December 16, Van Wert - Lincolnview Invitational
Despite traveling up north to the Lincolnview Invitational with their youngest team over the past few seasons, the Covington wrestling team scored their highest finish ever at the tournament - earning a second place finish with 218.5 points. Heading into the finals, the Buccs were in position to take home the championship as they clung to a 1 point lead over Ayersville. The Pilots were on fire in the finals, however, as they surpassed Covington to take first in the eleven-team field with 235.5 points. Fairview and Spencerville finished third and fourth, respectively, at the Olympic-pool style tournament.

The Buccs also matched their previous high of nine placers - accomplishing the feat with only eleven wrestlers competing, as they forfeited the 130, 189 and 285 lb. weight classes. Covington competed pretty well in the finals - winning five of their nine matches - but they probably needed two more victories to take first place.

A pair of Buccaneers won championships in their individual weight classes. At 145 lbs, Justin McMillion handed Ayersville one of their only losses in the final round as he defeated Scott Hoshock for first place. McMillion started off strong with two takedowns and a three point nearfall before pinning Hoshock in the second period.

At 152 lbs, senior Ryan White claimed the first individual championship of his high school career as he defeated Richie Smith of Fairview. White stormed out to a 9-1 lead and hung on at the end for a 13-7 victory. Both wrestlers upset the top two seeds to reach the finals.

Finishing up in second place for the Buccs were Matt Breisch (112 lbs), Dylan Gustin (119 lbs), Logan Hall (171 lbs) and Jake Wise (215 lbs). Taking third were Sam Herron (103 lbs) and Josh McMillion (125 lbs), while Jake Jennings finished with a pin for fifth place at 140 lbs. Also competing and winning matches for Covington were Aaron Devenport (135 lbs) and Josh Shefbuch (160 lbs).

Round 1:
The Buccs faired well in first round action. Wrestling began at 119 lbs with an exciting back and forth battle between Lincolnview's Seth Wisner and the Buccs Dylan Gustin. In a match with multiple lead changes, Dylan caught Wisner with an impressive stack maneuver to score 3 near fall points. Wisner narrowly escaped being pinned as he was able to squirm out of the stack. Gustin held on to win by a score of 13-8. At 125 pounds, Josh McMillion wrestled a solid match against Spencerville‚s Robert Brenneman. Josh came up with a 5-0 victory for the Buccs.

Aaron Devenport wrestled his first ever high school match against Dalton Hall of Ayersville in 135 pound action. Aaron found himself down by a score of 2-1 late in the third period. With 10 seconds left Devenport threw a crossface maneuver in an attempt to score a takedown. A scramble ensued, and Aaron couldn't quite obtain control. Although Aaron lost by a score of 1-2, it was a very close hard fought match. At 145 lbs, Justin McMillion defeated AJ Gribble of Wayne Trace with a flurry of takedowns that had statistician Hanna Clark's pencil burning. McMillion scored a 23-7 tech fall in that match. Ryan White made quick work of Delphos Jefferson's Braytan Kruse with a pin in 1:25 at 152 pounds. Logan Hall saw his first action of the year for the Buccs at 171 lbs as he took on John Price Jr. of Van Wert. Logan defeated Price with a 23 second pin utilizing an inescapable rat-tail combined with a figure-four of the head.

Round 2:
Undefeated Buccaneer Sam Herron saw action in round 2 at 103 lbs. vs Joey Adams of Hicksville. Sam continued to wrestle solid by defeating Adams 8-3. Josh McMillion followed Sam's performance with an exciting 5-4 victory over Mitch Kiser of Lincolnview. Justin McMillion then one-uped his brother with a pin of Coldwater's Nate Harlow in 1:23. Jake Jennings won at 140 lbs in impressive fashion by pinning Spencerville's Alex Stanford with a fall time of 1:49. Ryan White followed up with a pin of his own in the second period against Nick Meyers of Lincolnview. Logan Hall preserved the stretch of pins recording a fall in 1:09 over Lincolnview's James Wiseman. Jake Wise saw his first action of the day in the second round at 215 lbs. Jake pinned Nick Gable from Coldwater in the second period to put the finishing touches on a successful second round for the Buccs.

Round 3:
Sam Herron took on 1st seed Caitlin Rohn of Ayersville. Yes, Caitlin is a girl, and she‚s as tough as they come. Entering the third period with the score tied 2-2 Caitlin scored a takedown, then Sam quickly reversed Caitlin and took her to her back with a turk move, but couldn‚t hold her long enough to get near fall points. At the end of regulation the score was tied 4-4. This took the match into sudden victory overtime. The two battled for position, and Caitlin worked her way behind Sam, needing only to pull her head out of Sam's clutch to score the takedown. Caitlin and Sam battled in this poison for about 10 seconds, when Caitlin successfully pulled her head out to secure the takedown and hand Sam his second loss of the season in one of the most exciting matches of the tourney.

In later action Dylan Gustin (119) pinned Stephen Dix of Fairview. Justin McMillion (145) had a barn-burner of a match against VanWert's Kirtis Calvelage. In a very physical match that could have gone either way, Justin ended up squeezing Calvelage to the mat for a pin with just 5 seconds left in the match. At the same time on another mat, Ryan White(152) was taking some lumps against a tough Pat Holmes of Spencerville - the second seed. Holmes had White down by a score of 8-0 and had Ryan in a cradle going for a pin when Ryan put his own cradle on Holmes in what can best be described as a double cradle situation. Ryan used his balance to roll Holmes to his back, and held on for a come from behind pin that brought the Covington loyal to their feet. Josh Shefbuch (160) notched a mark in the win column with a pin over Fairview's Michael Blosser. Logan Hall continued to dominate at 171 lbs with another 1st period pin over Ayersville's John Mahany. Jake Wise (215) wrestled a low scoring match against Adam Caudill from Spencerville. Jake found himself behind by a score of 0-1 late in the match, then with 40 seconds left Jake scored a reversal as the clock wound down to win a tight 2-1 victory to polish off the third round.

Round 4:
Sam Herron sought redemption by coming out strong in round 4 facing Lincolnview's Damien Schmersal. Sam did just that, pinning Damien with a 55 second fall. In 125 pound action Josh McMillion defeated Brian Voisard of VanWert by pin. Jake Jennings (140) followed with another pin in the second period against Lincolnview‚s James Brake. And, as they say, "one good turn deserves another", Justin McMillion (145) followed up with a pin in the first period against Fairview's Cody Davis. Ryan White (152) came through with a pin against Brady Otten of Coldwater to earn a trip to the finals. Logan Hall (171) followed suit with a 27 second pin over Columbus Grove's Clay Widau. Jake Wise put the finishing touches on round 4 with a pin over Van Wert's David Maxwell in a time of 1:55.

Round 5:
Sam Herron (103) got the Buccs started on the winning track in the fifth round by pinning Austin Craig of Van Wert in the first period. Aaron Devenport added to the Buccs team points by pinning Columbus Grove‚s Michael Goedde. At 215 pounds for the Buccs Jake Wise pinned Lincolnview's Andy Watkins. Going into the final round Covington led the tournament by 1 point with 176.5 points over second place Ayersville.

Covington travels to face Mechanicsburg - a team ranked in the top-ten in the state - in a dual on Tuesday, Dec. 19, at 5:30 pm, along with the jr. high team.