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COLUMBUS — Jefferson junior Stuart Miller was looking forward to a rematch with Troy Christian’s Nathan Jones somewhere along the line during the 2007-08 State Wrestling Championships at the Schottenstein Center.
He was looking for a chance to avenge a 3-2 loss at last weekend’s Kettering District final.
He will get it at the best possible time: tonight’s Division III 189-pound title matchup for all the marbles.
“I’m excited about it. We had a good match last week and a lot of people thought we’d meet again,” Miller (44-2) said. “I got a good idea of what he can do and I’ll have my game plan. Basically, though, I just need to stay focused and calm, like I have the last two days. There’s always going to be pressure; I just need to not let it get to me.”
Miller outwrestled Sycamore Mohawk senior Brock Kirian (44-3 in) in the championship semifinals Friday night.
“We wrestled each other down here last year, so I tried to change things up. I wanted to stay lower; I didn’t want to let him throw me, which was the top concern,” Miller added. “He’s pretty strong; I didn’t have a real physical match with Jones last week but I’d say they’re pretty comparable.
“After I won this morning, we went back to the hotel and relaxed. I even took a nap.”
Miller’s coach, Jeff Rex, gave credit to a former wrestler — Andrew Swick.
“He deserves a lot of credit for this. He finished with the OAC Championships last weekend and came in Monday and Tuesday to go against Stuart; he didn’t have to do that but he wanted to,” Rex acknowledged. “He helped us prepare Stuart very well for this week; they both were down here last year, so that has really helped.”
Miller will go for the first high school wrestling state title in the history of Delphos, let alone for the Wildcat program.
“I know St. John’s had a couple of runner-ups but this is the first chance we’ll have in the eight years of our program. I think I’m starting to get really comfortable with what we’re trying to do,” Rex added. “In the first 5-6 years of the program, we changed quite a bit every year. We’ve seemed to have settled on a solid and consistent approach; there will be tweaking every year but the basic system is in place and you’re seeing the results with Stuart.
“We’ve also got the foundation built by the Tri-County Wrestling Club.”
Spencerville sophomore Tyler Obringer (29-4) was not too happy with his 6-4 loss to Caldwell’s Derick Hesson (45-2) in their 285-pound championship semifinal.
“I had a mental breakdown; I left my head on the mat,” he vividly and angrily explained. “I should have pinned him the first period and let him off the hook. I gave it away mentally.
“I came here to win the title, not end up third or fourth.”
Head coach Tom Wegesin assigned it to lack of wrestling under this kind of pressure.
“Hesson was here before and Tyler wasn’t; that’s the difference. Plus, there were a couple of calls we didn’t get,” Wegesin added. “Still, it was disappointing that Tyler didn’t finish him when he should have.
“Fortunately, he have a chance to cool off before he wrestles again in the morning (against Jacob Southwick of Tontogany Otsego). We’ll all have a chance to calm down.”
Spencerville senior Zac Clum (44-4) outpointed Chris Block (Johnstown Monroe junior, 50-5) 7-1 in the consolation quarterfinals.
Clum almost gave up the first two points of the first period but escaped with another 0-0 tie entering the second.
Once more, he took over, leading 3-1 at the end of two.
“I try to be the aggressor but don’t try to force things. It just takes me a period to figure out what my opponent wants to do and I adjust from there,” Clum said. “I’ll take what’s there but don’t want to give my opponent an opening. Once I figure him out, get a feel for his strengths, I’ve been able to take over.”
Clum also credited the extra work he does as helping him get through these tough matches.
“I had a lot of easy matches during the season. My brother, Jake, who finished fifth as a senior, kept telling me that I wasn’t going to keep having them,” he added. “With the extra work I do with him and Mike Dehart, I think my conditioning is much better; I think I wear them down. I train hard to go hard for six minutes, even seven and eight minutes.
“As I said before, I never lost a first-round match before. That kind of got me going.”
He advances to this morning’s consolation semifinals at 10 a.m.
In the morning session Friday, Miller earned his Championship semifinal matchup vs. Kirian with a 9-0 domination of Colton Bowers of Marion Pleasant (36-5).
Obringer started the day with a pin, putting down Mike McElligott of Bedford St. Peter Chanel (31-6) in 1:02 of their Championship quarterfinal. That pitted him against Hesson during the evening session.
“I was patient; he just made a mistake early. I used a move we call the ‘Scott’; it’s named after Scott (Barnes) and it puts a lot of pressure on the chin,” Obringer noted. “I kept using the head snap; it really can wear an opponent down. He tried a move on me, I stayed in good position and caught him for the pin.”
His coach, Tom Wegesin, figured his preaching one match at a time was working.
“That put Tyler one win away from the finals. The one thing we know about Hesson is he is a 215-pounder that moved up, so he likely will be looking to shoot; Tyler has to be on his toes,” the coach noted. “If you look at our success down here — we’re going to have two state placers for the first time ever, no matter what happens — we have several things going for us: health, and that can’t be understated; a good mental attitude because we weren’t here just to show up but to win — it’s better to place than just qualify; and we’ve been wrestling really well over the last month.”
Clum kept himself alive with a typically-workmanlike 10-6 victory over Zach Noernberg (36-8) from Cleveland Cuyahoga Heights, getting a late takedown to secure the victory.
The match stood at 0-0 at the end of the first period.
“I told myself at the start of sectionals that if I didn’t score in the first period, the other guy wasn’t going to, either,” he recalled. “It’s tough to come through the consolation; I have never lost in the first round of a tournament, ever. As Coach Wegesin preaches, it is one match at a time. It doesn’t matter who I wrestle.
“The key for me is I just adjust well within the match.”
It’s all about forcing your opponent into errors for Wegesin.
“He rode Noernberg very well the second period and got him in a cradle,” Wegesin explained. “That’s what you want to do; get your opponent in a position where he has to press and get a flurry of points. That’s when he makes more mistakes and Zac was in position to take advantage.”
As for Barnes, it was not a good day. The junior 215-pounder ran up against the projected state champion in unbeaten Travis Porter, the junior (39-0 entering) from Burton Burkshire, and was pinned in 3:38.
“He was strong and good. He took control of the match right away and I couldn’t do anything,” he said.
Barnes’s stay in the state tournament ended in the afternoon when he was ousted by Schuyler Bondy (35-12) of Woodsfield Monroe Central by pinfall in 3:38, finishing his year at 36-15.
“Against Porter, he needed to keep his hands underneath and not let his arms come out. He needed to plant his feet better,” Wegesin said. “I realize that he faced a very good opponent but there are always things you need to do, no matter what. Against Bondy, he tried a hip-across and nearly got it but Bondy was severely strong, stopped it and that was that.
“This was a great learning experience for Scott; any mistakes he made came against the best. You have to realize, he is only 195 pounds, so he’s giving away 20 pounds. For him to finish among the top 12 wrestlers in the weight class is outstanding.”

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