WADSWORTH — The Ashland High School boys wrestling team is sending five wrestlers to the state tournament for just the third time in program history.
Coming off a team title at the Division I Maple Heights Sectional, the Arrows finished third Saturday at their Wadsworth District, led by a pair of district champions in juniors Mason Bauer (138) and Guardian Miller (150).
Both of them now have qualified to state three times.
Senior Budda Martin (215) also moved on to Columbus as a runner-up, while both junior Max Ohl (third place at 120) and senior Talon Boyd (fourth at 165) kept their seasons alive.
Martin and Ohl made it to state last year as well, while this will be Boyd’s first trip.
Bauer, now 48-2 this season, was dominant at 138, collecting two first-period pins before an 18-2 technical fall of Louisville projected state placer Kaiden Barker.
The Ashland junior then won by default in the title bout against another projected state placer, Massillon Perry’s Seth Cavazos.
At 150, Miller (45-4) rolled to 18-2 and 20-5 routs before a 4-1 decision in the championship semis. In the title match, the junior beat Brunswick projected state placer Brayden Miles, 7-2.
Martin, meanwhile, opened his tournament with a pin and a 17-7 major decision before topping Barberton projected state placer Jackson Phillips in an ultimate tiebreaker, 3-2.
In his title match, Martin (45-6) dropped a 5-0 decision to Avon projected state placer Eian Englehart.
At 120, Ohl cruised to wins of 18-1 and a pin before a narrow 5-3 loss to projected state placer Taegan Gilmore of Medina.
In the consolation bracket, Ohl picked up two more pins to bump his record to 42-9 this season.
Boyd logged a pin in just 21 seconds before losing his second match and being forced to battle his way through the consolation bracket. He went 3-1 there with another pin to improve to 42-12 this season.
Ashland had another eight wrestlers in action at the district.
Sophomore Tuff Hutcheson lost his opening-round match before battling for three decision wins on his way to a sixth-place finish at 157.
Putting together a pair of wins each for the Arrows were sophomore Tyson Mateo at 106 (sixth place), sophomore Kale Durig at 113, sophomore Tristan Gibson at 175 and sophomore Bodie Smith at 190 (sixth place).
Also in action for Ashland were senior Nick Manges at 144 (1-2), freshman Paxton Young at 132 (0-2) and freshman Steven Garrett at heavyweight (0-2).
The only other two times Ashland has had at least five state qualifiers came in 2017 (six) and 2021 (five).
Massillon Perry finished as the team champion of the district with a runaway 241 points behind five champs and eight state qualifiers. Louisville was second with 175.
Division III at Rossford
Coming off a fifth-place team finish in its sectional tournament a week earlier, Crestview had seven wrestlers in action at Rossford.
The Cougars picked up a state qualifier at 138 in junior Brayden Parrigan (fourth place). He opened with two pins – one of them over projected state runner-up Grady Phelps of Riverdale – before dropping into the consolation bracket.
Parrigan (28-12) got another pin in his go-to match, then forfeit in the third-place bout to Phelps.
Crestview senior Jack Stephens landed in fifth place at 175, opening with a pin and a 17-5 major before losing to projected state runner-up Marcus Nagel of Delta in the championship semifinals.
From there, Stephens (39-7) fell in a 5-4 decision in his go-to match before a forfeit win gave him a state alternate spot.
Stephens was both a Firelands Conference and sectional champion this season.
The Cougars had a pair of other wrestlers go 2-2 in their district tournaments, including junior Bronson Rose (34-12) at 215 (two pins) and senior Dylan Burge (23-14) at 132.
Crestview’s three district-qualifying underclassmen all went 0-2 for the tournament, including sophomore Sean Nolan (18-16) at 106, freshman Jayce Hinton (20-21) at 120 and freshman Drake Foster (10-13) at 165.
Archbold was the team champ at the site, collecting 177 points behind seven state qualifiers.
Division III at Independence
The area had six district qualifiers at Independence among three squads represented, but only one was able to advance to Columbus.
Mapleton sophomore heavyweight Lukus Jenkins earned his first trip to state, opening with two pins before putting together a 7-1 decision in the championship semifinals.
Wrestling Waynedale senior Brandon Walters (37-7) for the title, Jenkins (41-9) dropped a close 4-2 final, claiming the runner-up spot.
The Mounties also had freshman Jagger Jackson competing at 157, where he went 0-2 to finish off his year.
All three of Hillsdale’s district qualifiers picked up a win, but none were able to advance.
Junior Colt McCoy opened his tournament with a pin at 215 before dropping his next two, closing out the year with an 18-15 record.
Junior Landon Despot also kicked off his district efforts with a 17-2 technical fall at 138 before he saw his season end with an 18-16 mark.
Wrestling at 126 for the Falcons, Bentley Denny got a district win under his belt with a pin before closing out the winter with a 28-14 record.
Loudonville had one wrestler in action at the site in Brayden Marotta.
The senior picked up a first-period pin at 157 before dropping into the consolation bracket, where he collected another pin. A 14-2 major decision ended his season after that.
Marotta was the lone Redbird to win a Knox Morrow Athletic Conference title this winter, finishing with a 39-8 record.
Powerhouse Waynedale took the team title with 237 points, sending 10 wrestlers on to the state level.