Highway to the Danger Zone
It brings to mind a scene from the 1986 blockbuster film, Top Gun, during which the veteran flight instructor, Viper (Tom Skerritt) stands in front of a classroom of future fighter pilot hopefuls and says, “In case some of you are wondering who the best is, they are up here on this plaque,” before turning to the brash young newcomer, Maverick (Tom Cruise) and asking, “Do you think your name will be on that plaque?”
“Yes, sir,” answers Maverick without hesitation.
“That’s pretty arrogant, considering the company you’re in,” responds Viper, drawing another “Yes, sir,” from Maverick.
“I like that,” says Viper.
Heading into the Top Gun wrestling tournament at Alliance High School on Friday, Jan. 13 and Saturday, Jan. 14, Woods would like it if he saw that same kind of attitude emerge from more of his wrestlers after watching only five Knights advance to day two of the 40-team Medina Invitational Tournament, held Wednesday, Dec. 28 and Thursday, Dec. 29 at Medina High School, while finishing 21st as a team and fifth out of the 11 Division II schools competing.
“As a whole I think one of our biggest weaknesses is mental toughness,” he said, as West Holmes wrestlers got pinned seven times on day one alone. “When you get into these big matches it’s a fight and I’m not sure we’re where we need to be. A little more fight is definitely one of the things we need to work at. But that comes when you’re young and inexperienced.”
Not so, when you’re a proven veteran, however.
“Medina is a measuring stick,” explained Woods, as junior 138-pounder, and 2010-11 State placer, Max Rohskopf finished second in his weight class, while 152-lb., two-time State qualifying senior Justin Stitzlein placed seventh. “Placing in the top eight when all the divisions are there together is a great accomplishment. I think some of the times some of the weight classes are tougher than at the State tournament. Certain years there have been two or three State champs in the same weight class. It’s a meat grinder.”
A seventh-place finisher at the Division II State tournament a year ago, the third-seeded Rohskopf would meet the reigning fifth-place wrestler out of DIII, during the semifinal round at Medina, in the form of second-seeded Zach Niner of Liberty Center.
Having pummeled his way through his first four opponents – scoring a second-period fall against Galion Northmor’s (DIII) Jamie Baldridge; a 12-4 major decision against Ryan Roth of Perrysburg (DI); another pin at the 5:09 mark of his match against Zak Dobben of Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy (CVCA) (DII); and his third victory by fall, in the second period of the championship quarterfinals versus sixth-seeded Kyle McIntyre of Mason (DI) – Rohskopf had to grind it out against Niner to post a 3-1 victory and advance to the championship match.
“He had a great tournament,” said Woods, even as he watched Rohskopf fall behind 2-0 during the first period of the championship bout against fourth-seeded Matt Hammer of Medina (DI), Thursday evening, when the Battling Bees grappler stung him with a takedown. “One takedown the other way and we’ve got a champ there.”
Rohskopf fought back to earn an escape point during the second period, leaving himself within one heading into the final two minutes of action, but with the score still stuck at 2-1 with only 15 seconds remaining in the match – and with his opponent having already been warned for stalling – the West Holmes junior tried to execute a lateral drop throw, which Hammer avoided before pounding Rohskopf to the ground for two more takedown points and nailing him to the mat for two additional near-fall points and a 6-1 victory.
“Anytime you can place at Medina is a good thing,” explained Woods, as Rohskopf improved to 17-1 on the season, having won all three of his dual meet matches to start the 2011-12 campaign, while finishing first at the Cambridge Invite, and the Wayne Invitational Tournament, held at Smithville High School back on Dec. 9 and 10. “The M.I.T. [Medina Invitational Tournament] is a great barometer of how you should do later in the year.
“Smithville is two days so that’s kind of the same thing, but at Smithville you have a round or two on Friday and almost everybody comes back on Saturday. At Top Gun and Medina you have to fight through a lot of rounds the first day just to make it to the second day.”
Four other Knights would join Rohskopf in Medina on day two, including 160-lb., two-time District qualifying senior Marshall Overholt, who picked up a 6-4 decision over Findlay’s (DI) Ben Hilkert in the opening round, before falling 4-3 to Connor Hoffman of Perrysburg (DI), battling back to pin Joe Howard of North Canton Hoover (DI) 1:37 into their third round consolation match, but ultimately losing in the fourth round of consolations 8-6 to sixth-seeded Ethan Bond of Lancaster (DI).
A sophomore wrestling at 220-lbs., Will O’Donnell upset a No. 6 seed in the opening round, pulling out a 17-11 decision over Alan Randolph of New Lexington (DII), then flattening Claymont’s (DII) Curtis McGrary in 28 seconds, before dropping back-to-back matches on day two.
Another West Holmes sophomore survived until the second day at Medina, when 106-lb. Tyler Nichols bounced back from a loss to fifth-seeded Westerville North (DI) grappler Santino DiSabato by pinning Genoa Area’s (DIII) Dustin Widmer 58 seconds into the third-period of their second round consolation match.
And while he would only last 1:41 on Thursday before getting pinned by Sam Damico of Strongsville (DI) Woods still remarked afterward, “I saw a lot of good things out of Tyler Nichols.
“We had a number of kids I was happy with,” continued the Knights 22nd year head coach. “Grayson Miller (the only other Knights wrestler to pick up a victory, when the 170-lb. sophomore pinned Chris Lake of Strongsville during the opening round) and Ray O’Donnell performed well. And Marshall Overholt, he’s right there on the cusp. He could have placed.
“We’ve had kids that didn’t place – like Max last year, he didn’t place at Medina – and turned it around and placed at the State tournament. It’s not an end all. Because you didn’t place there doesn’t mean you’re not going to place at the end of the year, it just means you need to work a little harder on different things.”
The same can be true even for those who do place at Medina and Top Gun.
Having finished eighth at M.I.T. during the 2009-10 season and second a year ago, Stitzlein arrived at Medina sporting an 11-1 season record to start the 2011-12 campaign, and needing only four wins to reach the 100 plateau for his high school career.
Wrestling as a No. 6 seed at 152-lbs., Stitzlein looked sharp early as he picked up a 17-0 technical fall victory over Painesville Riverside’s (DI) Clayton Ellis and followed that up with a 15-0 tech fall win over Tony Didion of Sandusky Perkins (DII).
But in the quarterfinal round Stitzlein couldn’t get anything going against Claymont’s Kyle Warner – a fifth-place finisher at 140-lbs. during last year’s State tournament, 130-lbs. the year before and 112-lbs. in 2009 – as the Mustangs senior took a 15-0 lead 1:44 into the third period, securing a tech fall victory and dropping Stitzlein into the consolation rounds.
“The weight class was tough this year,” explained Woods, after Stitzlein bested second-seeded Nick Mason of Detroit Catholic Central (DI out of Mich.) with a 6-2 decision in the fourth round of consolations, before wrestling New Lexington’s (DII) Jerald Spohn to a 6-6 tie through six minutes of regulation. “One hundred fifty-two was a bear.”
A Panther from New Lexington, Spohn would score a takedown against Stitzlein during the 1:00 sudden victory overtime period, giving him an 8-6 win and pushing the Knights senior into the seventh-place match, during which Stitzlein needed only 45 seconds to pin Eddie Legon of Strongsville, putting the Knights senior on the podium for the third straight year and giving him win number 100 in a career highlighted by a single-season school record for near fall points (191 last season) and back-to-back trips to the State tournament his sophomore and junior years.
“Justin has his places where he’s very tough and some other places that we’re definitely working on,” explained Woods, who saw Stitzlein pick up his second-straight Most Valuable Wrestler title at the Cambridge Invite earlier in the season and place second at W.I.T. “Once you’re a senior most people know what you do well so you’ve got to adapt a little bit. You’ve got to have something else to go to.
“Medina is a chance to see what we need to work on and when we see top kids in the State, ask, ‘What are they using?’ It’s kind of nice to see teams like that from all over the state.”
One of only two out-of-state teams – Detroit Catholic Central – drove home to Michigan with the tournament championship, after racking up 256.5 team points to finish ahead of Massillon Perry (202), CVCA (176), Lewis Center Olentangy (137) and Mason (127), while West Holmes garnered 65 team points, taking 21st place overall and finishing fifth-place among the 11 DII teams competing, including, CVCA (176 points, third-place overall), Claymont (126.5, sixth-place), Lexington (124.5, seventh-place) and Richmond, Mich. (119, eighth-place).
“We ask, ‘What are they using? What are they turning with?’” said Woods. “We come back to the room and pick apart a little bit of video. Sometimes something’s being hit on us that kids haven’t seen and we can go over how to stop it or how to defend against it.
“Your top-level kids don’t have to have a lot of moves but the moves they do have they have to perfect. When you go out to wrestle you shouldn’t have to think I’m going to hit this move or that move, it should come naturally. The top tier kids when they miss a move they go on to the next one and the next one. It’s a succession. If something doesn’t work, you don’t stop and start all over again, you keep going onto the second and third move.
“We’re working on that.”
It almost sounds like a grizzled old flight instructor talking about the vision, reactionary skills and reflexes necessary to become a great fighter pilot.
The Knights next test comes, ironically enough, at Top Gun and when Woods asks his team, “Do you think you’ll be up on that podium?” he’s hoping to hear a whole lot of Yes, sirs.
Published: January 10, 2012
