COLUMBUS — Ontario coach Wes Turnbaugh couldn’t catch up with Jacob Ohl as the 106-pounder strode confidently down the hallway leading to the interview room in the bowels of Ohio State’s Value City Arena.
Ohl is on a mission and nothing is going to slow him down.
The undefeated Ontario sophomore bullied his way into the finals with a pair of pins on Day 2 of the 85th state wrestling tournament. Ohl (36-0) will wrestle defending state champ Beric Jordan (43-0) of St. Paris Graham for the Division II title Sunday evening.
“We had to chase him down the hallway,” Turnbaugh said after Ohl pinned Copley’s Javaan Yarbrough in the semifinals Saturday evening. “Jacob is on fire right now. There’s nothing stopping him at the moment.
“He’s peaking right now and he’s wrestling perfect.”
Well, not quite perfect. Ohl surrendered an early takedown against Yarbrough, the defending fifth-place finisher at 106, and was put on his back momentarily in the third period before working his way out of trouble.
“I don’t think he should have scored,” Ohl said. “I kind of let him wrestle his (match).”
Like Ohl, Ashland’s Brady Welch is man on a mission. And like Ohl, Welch will wrestle for a state championship Saturday night.
The senior 175-pounder blanked St. Paris Graham’s Zack Burroughs 7-0 in Saturday’s semifinals after pinning Miami Trace’s Kylan Knapp in the quarterfinals. Welch (42-5) will wrestle defending state champ Brody Conley (53-0) of Tiffin Columbian.
“You work for matches like (the semifinal) and I’ve worked for this tournament, so I’m pretty excited,” Welch said. “I just wanted to go out thee and wrestle a hard six minutes.
“I also knew it was the state semifinals and crazy things happen. I wasn’t about to go out there and put myself in a bad position.”
Welch fell to Conley 3-0 in the sectional finals at Clyde and 3-1 in the district finals at Norwalk. Conley has three pins in three matches this weekend.
“I’m going to go in there and just have fun at this point,” Welch said. “There’s one match left in my high school career.
“I’ve put the work in so I’ve just got to go in there and wrestle the hardest six minutes I can and see who comes out on top.”
Madison’s Hunter Hutcheson, Crestview’s Hayden Kuhn and Mapleton’s Joe Shoup all advanced to the semifinals Saturday evening before suffering their first losses of the weekend.
Hutcheson fell 7-2 to Indians Creek’s Austin Starr in the Division II 190-pound weight class. He will wrestle Galion’s Landon Campbell in consolation semifinals Sunday morning. Campbell lost his first match Saturday but picked up a pair of consolation bracket wins later in the day.
Kuhn came within seconds of reaching the finals in the Division III 132-pound class before dropping a 6-3 ultimate tie-breaker decision to Wayne Trace’s Hunter Long. Kuhn will wrestle Milbury Lake’s Cristian Lecki in the consolation semifinals.
Mapleton’s Shoup will wrestle Black River’s Travis Owen in the Division III 285-pound consolation semifinals. Shoup dropped a 10-4 decision to Versailles’ Taran Tyo in the semifinals.
Mapleton’s Brock Durbin will wrestle in the consolation semifinals at 120 pounds in Division III. Teammate Andrew Sas will wrestle in the seventh-place match at 138.
In Division II, Ashland’s Jon Metzger will wrestle in the consolation semifinals at 157 pounds. Metzger was 3-0 Saturday after dropping his first match of the tournament Friday.
Mansfield Senior’s Mekhi Bradley will wrestle in the seventh-place match at 215. Bradley is 2-2 on the weekend.
