Salem (Lakewood), 5-2

119- Aaron Banko (G.H.) forfeit J.R. Wiezbiski (Cuy Falls)

125- Scott Hysell (Cuy Falls) dec. Evan Evangelista (Strongs), 4-2

130- Mike Carlone (Mayfield) dec. Collin Taylor (Cuy Falls) 7-0

135- Connor McMahon (Cuy Falls) major dec. Nick Ramsey (Lakewood), 15-7

140- Myles Wright (Elyria) pin Nick Chrzanowski (Strongs), 4:10

145- Devin Orr (Solon) dec. Shane Pietropinto (Mayfield), 3-1 (OT)

152- Zack Messinger (Stow) dec. Michael Haumesser (Normandy), 4-3

160- Alex Pangrace (Strongs) major dec. Brandon Anderson (Normandy), 10-0

171- Kyle Kutsko (Solon) dec. Tyler Eastman (Cuy Falls), 12-10

189- David Stauder (Strongs) pin Brian Yurko (Nordonia), 1:47

215- Ryan Marrone (Parma) dec. Trevor Stiles (Medina), 6-5

285- Nate Hoff (Solon) pin Raul Moyano (Parma), 1:25

Fifth Place

103- Dylan Hartwig (Stow) dec. Dan Bartinelli (N.R.), 6-4

112- Brandon Birr (Mayfield) major dec. Brandon Egnor (Elyria), 11-2

119- Jared Kwait (Solon) pin Michael Bolger (Strong), 2:38

125- Eli Garcia (Elyria) dec. Grant Blumenthal (Twinsburg), 3-2

130- Kodie Egnor (Elyria) dec. Steve Flores (Parma), 8-4

135- Tyler Johnston (Brush) dec. Tyrone McGuniea (Twinsburg), 7-2

140- Jacob Stephens (Brunswick) major dec. Jake Dittoe (Hudson), 10-2

145- Jake Piatt (Medina) major dec. Jordan Freeman (Brush), 15-4

152- Dylan King (Cuy Falls) pin Shiloh Moore (Solon), 2:36

160- Patrick Berg (Hudson) dec. Zach Woodings (Elyria), 10-9

171- Kyle Kumhall (Medina) pin Britt Haneline (Hudson), 1:34

189- Adam Archacki (Normandy) dec. Joe Gigliotti (Medina), 9-5

215- Addison Carbone (Hudson) dec. Arshak Asriyan (Strong), 4-3

285- Robert Bures (N.R.) dec. Andy Boggs (Medina), 8-3

Team Scores

195.5 / Twinsburg*

143.5 / Medina**

134.5 / Strongsville

134.0 / Solon

131.0 / Cuyahoga Falls***

126.5 / Mayfield

119.0 / Elyria

108.5 / Normandy

106.0 / North Royalton

91.0 / Parma

65.0 / Hudson

63.0 / Garfield Heights

62.0 / Stow-Munroe Falls

52.5 / Lakewood

48.0 / Nordonia

40.0 / Brunswick

20.0 / Valley Forge

* Valley Division champion

** River Division champion

*** Lake Division champion