The CVCA Wrestlers headed to Bedford St. Peter Chanel to take on the Firebirds and the Milan Edison Chargers.  The night started with the Royals taking on an undefeated Milan Edison team.  The dual began on a good note at the 170 lbs. weight class where Senior David Gray defeated his opponent 3-2.  Seven other wrestlers won their match.  Nick Havener won 5-1 at 195 lbs.  Matt Meadows accepted a forfeit at 220 lbs.  Ryan Bennett came up big at the 106 lbs. weight class by defeating Edison's Jude Michel 11-5.  Nathan Tomasello followed with a 19-3 technical fall at 113 lbs.  Ricky Simonelli got an important pin at 126 lbs. Josh Decatur won by major decision 14-5 at 132 lbs.  Then, Matt Dobben defeated his opponent 4-1 at 145 lbs.  The final score of the dual ended up CVCA 33, Edison 27.

     Next, the Royals took on the defending State Champion Chanel Firebirds.  Due to forfeits only seven matches were contested in the dual, and CVCA won six of them.  Winning for the Royals were Nathan Tomasello, Josh Decatur, Jeff Hojnacki, Matt Dobben, David Parker, and Matt Meadows.  By far the match of the night was a rematch of last year's District Semifinals where Matt Meadows took on Chanel State Runner-Up Kennedy Smith.  Last February Smith got the best of Meadows winning by fall.  However, the outcome was reversed in 2012.  Matt won a 7-4 decision over Smith scoring with two takedowns, a two point nearfall, and an escape; while only giving up a reversal off of a tilt, an escape, and a stalling point late in the third period.  Matt, who is now 33-1 on the year and sixth on the all-time CVCA career win list with 141 career victories, continues to impress as he has defeated many of the best 220 lbs. wrestlers in the country this year.  CVCA finished the dual in dominating fashion defeating St. Peter Chanel by a score of 73-3.

     The Royals finished the dual meet season with only one loss (coming to Lakewood St. Edward the first weekend of the season) to finish with a 14-1 record on the year.  The team will head into the last event of the regular season next weekend in the PAC-7 Tournament at CVCA.

   The Royal wrestlers headed down south to the great state of West Virginia for the West Virginia Duals.  After finishing as the tournament Runner-Up last season, the team was excited to return to this year's event.  CVCA did improve on last year and finished as tournament champions.  The Royals wrestled five duals on Friday night and defeated the tournament's 3rd, 5th, and 7th place teams.  The event started with the Royals closest dual of the tournament as CVCA defeated fellow Ohio Division II rival Lexington  41-22.  The team then defeated Parkersburg 63-9, Roane County 67-9, Cabell Midland 48-24, and Ripley 49-17.   The team then wrestled three more pool matches on Saturday morning defeating Cinncinati LaSalle 74-3, George Washington 65-12, and Parkersburg South's B team 38-18. 

     After finishing 8-0 in pool competition, CVCA moved to the finals where they faced the daunting task of taking on the 3 time defending West Virginia State Champions Parkersburg South.  Going into the dual, Parkersburg South had a consecutive dual meet winning streak of 115 straight victories.  Fortunately for CVCA that streak was broken on Saturday night.  The Royals won 9 of the 14 weight classes to win the dual meet by a score of 38-18. 

     The dual started off with a tough loss 6-3 by Ryan Bennett at 106 lbs. to put the Royals down in the team score 3-0.  However, Nathan Tomasello pinned his opponent at 113 lbs. to put CVCA ahead 6-3.  Andy Dobben followed with at 4-3 decision at 120 lbs. to increase the team score lead to 9-3.  Ricky Simonelli lost to a very tough Parkersburg South wrestler 8-2 at 126 lbs. to make the team score 9-6.  Junior State Placer winner Josh Decatur then stepped up with a 5-4 decision at 132 lbs. to increase the lead to 12-6.  Jeff Hojnacki lost a hard fought match 4-3 to make to bring South within 3 points 12-9.  Matt Dobben then stepped up to wrestle at 145 lbs. where CVCA was deducted a team point by the officials for coming out onto the mat a shade too early during a very extreme potentially dangerous situation to Dobben's neck.  Matt came through with a 6-2 win.  The Royals were then up in the team score 14-6.  The dynamic duo of sophomores Michael Meadows and Tyler Maclellan then came up big by winning at the 152 lbs. and 160 lbs. weight classes.  Michael pinned his opponent; while, Tyler earned a 2-0 decision.  That put the team score at a commanding 23-9.  Senior David Gray won 8-6 at 170 lbs.  Danny Tiley wrestled a great 1-0 match losing to Parkersburg South's lone Ironman placer.  Nick Havener then sealed the dual victory at 195 lbs. by pinning his opponent in the first period.  After the match was clinched for CVCA, Parkersburg South then forfeited to Matt Meadows at 220 lbs. and CVCA returned by forfeiting at Heavyweight to make the final team score 38-18.

     The team was lead all weekend by Senior Matt Meadows and Juniors Nick Havener and Nathan Tomasello.  Each of them finished 9-0 on the weekend and each with 5 pins.  All of the other wrestlers on the roster won matches and scored important team points on the weekend.  Ryan Bennett (8-1), Andy Dobben (7-2), Ricky Simonelli (7-2), Josh Decatur (7-1), Jeff Hojnacki (5-4), Matt Dobben (3-2), Zak Dobben (2-1), David Parker (1-2), Michael Meadows (5-2), Noah Havener (3-0), Tyler Maclellan (5-2), David Gray (6-2), Danny Tiley (6-3), and Scott Calo (4-1).

     The Royals will be back in action on Wednesday when they will take on defending State Champions St. Peter Chanel along with a very tough Milan Edison team.  Wrestling is scheduled to start at 6:00 pm at Chanel.

     The Amherst Steele Rockets came to CVCA on Thursday night for an exciting dual meet.  The night began with CVCA recognizing their two senior wrestlers, David Gray and Matt Meadows.  David wrestles in the 170 lbs. weight class and was honored along with his parent Mark and Patty Gray.  David won his 99th career match later that night.  David is a District Place winner and 2X PAC-7 Champion.  Matt Meadows was honored with his parents Mike and Connie Meadows.  Matt is currently 7th in all time career victories at CVCA with 130 career wins.  Matt is a two-time State Placer and 3X PAC-7 Champion .

CVCA won the dual meet by a score of 37-25. Results of the dual were as follows:

106 Bennett (CVCA) tech fall Walker (Am)19-3
113 Lough (Am) forfeit
120 Tomasello (CVCA) fall Harris (Am)
126 Matos (Am) dec 8-6 A. Dobben (CVCA)
132 Simonelli (CVCA) maj. dec 12-3 DeRuchie (Am)
138 Decatur (CVCA) dec 3-1 OT Funderburg (Am)
145 Hojnacki (CVCA) dec 7-2 Williams (Am)
152 Basinski (Am) dec 4-2 Mike Meadows (CVCA)
160 Wearsch (Am) maj. dec 13-3 Maclellan (CVCA)
170 Gray (CVCA) maj. dec 14-2 Eibon (Am)
182 Havener (CVCA) fall Whitt (Am)
195 Breeding (Am) dec 2-1 Tiley (CVCA)
220 Matt Meadows (CVCA) fall Moody (Am)
285 Bookshar (Am) fall Calo (CVCA)

     The Royals will be back in action next weekend in Parkersburg, WV at the West Virginia Duals.

     The CVCA Wrestling team finished in 3rd place overall at the Alliance Top Gun Tournament on January 13th and 14th.  The team scored a record 180.5 team points and had 8 place winners.  Junior Nathan Tomasello won 5 matches on his way to the championship at 113 lbs.  Nathan defeated Claymont's State Placer Luke Langdon 5-0 in the finals.  Also winning the championship for the Royals was Matt Meadows at the 220 lbs. weight class.  Matt defeated Madison's Josh Ransom with a last second takedown in the finals.  Both Nathan and Matt are ranked in the top ten nationally of their respective weight classes. 

     Finishing in 3rd place was Senior David Gray at 170 lbs.  David pinned Brogan Endres of Dover in the third place match.  Freshman Ryan Bennett had an impressive tournament finishing 4th at the 106 lbs. weight class.  Ryan had an impressive win by defeating Massilon Perry's State Runner-Up David Bavery in the second round by a score of 6-4.  Junior Josh Decatur finished 5th at 132 lbs.  Josh beat Strongsville's Rick Perez 7-2 in the fifth place match. 

     The Royals had a trio of wrestlers finish in 7th place.  Freshman Andy Dobben at 120 lbs. and Juniors Matt Dobben at 145 lbs. and Nick Havener at 182 lbs. all finished in 7th.  Ricky Simonelli, Jeff Hojnacki, Michael Meadows, Tyler Maclellan, and Danny Tiley all won matches at the Top Gun for the team. 

     The Medina Invitational Tournament is known as the Greatest Show in Wrestling.  The 40 team event was held December 28th and 29th at Medina High School.   CVCA finished in third place overall with 176 team points and seven individual place winners.  The first day of the tournament proved to be an exciting one as the Royals advanced 5 wrestlers to the championship semifinals.  Two number one seeds went down early at the hands of a couple of CVCA wrestlers.  First, freshman Andy Dobben defeated Lexington's two time State Runner-Up Calvin Campbell with a 2-0 win in overtime.  Then, Senior David Gray matched up against a defending three time State Champion who had not lost a high school match since early in his freshman year in Genoa's Felipe Martinez.  David was down early, but rallied to earn two takedowns and back points in the third period to come away with an 11-5 decision. David finished as the tournament runner-up at the 170 lbs. weight class.

     The team had two individual champions.  Junior Nathan Tomasello won the M.I.T. for the second year in a row by dominating the 113 lbs. weight class.  Nathan scored a 8-3 decision over Lancaster's Jacob Spearman in the finals.  Nathan was improved his undefeated record to 17-0 and was voted the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler.  Senior Matt Meadows dominated the 220 lbs. weight class and won the tournament in his home town of Medina.  Matt pinned Richmond Michigan's State Placer Greg Sebastian in the finals.  Matt improved his record on the season to 16-1.

     Freshman Ryan Bennett had an amazing tournament and finished in 3rd place at the 106 lbs. weight class.  Ryan avenged his only loss of the tournament by defeating Claymont's Dustin Warner 7-4 in the consolation semi-finals. Fellow freshman Andy Dobben continued on his impressive tournament and finished 5th at the 120 lbs. weight class by defeating Perry's Austin Phillips 1-0 in the placement match.  Junior State Placer Josh Decatur came in 5th place at the 132 lbs. weight class.  Josh beat Lancaster's Logan Strope with a takedown in the last few seconds of the placement match.  Junior Nick Havener finished in 7th place at the 182 lbs. weight class.  Nick won by technical fall over Richmond Michigan's Scott Gulette in the placement match.  Every other wrestler entered into the tournament scored team points to account for the most points ever scored by CVCA at the Medina Invitational Tournament.

     CVCA defeated the Division II State Runner-Up Walsh Jesuit Warriors on Thursday night by a score of 42-28.  Ryan Bennett started off the match by earning a fall at 106 lbs.  After a forfeiting the 113 lbs. weight class, CVCA's Andy Dobben took on Walsh State Finalist Corey Stainbrook.  Andy lost to the tough senior by a score of 11-2.  Sophomore Ricky Simonelli lost a tight 1-0 decision to State Placer Mike Kostandaras at 126 lbs.  Josh Decatur defeated Walsh's Nolan Whitely 5-3 at 132 lbs.  Freshman Zak Dobben lost to the number one nationally ranked Nate Skonieczny at 138 lbs. by a score of 18-3.  At 145 lbs.  Matt Dobben pinned Walsh's Dan Spitznagel in the second period.  Mike Meadows lost 15-7 at 152 lbs. to Brad Ward of the Warriors.  Tyler Maclellan lost a very close overtime match to Walsh Senior Dominic Scarberry.  Finally, Nick Havener won by a score of 8-4 at 182 lbs. of Walsh's Nick Rumple.   David Gray (170 lbs.), Danny Tiley (195 lbs.), Matt Meadows (220 lbs.), and Scott Calo (285 lbs.) all earned forfeits for the Royals.  The dual finished with CVCA defeating the Wyoga Lake Road Rival for the third straight year.

     The CVCA Wrestlers were in action across the street at the Walsh Jesuit Ironman Tournament over the weekend.  The Ironman is considered by most, the toughest in season high school wrestling tournament in the country.  CVCA had a great tournament and finished in 11th place overall out of about 60 teams with 73.5 team points.  Finishing as tournament champion for the second straight year was Junior Nathan Tomasello at the 113 lbs. weight class.  Nathan defeated Blair Academy's Joey McKenna 3-2 in the finals.  However, the road to the finals was not an easy path for the two time defending state champion.  Nathan had an exciting come from behind victory over Bethlehem Catholic's Zeke Moisey in the semifinal match after being down 5-0 after the first period.  Watch Nathan's matches and interview at the links below.

113 lbs. Semifinals: Nathan Tomasello vs. Zeke Moisey (Bethlehem Catholic, PA)

Nathan Tomasello Interview

  Senior Matt Meadows also had an outstanding tournament at the 220 lbs. weight class finishing in 3rd place.  Matt won three matches to advance to the semifinals before losing a close 3-2 decision to Good Councel Maryland's Kyle Snyder who is ranked #2 in the country.  He then won two more bouts defeating Cincinnati Moeller's Chalmer Frauf in the 3rd place match.

220 lbs. Quarterfinals:  Matt Meadows vs. Garrett Linton (Rootstown, OH)

     Senior David Gray also had a great tournament finishing 8th at the 170 lbs. weight class.  David won two matches on Friday to advance to the quarterfinals.  Then after dropping down to consolations, he pinned Ashland Crestview's Garrick Montgomery to advance to the placement round.

170 lbs. Round 2: David Gray vs. Jonathan Simmons (Robinson, VA)

     The rest of the team also wrestled great even though they fell short of placing.  Freshman Andy Dobben won 3 matches at the 120 lbs. weight class.  Junior Matt Dobben won 2 matches at 145 lbs. Finally, Sophomore Ricky Simonelli won a match at 126 lbs.  The wrestlers will be back in action at Walsh once again for a dual meet this Thursday night at 6:00 pm.

     Nick Havener finished as the tournament champion at the 182 lbs. weight class of the King of the Hill Tournament in East Liverpool with a 10-4 decision in the finals.  Other wrestlers participating in the tournament were David Parker, James Hammons, Paul Gibson, and Scott Calo.

     The CVCA Wreslting team opened up the season at CVCA with matches against Oregon Clay and Lakewood St. Edward at CVCA on Saturday night December 3rd.  The Royals finished 1-1 on the day with a 35-28 victory of a tough Oregon Clay team and then falling to the defending Division I State Champion St. Eds 54-12. 

End of Match Scramble at 220 lbs. Meadows vs. Walz

     The match of the night by far was the match--up at the 220 lbs. weight class between two nationally ranked wrestlers in St. Eds Ty Walz and CVCA's Matt Meadows.  Intermat has Walz ranked 8th in the nation and Meadows ranked 11th.  The two wrestled three times last season with Meadows winning the first match at the dual meet last year and then Walz winning  the matches at the Ironman and M.I.T. This highly anticipated match did not disappoint.  The match remained relatively low scoring with each wrestler getting a takedown and two escapes in regulation to go into overtime.  After a scoreless first overtime period, both wrestlers escaped in the two thirty second tie-breakers.  Meadows chose down in the ultimate tie breaker and got a reversal after a great scramble with only seconds left in the match.   The two wrestlers may be on another collision course next weekend as they will both be entered in the 220 lbs. weight class at the prestigious Walsh Ironman Tournament.  Matt finished 2-0 on the day with a win over Clay's Pedro Zapata

Ryan Bennett at 106 lbs.

     Ryan Bennett finished 2-0 on the day at the 106 lbs. weight class to start off his high school career.  Ryan defeated Clay's Jared Davis 4-2 and St. Ed's LJ Bentley 3-2.  Junior Nathan Tomasello was also undefeated on the day with a 20-7 major decision over Richie Screptock of Oregon Clay and a fall over St. Ed's Sal Corrao.  Also recording wins for the Royals vs. Oregon Clay were Andy Dobben at 120 lbs., Josh Decatur at 132 lbs., Tyler Maclellan at 160 lbs., and David Gray at 170 lbs.

Nathan Tomasello at 113 lbs.

We would like to thanks all of the fans, freinds, and family members that came out to CVCA to support our wrestlers.  We'd especially like to recognize our CVCA Wrestling Alumni that were in attendance.  Thanks to Matt Smilek ('03), Michael Hojnacki ('07), Thomas Windom ('07), Joe Hickin ('08), Matt Hickin ('09), Brandon Sommers ('10), and Seth Powers ('11).

The matches can be viewed at www.nwntv.com

Photos courtesy of Nancy Havener

     The CVCA Royals wrestling enters the 2011-12 season after finishing as the Division III State Runner-Up team in each of the past two seasons.  The Royals will be lead by head coach Don Lorence and seniors Matt Meadows and David Gray.  The team will once again wrestle one of the toughest schedules in the state of Ohio this season.  The team will open up the year with the number one ranked team in the nation according to WIN Magazine and defending Division I State Champion Lakewood St. Edwards coming to CVCA for a tri meet with Oregon Clay on December 3rd.  The team will then head to the prestigious Walsh Ironman the next weekend.  After a dual with Walsh the varsity squad will head down to Troy Christian for a tournament on December 17th.  The Medina Invitational Tournament and Alliance Top Gun Tournament remain on the schedule as well as the  West Virginia Duals.  Senior night will be at CVCA on January 19th against Amherst.  Then the team will end regular season action with a tri meet against St. Peter Chanel and Milan Edison on February 1st.  Finally CVCA will host the PAC-7 Tournament before heading to Sectionals at Walsh, Districts at Alliance, and then the OHSAA State Tournament in Columbus.

     Two time state placer and Senior Matt Meadows will enter the season ranked in the nation at the 220 lbs. weight class.  Matt has finished 8th and 3rd at the State Tournament the past two years and will look to add to his already impressive high school resume.  Senior David Gray will wrestle at the 170 lbs. weight class and finished 6th at the District Tournament last year.  David has amassed 79 victories in his first three years at CVCA.

     Junior Nathan Tomasello will lead the way at the 113 lbs. weight class.  The defending two-time State Champion is coming off of a tremendous off-season where he won the July Freestyle National Championship in Fargo this past July.  Nathan is ranked as one of the best wrestlers in the nation at 113 lbs.  Fellow Junior State Placers Josh Decatur and Matt Dobben will look to improve on last year's performance.  Josh Decatur will man the 132 lbs. weight class after finishing 6th in the state last season, and Matt Dobben will wrestle at 145 lbs. after finishing 3rd in the state last season.  Other Juniors looking to contribute are David Parker at 145/152 lbs., James Hammons at 182 lbs., Nick Havener at 182 lbs., Danny Tiley at 195 lbs., and heavyweight Scott Calo.

     A solid group of sophomores will fill many of the varsity weight classes.  Ricky Simonelli finished as the State Alternate last season and will wrestle at 126 lbs.  Michael Meadows will fill the 152 lbs. weight class and Tyler Maclellan will wrestle 160 lbs.  Jeff Hojnacki will also look to contribute at 138/145 lbs.

     A nice group of new freshmen will also look to score points for the Royals.  Ryan Bennett was a Jr. High State Runner-Up in 2010 and will man the 106 lbs. weight class.  Andy Dobben will fill the 120 lbs. weight class coming off of a Jr. High State Championship last season.  Andy's brother Zak will wrestle at the 138 lbs. weight class.  Zak was also a Jr. High State Finalist last year.  Noah Havener at 160 lbs. and Paul Gibson 182/195 lbs. will also look to contribute at the varsity level this year.

     Everyone in the CVCA Wrestling Family looks forward to what this new season will bring.  Continue to pray with us that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be honored and glorified through our team this upcoming year.