MORRAL — On Saturday at Ridgedale High School, Northmor’s wrestling team crowned two champions and advanced six wrestlers to this week’s Division II district wrestling tournament at Heath High School.
Winning championships for the Knights were Gavin Ramos at 132 pounds and Conor Becker at 170 pounds. Marcus Cortez was second at 126 pounds, as was Austin Amens at 145 pounds and Niko Christo at 152 pounds. Dale Brocwell also earned a qualifying spot in Heath with a third-place finish.
In his championship round at 132 pounds, Ramos, a senior who is 37-7 this season, earned a 6-4 decision over Aiden Aiello of Ready High School. In the first round of the district tournament, he will take on Layne Kinney of Richmond Edison, a junior with a 5-24 record.
Becker, a senior, upped his record to 26-0 this season when he pinned Andy Williamson of Mount Gilead in 3:28 in the 170-pound title bout. In his first district tournament match, he will take on senior David Worwa Jr., of Bridgeport, who is 21-20.
Cortez, at 126 pounds, is a sophomore with a 20-16 record. In the sectional tournament championship match, he was pinned at 2:25 by Luke Herron of Amanda-Clearcreek. Cortez will take on Wes Radford of Alexander, a senior who is 37-9 this season, in his first district match.
At 145 pounds, the Knights’ Amens was pinned at 1:45 by Carter Chase of Pleasant. Amens, a senior, is 35-7. He will take on sophomore Xavier Lamneck, of Ridgewood, who is 36-11 at Heath.
At 152 pounds, Northmor’s Niko Christo also placed second. He was pinned in 35 seconds by Pleasant’s C.J. Smith in the championship match. At the district tournament, Christo, a sophomore with a 40-6 seconds, will face senior Justin Butler of Sough Gallia, who is 34-8.
Placing third at the sectional tournament and also advancing was Dale Brocwell of Northmor, at 106 pounds. He pinned North Union’s Trace Williams in 55 seconds to grab the third spot on the medal podium. A senior is 18-6 this season. He will take on freshman Dylan Ward of Martins Ferry in his first-round district match. Ward is 16.5
At 138 pounds. Trenton Ramos of the Knights is an alternate, meaning there is a chance he can wrestle at the district tournament. In his final match — for fifth place — he defeated Pleasant’s Jacob Romero 10-3.
Also placing was the Knights’ Brandon Planey, at 220 pounds. He finished sixth after being pinned by Northridge’s Kyle Saloum at 1:46 in a match for fifth place.
Wrestling starts Friday at Heath High School at 4 p.m. The first two championship rounds are scheduled. On Saturday morning, wrestling starts again at 9 a.m. The championship rounds will start around 5 p.m.
