ASHLAND — The Ohio Cardinal Conference wrestling tournament made history on Saturday at Arrow Arena.
Ashland’s Jon Metzger picked up his 150th career victory in Saturday’s semifinals, then beat Mount Vernon’s Jake Taylor 2-0 in the finals at 157 to become a three-time OCC champ.
“Winning conference championships never gets old,” said Metzger, a Hillsdale College football recruit. “This is a good tune-up for what’s coming up.”
Metzger wasn’t the only multi-titlist.
Mekhi Bradley capped one of the greatest careers in league history.
Mansfield Senior’s 215-pounder won his third OCC championship with a 9-3 victory over Mount Vernon freshman Alex Taylor. Bradley also won a pair of junior high OCC titles, giving him five conference crowns in six years.
What’s more, Bradley lost only one OCC match during his career, in the 220-pound finals of the 2021 OCC tournament to Ashland’s Jakob Beverly. Beverly would go on to finish third at the Division II state tournament that year.
“It feels good to be a three-time champ,” said Bradley, the fifth-ranked Division II 215-pounder in the state according to Ohio high school wrestling analyst Billy Schaefer. “This is a springboard for the postseason and my goal is to place as high on the podium as I can at the state meet.”
The same goes for teammate and two-time OCC champ Leo Hess. The senior dispatched Ashland’s Angelo Seitz 5-0 in the finals for his 99th career win.
“My goal isn’t just to get to the state meet. I want to go down there and place high,” Hess said. “The OCC meet gets us ready for the postseason. It’s everything you want before sectionals, districts and state.”
Mount Vernon won its first-ever OCC team title with 249 points. The Yellow Jackets had five individual champions in 106-pounder Brock Blankenhorn, A.J. Fonner (126), Rylan Firebaugh (132), Mason Mitchell (144) and Mavrik Gregory (150).
“This is our first in the OCC and it feels great,” Mount Vernon coach Corey Firebaugh. “We were in the Columbus-area OCC (Ohio Capital Conference) and we won several there, but it’s been probably 10 years. It’s been a little bit.
“These kids have worked super hard all year and bought into what we’ve been preaching about being a good teammate. I’m super proud of them.”
West Holmes had four individual champs in Mason Taylor (113), Grady Toye (120), Louden Dixon (138) and Elisha Baldridge (285). Baldridge, who picked up his 100th career victory, came with a pin of Madison’s Jaxin Stancombe in the finals.
Madison had a pair of individual champs. Hunter Hutcheson pinned Ashland’s Cooper Smith in 3:08 in the finals at 190, while Dominik Whitesel beat Mount Vernon’s Kayden Packard 3-1 in the 165-pound finals.
