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Wrestling: Defiance falls to league-leading Celina

By CHUCK MARTINEZ

martinez@crescent-news.com

The Defiance High School grapplers were hoping to play spoiler Tuesday as Celina entered the DHS "Dawg Pound" looking to move one step closer to claiming the regular-season Western Buckeye League title.

In the end, however, the hometown Bulldogs proved to be just another bump in the road for the Mercer County team as Celina handed DHS a 47-18 defeat.

The victory gives Celina an 8-0 dual-meet mark in Western Buckeye League contests with a matchup against Ottawa-Glandorf next week the only thing standing in the way of an outright, regular-season title. For Defiance, the loss drops them to 4-4 this season in league affairs and to 8-5 overall.

It didn't take long for Celina to display its dominance.

The green-and-white Dogs picked up pins in three of the first four matches and took a void at 215 for another free six points to jump out to a 24-0 lead.

"We started in a good spot for us," admitted Celina mentor Tim Doner. "And because of that we were able to build the big lead. We've been practicing for Defiance, because we know they have good guys here and we had to focus coming in."

Injuries and ailments forced Defiance to bump around it's lightweight and middleweight lineup, but starting at 112, the DHS little-big guns were able to slow the bleeding.

Sophomore state qualifier B.J. Miller controlled R.J. Basket for the entire six minutes en route to an easy 8-2 victory.

Miller's win keeps his record flawless (30-0) this season while also extending the new school record for the most school wins in two seasons (62), which he set over the weekend at the Archbold Chuck Forward duals.

Also, Miller needs just three more victories to set the school mark for victories in a single season and is one win shy of the school record for consecutive wins.

Despite the Miller win, Celina didn't flinch.

Celina countered with a pin at 112, before the 1-2 DHS punch of Jordan Gonzales (125) and Zach Hurst (130) added to the DHS tallies. Each jumped up a weightclass, but still managed to come out on top with a pair of decisions that closed the gap, 30-9.

But again Celina countered with six points, this time it was Cody Doner picking up the Celina stick to keep Defiance at a distance, 36-9.

"They really came out fast," explained DHS mentor Josh Neilson. "And they were winning by pins. We were getting wins, but not with the big points."

In the end, Defiance managed to win six of the 13 wrestled bouts, but went pinless during the match as Celina stuck four Bulldogs while also putting up a technical fall and a major decision.

Neilson and the Bulldogs hope to rebound on Saturday when they host their biggest rival, the Napoleon Wildcats.

"What this does is show us what we need to work on before Napoleon," Neilson said of the loss to Celina. "Even in the matches we won, there were mistakes and things we need to correct. But we'll be ready to roll come the WBL tournament."

The DHS/Napoleon showdown is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. Saturday at DHS.

Celina 47, Defiance 18

103 - Curtis Doner (C) pinned Zach Jimenez, 1:13; 112 - B.J. Miller (D) dec. R.J. Basket (C), 8-2; 119 - Joe Bonvillian (C) pinned Adam Bates, 3:24; 125 - Jordan Gonzales (D) dec. Tylor Thees, 7-3; 130 - Zach Hurst (D) dec. Jacob Meinerding, 9-2; 135 - Cody Doner (C) major dec. Cory Carnahan, 10-1; 140 - Cody Manon (D) dec. Leo Olding, 7-2; 145 - Alex Dues (C) tech. fall Kyle Esckilsen, 21-7; 152 - Terry Wagenhauser (D) dec. Tyler Trisel, 8-2; 160 - Derek Minch (C) won by forfeit; 171 - Pat Millen (D) dec. Joey Braun, 8-6; 189 - Steven Stoker (C) pinned Glenn Ward, 1:21; 215 - Mitch Miracle (C) won by forfeit; 285 - Cody Welker (C) pinned Nolan Bachelor, 1:13.