Day 1: DECEMBER 8, 2006
The Covington wrestlers continued their winning ways this Friday night at the Springfield Northeastern Invitational.

In first round action, after evening the score with Finneytown, 39-39, the Buccs won on the tie-breaker criteria with a 6-3 advantage in pins. Covington had to forfeit three weight classes and found themselves down, 15-33, early in the dual, but came storming back to claim the victory.

Posting pins for the Buccs were Sam Herron (103), Matt Breisch (112), Quentin Layman (130), Jerry Evans (135), Justin McMillion (145) and Ryan White (152). Jake Wise (215) won a close battle by a 5-3 decision over Finneytown's Jeremy Dunn. Ryan White's match against Finneytown's Marquis Brookins was a real thriller. The Buccs were trailing 33-39 heading into the final bout at 152 lbs. White had a 2 point lead with both men on their feet late in the third period, but Brookins took him down to tie the score. White quickly recovered with a reversal and put Marquis on his back and won by a pin with just 0.3 seconds left on the clock to seal the Buccaneer victory.

In second round action the Buccs faced a tough West Liberty Salem squad, who handed the Buccs their first dual loss of the year by a score of 33-35. West Liberty took an early lead claiming forfeits at 171 and 189 pound weight classes. Covington received their share of forfeits with Sam Herron, Dylan Gustin, Josh McMillion, Quentin Layman and Ryan White all making a trip to center-mat for a hand raising. Jake Wise continued his winning ways with a 3-0 win over Mark Parker at 215 pounds. Freshman Jerry Evans had a barn-burner of a match at 135 pounds against Tyler Sachs. Jerry fought from behind to take a one point lead in the third period but was then called for a one-point locking hands penalty as he tried to keep his opponent in bounds. The penalty tied the score 11-11 and sent the match into overtime. In the OT Sachs scored a takedown as the grapplers went out of bounds giving WLS a narrow 13-11 victory in the match.

In round 3, the Buccs rolled over Springfield South with a 57-24 victory. Winning big by pin for the Buccs were Jake Jennings (140), Justin McMillion (145), Ryan White (152) and Jake Wise (215). Receiving forfeits for the Buccs were Sam Herron, Matt Breisch, Dylan Gustin, and Josh McMillion. Quentin Lehman had an exciting back-and-forth match against South's Jason Wray and came out on the winning end of the deal by a score of 9-8.

In 4th round action the Buccs faced the "B" Team which is made up of surplus wrestlers from all the teams that participated in the Northeastern Invitational. The following Bucc wrestlers had pins against Team "B": Sam Herron, Matt Breisch, Jerry Evans, Jake Jennings, Ryan White, and Jake Wise. Covington's Cody Swabb (145) was a member of Team "B", but did not wrestle against the Buccs. He went 1-2 on the day including an exciting tee-totter of a match against a Finneytown wrestler where Swabb came out on top with the pin. The Buccs defeated Team "B" by the score of 54-23.

Four Buccaneer wrestlers went undefeated on the day: Sam Herron (103 lbs, 4-0, 2 pins), Quentin Layman (130 lbs, 3-0, 1 pin), Ryan White (152 lbs, 4-0, 3 pins) and Jake Wise (215 lbs, 4-0, 2 pins). Going 3-1 were Matt Breisch (112 lbs, 2 pins), Dylan Gustin (119 lbs), Josh McMillion (125 lbs) and Justin McMillion (145 lbs). Also contributing to the Buccs team victories were Jerry Evans (135 lbs) and Josh Shefbuch (160 lbs). At 171 lbs, Logan Hall - who is nursing an injury - picked up one forfeit at 171 lbs.

Day 2 of wrestling resumes tomorrow at 10 am at Northeastern High School.

Day 2: DECEMBER 9, 2006
After posting a 3-1 record on Friday, the Buccs concluded Saturday's action at the Northeastern Invitational by claiming two more victories and suffering three narrow defeats to finish 5-4 overall as a team. Despite the setbacks - due in part to forfeiting three weight classes - the Buccs had a number of solid individual performances. Nine of the eleven wrestlers who started for the Buccs placed in the top four at the ten-team tournament.

At 103 lbs., Sam Herron took home first place on criteria with an 8-1 record with 3 pins. Finishing as a runner-up at 125 lbs was Josh McMillion who posted an 8-1 record with 2 pins. Taking third for the Buccs were Matt Breisch (112 lbs, 8-1, 4 pins), Dylan Gustin (119 lbs, 5-2), Justin McMillion (145 lbs, 7-2, 5 pins), Ryan White (152 lbs, 6-2, 5 pins) and Jake Wise (215 lbs, 7-2, 3 pins). Finishing fourth were Quentin Layman (130 lbs, 5-3, 1 pin) and Jake Jennings (140 lbs, 6-3, 5 pins).

Covington dropped its opening dual to the Northeastern Jets 48-31, but there were some bright spots for the Buccs despite the loss. Receiving pins for the Buccs were Matt Breisch at 119 pounds, Jake Jennings at 140 pounds, and Justin McMillion at 145 pounds.

In the 215 pound class, Jake Wise took the match to overtime, but wasn't able to pull out the victory. Going into overtime with the score tied at 4-4, Wise scrambled with his opponent, Cody Shaw, until the final seconds. With time running out, Wise made his move, but Shaw countered the shot and was able to score to get the win. Wins by forfeit went to Sam Herron at 103 pounds and Josh McMillion at 125 pounds.

The next match of the day for the Buccs was against the Urbana Hillclimbers. Starting off for the Buccs with a win was Jake Wise who won his match after his opponent was not able to return to the mat after an injury he suffered when Wise was going for the takedown.

Matt Breisch followed Wise's winning ways with a first period pin. Justin McMillion also got in the win column with a second period pin of Raif Tyree.

Ryan White, at 152 pounds, took control early against Dukie Sherman, but things didn't stay that way. White had to fight his way back and hung on to get an 11-10 decision. Josh Shefbuch won big in his 160-pound match with a second period pin that secured the Buccs‚ team win, 45-36.

The third round of matches pitted Covington against the eventual tournament champion Kenton Ridge Cougars. Sam Herron started off the action for the Buccs, took the lead, and never looked back. He finished with a 16-3 win. Matt Breisch then took to the mat next and had to overcome his challenger's long and lean physique to win his match 8-1.

Dylan Gustin, wrestling in the 119-pound class, tied up with Cougar Dylan Numbers. Gustin came away with the win in a hard-fought match that could have gone either way had it not been for Gustin's drive to win. Josh McMillion followed with a pin over Tucker Armstrong in the first period to strengthen the Buccs' team lead.

The Buccs suffered several setbacks before getting back on the winning track with a battle royale between Buccaneer Ryan White and Cougar Luke Klosterman. The match was a dogfight from the beginning and it didn't stop until late in the third period when White pinned Klosterman. White's pin came after he found himself on his back with Klosterman racking up nearfall points. White dug deep and worked out of the jam to come back for the pin and win. The pin wasn't enough for the Buccs to win the dual though, with the final score 39-28.

For the next dual, Covington met the Northwestern Warriors and came away with another team win. At 285 lbs, Jake Wise and Josh Reynolds squared off in the first match and with Wise controlling, he worked into the second period to get the pin. Sam Herron then made short work of Brandon Miller with a quick pin in the first minute of the first period squeezing Miller to the mat for the win.

After a series of forfeits by Northwestern, the action resumed with Jake Jennings taking on Josh Weekly. Jennings was all over Weekly and pinned him with a forward stack. Justin McMillion increased Covington's team lead by finishing off his opponent with a fireman's carry takedown to a double grapevine pin.

Josh Shefbuch and Josh Kelly were next up. Shefbuch first scored the takedown followed by near fall points. Before the period was finished, Shefbuch finished off Kelly with a pin. The pin by Shefbuch ended the dual with Covington winning by a score of 60-12.

Covington met Springfield North for the final dual of the day and lost by the closest of margins - a 42-42 tie that was broken on the fifth tiebreaker criteria. Beginning at 285 lbs, the teams traded a couple forfeits before Covington got rolling with Josh McMillion pinning Sam Heaston in the 125-pound weight class. Next up was Jake Jennings going after Bryce Shaw. Jennings made short work of Shaw and pinned him in the first period.

Justin McMillion looked to have his work cut out for him against Kevin Weber and was behind in points, but a reversal by McMillion was all that was needed. From the reversal, McMillion worked to Weber's head and shoulders and wore him down. The all-out effort by McMillion got him a pin and a comfortable team lead.

The Panthers won the next two weight classes to force the tie and conclude the action for the day.

The Buccs have a week of practice before traveling up north to the Lincolnview Invitational on Saturday, Dec. 16, for their third meet of the season.