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Wrestlers ready for postseason

There are several formulas coaches use to prepare their wrestlers for the postseason.

One of the area’s longest-tenured and most successful coaches, Boardman’s Dom Mancini, believes in a progression that may seem backwards to some, but it has worked wonders for Mancini during a decorated career with the Spartans.

“You’ve got to have fresh legs at the end of the year,” said Mancini, who prefers to start the season with his hardest practices and gradually ease up the difficulty toward the end of the year. “You’ve got to be mentally clear. Exhausting yourself by overtraining is not going to bode well for the next two-week period, when it’s all on the line.”

That period starts today, when sectional tournaments around the state begin in all three divisions.

Boardman is taking part in the Division I Austintown Sectional, where the top four placers in each weight class advance to the Hoover District, which takes place next Friday and Saturday.

Austintown Fitch is the only other area team at the sectional. The Falcons are annually one of the top teams at the sectional, and they and the Spartans boast several wrestlers likely to advance.

For Boardman, it starts with Jake Powell, a 285-pound senior with a 42-2 record. Powell was the Eastern Ohio Wrestling League champion (one of the most difficult regular season tournaments in northeast Ohio) and is one of the top-ranked 285-pound wrestlers in the state. He moved up from 195 pounds as a junior to 285 as a senior, and the transition was seamless.

Mancini said the reason was simple.

“He’s hungry, he wants to win and that’s just it,” Mancini said of Powell, whose older brother, Justin, was a state champion in 2007 and dad, Kevin, was a state runner-up in 1981. “Kids can take the COVID situation two ways. You can kind of curl up and disappear, or you can take advantage of it and thrive in the chaos, and that’s what he’s done. You’ve got to be able to be disciplined and get all the workouts in and train on your own. He’s in great shape, he’s focused and he wants to win.”

He’s not the only one.

Boardman junior Sean O’Horo is another EOWL champion ranked high in the state. The 170-pound O’Horo (43-1) also has a family lineage of great wrestlers as his brother, Michael, was a state placer just a few years ago. Sean has carved his own path, and in doing so, found a wrestling style that seems to be just the right fit.

“He’s matured a lot,” Mancini said. “He’s finally found a style that fits him and that wins consistently. It was a matter of, over time, he’s found what his strengths and weaknesses are, and now he’s utilizing that to put up wins.”

South Range has found several ways to win in Division III.

The Raiders, who will be at the Rootstown Sectional today, are one of the top D-III teams in Ohio, with nine state-ranked wrestlers. Junior Ray Cmil, a Boardman transfer, is South Range’s top contender at 37-1. He’s ranked as high as third in the state at 113 pounds, and Raiders coach Levi Hively believes he has the ability to be a state champion, in part because he’s good in all areas (top, bottom and neutral) and brings a relentless approach.

“He just has a real good work ethic,” Hively said. “When he’s in that room, he’s not messing around. He’s drilling real hard with his partners. He’s never just taking some time off. When he’s on the mat, it’s all business. He moves real well and knows what he needs to do in certain positions.”

Cmil leads an array of talented wrestlers.

Sophomore Jake Starkey (160 pounds) is ranked in the top 10 in the state, with a 32-5 record, and senior Logan Cormell (195, 33-6), junior Michael Markulin (126, 36-3) and sophomore Hunter Newell (106, 28-8) are all in the top 15. Add in ranked wrestlers like juniors Gavan Pahanish (113), Clayton Kramer (132) and Naseem Maali (145) along with sophomore Chris Colucci (195), and the Raiders are one of the favorites to win the sectional.

Hively, similar to Mancini, has backed off the hardcore practices.

“Last year, we thought we overworked the kids a little bit,” he said. “Come this time last year, they weren’t really on their game, so we cut back on practices this year. We didn’t push them every day, 100 percent, and looking at them, it really seems like it helped a lot. They’re all looking fresh.”

Area Division III teams are scattered among four sectional tournaments. Liberty, Brookfield, Grand Valley and Pymatuning Valley are at the Berkshire Sectional. Chalker, Crestview, East Palestine, South Range and Western Reserve are all at Rootstown High School. Columbiana and Jackson-Milton are at the Northwestern Sectional, and Garfield is at Independence High School. They all advance to the Garfield Heights District.

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