Thanks to the hard work of the Saint Ignatius wrestling coaching staff and volunteers, and Saint Ignatius faculty, the Day One of the 2018 Catholic Invitational Tournament went off without a hitch. The tournament ran smoothly without any problems.
From a competitive perspective, the day went well for the Saint Ignatius wrestling team, too.
Entering tomorrow’s championship semifinals and consolation quarterfinals at 10 am in Sullivan Gym, the Wildcats stand in fourth place with 92.5 points. Elder stands atop the 28-team field with 120.5 points, Lake Catholic is in second with 100.5 points, and Dayton Chaminade Julienner has 94 points for third place. Padua, Archbishop Moeller, Walsh Jesuit, Dayton Carroll, St. John’s Jesuit, and Toledo Central Catholic round out the top ten.
The second portion of Day 1 began the same way as the first – with a Johnny Novak victory. The Wildcats’ 106-pounder built a 4-1 lead by the end of the first, adding to the lead with a couple more points. Novak then clinched the victory with a win via fall over Padua’s Shane Bianchi at 1:50. Novak will battle Michael Petrella of Bishop Hartley tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile, Jack Bush advanced at 113 pounds via bye to the fourth round of consolations. In the fourth round, Bush notched a pin at 2:03, surprising his opponent with a nice move. Bush will battle Chris Rau of Dayton Chaminade Julienne in the consolation quarterfinals tomorrow.
Anthony Santagata then wrestled a very tough opponent at 126 – Lake Catholic’s Connor McCrone. The junior has placed twice at States for the Cougars, and finished second at Districts last season. Santagata fought valiantly, but McCrone provide to be too strong and experienced of an opponent for Santagata to vanquish, as the freshman lost by pin 20 seconds into the second period.
Matthew Whipkey faced his first opponent of the day at 120 pounds in the quarterfinals – Lance Roberts of Dayton Chaminade Julienne. Whipkey controlled the whole match, using superior positioning to roll out to a 12-0 lead. Roberts fought hard, but Whipkey won by tech fall, 19-0, at the 4:27 mark of the match. Whipkey will face Walsh Jesuit’s Chase Henderson in the semifinals.
Patrick McGraw then earned another quarterfinal win for the Wildcats at 132 pounds. The junior faced Sam Fender of Padua, and rolled to a hot start. McGraw came close to pinning his opponents several times before finally doing so at the 3:36 mark of the match. McGraw’s win granted the Wildcats with some big points, helping to propel the team up the standings. McGraw will face top seeded Jordan Ward of Moeller tomorrow.
The third round of consolations went well for the Wildcats’ middleweights. Zach Tomford defeated Casey Marton of Holy Name to start things off. Tomford secured the victory by pin in 2:05, advancing to the fourth round of the consolations to face Joe Marrone of Benedictine. Tomford and Marrone duked it out plenty throughout the full duration of the match. Tomford managed to get a bit of a lead and entered the third with a narrow advantage. Despite a late couple points by Marrone, Tomford held on for the win, advancing to face Thomas McGraw of Dayton Chaminade Julienne in the quarterfinals tomorrow.
Mario Rini also advanced to the fourth round of consolations, via a bye. Rini’s ride ended in the fourth round, though, as Walsh Jesuit’s Gary Gotschalk dealt Rini a defeat via tech fall.
Zach Morgan kept moving along to the fourth round of consolations, too. Morgan bested Nico Lah of Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin at 145, winning by fall in 1:11. Morgan battled Nick Machuca of Dayton Chaminade Julienne, battling to a draw after one period. Morgan tabbed an escape point in the second, but Machuca notched two to carry a 2-1 lead into the third. Machuca notched a takedown in the third to extend the lead to 4-1 and eliminate Morgan from the tournament.
Wildcats fans watched a fun match between Najee Lockett and Chris Morgan of Cleveland Central Catholic at 160 in the championship quarterfinals. Lockett opened up a big lead, using his patented fire low, attack high move. Lockett kept firing on all cylinders, nearly pinning Morgan with a nifty move. The referees did not call it, so instead, Lockett kept racking up points. Lockett eventually secured a win by tech fall, 20-5, at 5:12 into the match. Tomorrow will pit Lockett against Matthew Valentino of Lake Catholic.
Logan Toth did battle with Austin Belcher of Elder after Lockett’s match. Belcher notched a slight early lead, advanced it slightly, and held off Toth at the end of the match. Toth also battled a bloody nose in a tough match for the veteran. In the consolations, Toth went up against Will Dzurnak of Padua. Toth secured a nice pin at 2:16 to advance to the consolation quarterfinals.
At 182, Tommy Gill tangled with Padua’s Matt Abraham. The fifth place finisher at the CIT in 2017, Abraham used a smart approach to find small openings today to find the upper hand against Gill. The younger Gill brother could not come back from the deficit, losing by decision, 9-2. Gill drew Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin’s Gabe Cipriani in the consolations. Gill downed Cipriani effectively in 2:43 by pin, ending the day on a positive note.
Michael Drobnick looked calm, cool, and collected in his 195 pound match. After watching the action all day, Drobnick acquitted himself well against Elder’s Tom Feldman. Drobnick smartly took advantage of small advantages and garnered an early lead. Drobnick enjoyed the upper position and the upper hand for the majority of the match, and as a result, earned a major decision victory, 11-3. The two-sport athlete will face Jackson Gear of Archbishop McNicholas tomorrow in the semifinals.
The heavyweight quarterfinals matched Toby Engel with Liam Kirkpatrick of Newark Catholic. The first period saw a stalemate, entering the second stuck at 0-0. At the start of the second, Kirkpatrick suppressed Engel’s attempt to escape from bottom, and eventually used an opening to place Engel in a stick situation. With his arms controlled, Engel could not escape and was pinned. Following the defeat, Engel received a break before his consolation match ended the day’s festivities. Engel opened up a 5-4 lead on Elder’s Rowan Tolbert. Unfortunately, Tolbert unleashed a nice move eliminated Engel by pin.
Tomorrow’s wrestling will begin at 10 am, starting with the championship semifinals and followed by the consolation quarterfinals.