'I haven't felt like that before': Ravenna's David Davis, Cloverleaf cap MAC Championships

PENINSULA — A couple of years ago, Ravenna's last Metro Athletic Conference wrestling champion, Shane Michael, kept hitting a Peterson on David Davis.

"That was his favorite bottom move," Davis said. "It was like a week where he would only hit a Peterson on me and it made me so mad. I made him sit down and teach me that move."

Two years later, Davis used that move Saturday to secure the MAC title at 190 pounds, rallying from a four-point deficit against Cloverleaf's Owen Price with the distinctive roll.

"It feels amazing," Davis said. "I haven't felt like that before."

Davis' victory showed toughness as he was nearly pinned during Price's four-point opening period.

"Our strategy, what we teach here at Ravenna, is we always just wrestle for the period," Ravens coach Eric Kline said. "Just like basketball, you play for the first period. Wrestling is the same way."

As Davis was on the brink of defeat, the message was simple — get to the second period.

"We practice fighting off the back, pushing off your feet, fighting out and just basically not giving up, never quitting," Davis said. "So I knew I couldn't get pinned there."

The second period was sweet for Davis — and the program.

"This was a step in the right direction for our program as a whole," Kline said. "I'm really proud of David and the moment that he was able to capture for himself and the team."

Cloverleaf edges Streetsboro for team title

Davis had a lot of fans in the gym when he picked up his title.

A number of Streetsboro wrestlers jumped up and down as Davis came from behind, as the Rockets went back and forth all afternoon with Cloverleaf at the top of the team standings.

Ultimately, the Colts bounced back from Price's loss with pins by Cameron Newman at 215 and Timmy Shores at 285 to edge the Rockets 173.5-168.0 for their first league title since 1981.

"In this league, this group of seniors have gone 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 and 7-0, so every year they've come into this tournament knowing they had a chance to win it," Cloverleaf coach Mark Mole said. "To see them finally get that done is just amazing."

With Shores a defending conference champ, the swing match arguably came down to Newman.

"Cameron has been in the spot all year of we know we have a pretty darn good heavyweight sitting there waiting to finish it off," Mole said. "So he's kind of like that middle reliever for baseball, and he goes out there and he handled the pressure."

Streetsboro coach Mark Skonieczny couldn't be too upset. The Rockets' Murderers' Row picked up plenty of points, with freshman Jarreau Walker (106), senior Aidan Carone (113) and sophomore Anthony Sindelar (126) earning individual titles. Tack on Matthew Klimak's third-place finish at 120 and Streetsboro started Saturday's finals with two pins and two tech falls in the first four weight classes.

Ultimately, the Rockets couldn't overcome not having a wrestler at 175, 190 and 215 as injuries have started to accumulate. Still, there was plenty to celebrate for Streetsboro, including senior Hunter Smith picking up his 100th win and later his first MAC title.

Junior Cohen Klimak also won a thrilling 157-pound title match of state-ranked wrestlers, edging Cloverleaf's Hayden Jarvis 2-1 behind a second-period penalty point and a third-period escape. After picking up a stall call with 15 seconds left, Klimak masterfully avoided giving up the equalizer.

"Cohen did a fantastic job because he put all the pressure on," Skonieczny said. "Cohen took three shots in that last 15 seconds, so he kept that kid off balance to even try to get a shot off."

Field continues solid run

The Colts weren't the only team to make a run during finals as Field surged past Woodridge and Norton to place third in the MAC for the second straight season. That included Falcons senior John Riley (165) securing his first conference title in dominant fashion with three straight first-round pins.

"John's put a lot of hard work in this year trying to get there," Falcons coach David Tenney said. "As a senior, he was looking to see where he could win the league title at, and it was within his grasp to go to 65, so he dropped down to 65 with one mission, and it was to win a title."

Field junior Carter White (150) took runner-up honors while seniors Brady McCoy (126) and William Nienhius (285) and sophomores Owen Wymer (126) and Daniel Hudson (190) also finished top three.

Steven Duffy cements place in history

Woodridge senior Steven Duffy, like Riley, cruised to a MAC title, recording pins in the first minute of his semifinal and championship matches.

That made four straight league titles for Duffy — who earned Most Outstanding Wrestler honors Saturday — but that's only the beginning of what makes Duffy so special, said coach Tyler Rex.

"He's been amazing," Rex said. "He takes the team, he runs practices for us sometimes. He'll do homework assistance for us. He'll take a couple kids and work on math or English, so not only is he leading in the room, he leads outside of the room with grades and everything else."

MAC Tournament Team Standings

1. Cloverleaf 173.5; 2. Streetsboro 168.0, 3. Field 126.0, 4. Woodridge 123.0, 5. Norton 117.0, 6. Springfield 81.0, 7. Coventry 30.0, 8. Ravenna 28.0

MAC Tournament Placers

106: 1. Jarreau Walker (Streetsboro), 2. Gavin Genovese (Woodridge), 3. Kaden Orndorff (Coventry), 4. Broc Sclimenti (Field)

113: 1. Aidan Carone (Streetsboro), 2. Trevor Alford (Springfield), 3. Ronnie Ammons (Norton), 4. Evan Majewski (Woodridge)

120: 1. Logan Letner (Cloverleaf), 2. Dom Demastus (Springfield), 3. Matthew Klimak (Streetsboro), 4. Shryian Rai (Woodridge)

126: 1. Anthony Sindelar (Streetsboro), 2. Michael Roberts (Norton), 3. Owen Wymer (Field), 4. Justice Ridenour (Cloverleaf)

132: 1. Omar Leon (Springfield), 2. Jacob Joltin (Streetsboro), 3. Rylee Brown (Norton), 4. Joseph D'Amico (Field)

138: 1. AJ Rickenbacher (Woodridge), 2. Jason Beverly (Norton), 3. Justin Wargo (Streetsboro), 4. Radley Spencer (Cloverleaf)

144: 1. Hunter Smith (Streetsboro), 2. Braden Tomcik (Norton), 3. Caleb Burke (Cloverleaf), 4. Mason Long (Field)

150: 1. Tristan Craddock (Cloverleaf), 2. Carter White (Field), 3. Jerry Benci (Cloverleaf), 4. Conner Finegan (Norton)

157: 1. Cohen Klimak (Streetsboro), 2. Hayden Jarvis (Cloverleaf), 3. Brady McCoy (Field), 4. Regis Vargo (Norton)

165: 1. John Riley (Field), 2. Elijah Johnston (Woodridge), 3. Travis Eby (Cloverleaf), 4. Chris Claar (Streetsboro)

175: 1. Steven Duffy (Woodridge), 2. Evan Owen (Coventry), 3. Ethan Gray (Cloverleaf), 4. Trevor Essex (Norton)

190: 1. David Davis (Ravenna), 2. Owen Price (Cloverleaf), 3. Daniel Hudson (Field), 4. Gavin Herndon (Springfield)

215: 1. Cameron Newman (Cloverleaf), 2. Keith Brockley (Springfield), 3. Drew Essex (Norton), 4. Deon Ragland (Woodridge)

285: 1. Timmy Shores (Cloverleaf), 2. Jacob Igleheart (Woodridge), 3. William Nienhius (Field), 4. Adam Bloom (Norton)

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Ravenna's David Davis, Cloverleaf wrestling cap MAC Championships