Saturday, February 25, the Wadsworth Grizzlies Wrestling hosted their annual Sectional Tournament. Of the fourteen wrestler’s on the Grizzlies Varsity line-up, all of them placed and qualified for the OHSAA (Ohio High School Athletic Association) North-Canton Hoover District Tournament. 

The team took First Place out of ten and scored 333.0 points, nearly doubling Aurora, the runner-up team’s score of 176.0 points. Nine of the Grizzlies’ Wrestlers closed out the home season as Sectional Champions, while the other five placed in the top 4 in order to advance to Districts. 

“I mean overall it couldn’t have been a better outcome,” said Chris Earnest, Second ranked wrestler in Ohio Wrestling’s Division I 157-lb weight class, and one of the eight Seniors on the Varsity Team, “being able to wrestle at home and seeing your friends and family at one of your last events ever, is really special.” 

That said, while winning was certainly enjoyable for the Grizzlies, there was a sense of sadness among the team.

“It was honestly pretty sad,” Earnest said, “The whole thing was honestly an experience that only other seniors or former seniors can testify to.”

Although the Grizzlies’ final home event for the season brought about mixed emotions, Earnest said it was important that the team could keep pushing forward throughout the remainder of the postseason. 

Friday the 3 of March, the Grizzlies will head to North-Canton Hoover where they will face a variety of challengers and their long-time rival, the Brecksville Bees.