Piqua 144 pound wrestler Andrew Hollowpeter works a half-nelson Friday against Linkyn Schardt of Turping at the D-I district wrestling tournament at Trent Arena.
Mike Ullery | Miami Valley Today
Piqua’s Max Kaye controls Gage Taggart of Edgewood Friday night in the Division I district wreslting tournament at Trent Arena.
Mike Ullery | Miami Valley Today
Troy’s Nathan Brewster looks for an opening Friday night against Ty Harter of Loveland.
Mike Ullery | Miami Valley Today
Mike Ullery | Miami Valley Today
Mike Ullery | Miami Valley Today
KETTERING — After a great night Friday night Fairmont D-I district tournament, the Piqua wrestlers had a heartbreaking end to their seasons Saturday.
Max Kaye (132 pounds) and Andru Hollopeter 9144) came up one win short of the state tournament, with both finishing sixth.
Hollopeter, 39-15 had advanced to semifinals Friday night, before losing three matches Saturday.
In the semifinals, he was pinned by eventual champion Eugene Harney of Sycamore.
In the go-to-state match he was pinned by Matthew Szczepaniak of Lakota West and lost a 4-2 decision to Dzhambulat Tckhovrebov of Kings.
On Friday, Hollopeter had been waiting two years for his opportunity at the D-I district wrestling tournament.
He wasn’t about to waste it.
Hollopeter recorded two major decisions.
“I have been waiting since my sophomore year for this,” Hollopeter said. “I am doing for the school and the City. Mainly I am doing it for my coaches and myself.”
Ironically enough, Hollopeter was motivated by a loss on Senior Day two weeks before sectionals.
He returned the favor to Sean Kelly of Tippecanoe at the MVL tournament the next week and hasn’t lost a match since the MVL tournament.
“I made some mistakes on Senior Day,” Hollopeter said. “But, I realized I had two weeks until sectionals. When I came back in on the next Monday, coach (Hunter) Bryant said ‘We just need to get to work’.”
Hollopeter opened with a 14-4 major decision over Larkyn Schardt of Turpin and followed it with an 18-7 major decision over Sammy Dillon of Talawanda to advance to the semifinals.
“You have to wrestle with confidence,” Hollopeter said. “You can’t do anything if you don’t wrestle with confidence.”
Bryant saw the Hollopeter he wanted to see Friday.
“He was nervous before the first match,” Bryant said. “You could see that. But, the nerves came off once he started wrestling and he really wrestled. He was aggressive and kept attacking in both matches.”
Kaye, 29-11, was wrestling in the consolations and recorded a 15-0 tech fall over Adam Clayton of Milford and an 8-2 decision over Kyser Kostoff of Colerain to get to the go-to state match.
He faced Simon Taylor of Centerville who he had lost to in the sectional final and lost a 10-5 decision. He was pinned by Sam Mizukawa of Anderson in the fifth-place match.
On Friday, Kaye had opened with an 11-2 major decision over Gage Taggart of Edgewood, before losing 6-5 to Moeller’s David Gelman.
“Max (Kaye) is a rider,” Bryant said. “And he could have come out and just ridden him (Gage Taggart) once he had the lead. But, he didn’t. He kept attacking and stayed aggressive.”
TROY
Nathan Brewster (138) of Troy had his season end with an 11-9 record Saturday morning when he was pinned by Spencer Meng of Centercille.
On Friday,Brewster got off to a tough start, getting pinned by Ty Harter of Loveland in 1:14.
But, he bounced back in the consos in a back-and-forth match with Aiden Seeleba of Trenton Edgewood.
Brewster opened an 8-3 lead, then fell behind 9-8.
He took a 14-11 lead and then pinned Seeleba with four seconds remaining in the match.
