On Saturday, the rest of the field was their rival.

The Falcons and Boardman finished first and second, respectively, at the Division I Kenston Sectional wrestling tournament. Each team crowned three individual champions, and together they are sending more than 20 wrestlers to next week’s Mentor District tournament (the top four placers in each weight class advanced).

Spartans coach Dom Mancini felt like some respect was earned in a sectional where the majority of the teams were from Cleveland and its suburbs.

“It’s sorta nice to go to the Cleveland area, being the only two Youngstown schools, and finish 1-2,” he said. “It kinda says, ‘Don’t forget about our area.’ ”

Staff photo / Joe Simon Boardman’s Sean O’Horo, top, controls Austintown Fitch’s Tyler Lintner during their 138-pound championship match Saturday in a Division I sectional tournament.

Believe it or not, Fitch, which scored 219 team points, and Boardman, which tallied 190.5, are “friendly” rivals, according to their coaches.

Mancini and Falcons coach John Burd jointly run an offseason team known as the Green Machine Wrestling Club, and the experience has paid major dividends.

“We feel like together we help each program get better,” Burd said. “We support each other. We’re cheering each other on week in and week out. They go to a lot of the same events we do. I coach some of those kids in the offseason, and he coaches some our kids in the offseason.

“It’s awesome to watch them succeed, and obviously when it’s against each other, that’s the one time when we’ve got to coach our own kids. But we root for each other year round.”

The one head-to-head matchup they had Saturday was in the championship, and it was a wild one.

Staff photo / Joe Simon Austintown Fitch’s Joey Perez wrestles against Garrett O’Connell of Hudson during their 285-pound championship match Saturday at a Division I sectional at Kenston High School.

Boardman sophomore Sean O’Horo and Fitch freshman Tyler Lintner were tied, 1-1, after three periods and remained tied after the first overtime. O’Horo secured three back points in the second OT during a chaotic scramble, but Lintner quickly reversed him and nearly turned O’Horo to his back, cutting the lead to 4-3.

Lintner let O’Horo up to start the third OT, but he couldn’t secure a tying takedown, and O’Horo prevailed, 5-3.

“We just kind of got in a crazy scramble, and I kept my hips up, kind of bumped into him with my hips,” O’Horo said. “I kept good, high hips, and high hips usually win. I kind of hooked his arm with my leg a little bit, and I just tried to stay there as long as I could.”

Prior to their 138-pound final, Boardman’s Ray Cmil, another sophomore, won an overtime match at 113 pounds.

He, too, was tied at 1 going into OT, but Cmil quickly secured a takedown when he caught Solon’s Nick Molchak, ranked in the top 10 in the state, out of position.

Staff photo / Joe Simon Boardman’s Jake Powell, top, looks toward the scoreboard during a 195-pound championship match with Brendan Demuynck of Hudson. Powell won, 19-7.

“I wasn’t really nervous,” said Cmil about going into OT. “I just knew I had to stay on my offense and keep pushing the pace. I kind of just ran right through him with a front headlock (at the end). I was just hoping I was in bounds.”

Spartan junior Jake Powell apparently is a fan of the front headlock, too.

The 195-pound junior caught Hudson’s Brendan Demuynck in the move in the first minute of their finals match for a 5-0 lead. Demuynck fought back and was within two in the final period before Powell hit a couple big moves to eventually win, 19-7.

Fitch’s Colin Roberts wasn’t interested in keeping things close either.

The 126-pound Roberts, a two-time state qualifier with a 46-4 record, dominated Nordonia’s Trevor Stautihar, leading by 12 points before pinning Stautihar in the second period of the title bout.

Teammate A.J. Winterburn took the same approach. The 220-pound senior pinned his finals opponent in 19 seconds. Joey Perez appeared to use that momentum to his advantage. The 285-pound senior took down Hudson’s Garrett O’Connell in the first 5 seconds and put him to his back for a five-point move. He hung on for a 9-5 victory.

“This is the first varsity tournament I ever won, so I was pretty excited,” said Perez, who signed a letter of intent to play football at Lake Erie College. “This is by far the hardest sport I every participated in. Football is so easy because I wrestle. Nothing is harder than doing this.”

Overall, 10 Falcons are heading to the district. Jacob Ferguson (third place, 106 pounds), Marc Judy (third, 120), Zach Richards (second, 138), David Shannon (fourth, 132), Jacob Smail (third, 182) and Austin Grate (fourth, 220) all qualified as well.

The Spartans’ Dominic Vennetti (second, 120), Tawfiq Abuenaaj (third, 126), Nate Thompson (second, 152), Dante Scott (fourth, 160), Andre Averette (fourth, 170) and Matt Bell (fourth, 220) also advanced.

The top four placers at the district advance to the state tournament on March 13-15.