PLYMOUTH – Sometimes the biggest breakthroughs come in the most unpredictable ways.
One year after finishing 11th out of 13 teams in the Marcus W. Dawson Memorial Plymouth Invitational – and just three years removed from having only two varsity wrestlers – the Hillsdale wrestling team pulled off a shocking win in the same tournament Saturday afternoon.
The Falcons didn’t have a single placer in the top three at the event last year, but had five such performers Saturday, squeezing past Wadsworth for the title, 174.5-170.5.
Also locally, Loudonville finished sixth in the 13-team field with 145.5 points.
“(Having a chance to win) wasn’t even brought up before the tournament; we’re so young and inexperienced still,” Hillsdale head coach Dan Mager said. “… We thought maybe, if we wrestled well, maybe we’d get a Top 5 finish.”
“I’ve been part of coaching with a lot of teams who have won tournaments and things like that,” he added, “but from where the program was three years ago – with literally two varsity wrestlers – to now, going and winning a tournament, it’s one of the most satisfying coaching moments of my whole 25-plus-year career.”
Mager said he was continuously keeping an eye on the team scoring throughout the day, and he started to think the Falcons had a “crazy outside shot” at winning it somewhere around the third round-robin round. But he said he was keeping it to himself at that point.
By the time the tournament was heading into the finals, he had a choice to either tell his squad of its situation or just let it ride.
He said he gathered them around his phone and showed them the scoring and told them of the opportunity in front of them.
“In retrospect, I think it worked out pretty good,” Mager said. “You could just see the look in their eyes. … When you can validate what we’re doing through an actual performance, it could be a signature win for Hillsdale for years to come.”
It took a full-on team effort to pull it off, as the Falcons went without a single individual champion. Hillsdale’s top performances came from runners-up in sophomore Reed Mager (three pins at 165) and junior Colt McCoy (four pins before an OT finals loss at 215).
Nabbing third for the Falcons were lone HHS senior Garrett Furr (three pins at heavyweight), freshman Bentley Denny (three pins at 132) and freshman Cameron McCoy (pin at 113).
Other big efforts for the champs came from juniors Jason McClure (three pins, fifth at 138) and Mikey Shenberger (two pins, fourth at 157).
Coach Mager, who carries on his staff two longtime area wrestling veterans Gary Weisenstein and Jim Visintine, said they all agreed it was one of the biggest days in the sport they have been a part of.
Hillsdale’s program was nearly nonexistent three years ago, featuring just six total wrestlers combined in high school and middle school.
“I’ve never been too much about watching the scoring,” Mager said, “but I’ve got to be honest, it was a very gratifying win.”
Hillsdale’s Ashland County rival, Loudonville, also had a solid day, finishing just 30 points away from first place behind a trio of solid outputs from seniors.
At 165, Trevor Dawson took the title with a 7-2 win in the championship final over Reed Mager. Dawson also had three pins during the tournament.
Redbirds Brayden Marotta (four pins at 157) and Brady Smith (two pins at 150) were runner-up finishers at their weight classes.
Also with some key efforts for Loudonville were junior Josh Brown at 126 (third place, two pins) and freshmen Brayden Fenton at 138 (third place, four pins) and Harrison Ross-Patrick at 132 (fifth place, two pins).