Justin McMillion reached the district meet at 152 pounds. Sophomore Matt Breisch qualified at 112 pounds.

The Buccs advanced four wrestlers into the semifinal round and have seven of their eight remaining wrestlers still alive in the consolation bracket. Matt Breisch (112 lbs) advanced to the semi's with a first-round bye followed by a pin over Arcanum's Karly Marshall. Sam Herron (119 lbs) also advanced with a bye before earning a major decision over Versailles' Curtis Dirksen. At 130 lbs, Andrew DeHart earned a quick pin over Miami East's Corey Rindler to advance, while Justin McMillion earned consecutive pins to reach the semifinals.

At 125 lbs, Tyler Tebbe dropped his first bout before rebounding with an 8-2 decision over West-Liberty Salem's Tomas Gresh. Corey Ely (135 lbs) joins him in the third consolation round. At 140 lbs, Josh McMillion dropped his quarterfinal bout to Brookville's Charles Simon then advanced in the consolations with a bye.

Aaron Devenport (145 lbs) won his opening bout by pin over Mechanicsburg's Brattynn Thompson, before falling in his quarterfinal bout. He then pinned his third opponent, Jacaria Conway of Stivers. Likewise at 160 lbs, Jake Jennings won his first bout over Versailles' Tyler Bey, before dropping a decision in the quarters. He then rebounded with a pin over Northridge's Jordan Brandon.

Joe Evans (171 lbs) advanced with a bye before dropping his quarterfinal bout. He then earned a pin for the Buccs over Stiver's Donovan Xayasith. At 189 lbs, Josh Shefbuch picked up a couple pins for Covington, winning his first over Triad's Sue Huffman, dropping his quarterfinal bout, then pinning Miami East's David Long in the second consolation round.

Freshman Zach Shilt (103 lbs) saw his season come to an end, finishing with a 20-19 overall record on the year.

Each of Covington's wrestlers in the consolation bracket are a win from placing in the top six. The top four advance to the district tournament. Wrestling begins at 10:30 am on Saturday. The semifinal matches will begin after a small number of round two consolation bouts. Finals will start at 6 pm.

Saturday, February 15, 2008
The Covington wrestlers put in a total team effort to record a top-three finish at the Division III Sectional tournament Saturday night. The Buccs finished in third place overall out of the fifteen teams present, holding off challenges from West Liberty-Salem and Miami East. This is the team's best finish since placing third in the 2000 sectional tournament. Troy Christian took home the championship, followed by runner-up Versailles.

In all, nine of Covington's twelve wrestlers placed in the top-six, with four of those finishing in the top-four to advance to next week's district tournament. At 130 lbs, Andrew DeHart earned a 22-7 technical fall victory over Dixie's Logan Robinson to advance to the finals. There, he wrestled a competitive match against state finalist Zac Hancock of Troy Christian, but dropped the bout to finish as sectional runner-up.

At 152 lbs, Justin McMIllion dropped his semifinal bout to Kyle Burns of Troy Christian, but then rebounded in the consolation semifinals with a 9-6 decision over Versailles‚ Aaron Coons. McMillion would then go on to win his final bout by injury default over Northridge's Daniel Pennington to finish in third place.

Also dropping their semifinal bouts were Matt Breisch (112 lbs) and Sam Herron (119 lbs). Each then won their consolation semifinal bouts to advance to districts before losing their final matches to finish in fourth place. Breisch earned a tight 5-4 decision over Dixie's Jon Hutchinson, before losing to Britt Wooten of West Liberty-Salem. Herron earned a pin over Tri-County North's Nick Wirrig, before falling to Travis Wooten of West Liberty-Salem.

Just missing district qualification, but earning district alternate status by finishing in fifth place were Josh McMillion (140 lbs), Jake Jennings (160 lbs) and Josh Shefbuch (189 lbs). McMillion won his third consolation bout by pin before dropping his consolation semifinal match. He then won his final bout by technical fall to conclude his sophomore season with a 25-15 overall record.

Jennings advanced in third consolation round with a decision before losing a last-second decision in the consolation semifinal round. He earned his last victory by injury default to finish with a 26-17 overall record in his junior year. Shefbuch also had a nice tournament, going 4-2 overall to finish his sophomore season with a 14-17 overall record.

Placing sixth for the Buccs were Tyler Tebbe (125 lbs) and Cory Ely (135 lbs). Tebbe finished his freshman season with a 21-18 overall record, while Ely finished his with a 13-11 overall record. Also winning matches for the Buccs were Aaron Devenport (145 lbs) and Joe Evans (171 lbs). Devenport concludes his sophomore season with a 19-17 overall record, while Evans finishes his freshman season with a 3-10 overall varsity record.

For more results and for information on next week's district tournament held at Kettering Fairmont high school, visit www.baumspage.com.