West Holmes' Taylor earns All-Ohio honor at state wrestling

West Holmes High School 113-pound sophomore wrestler Mason Taylor joined a list of 20 other Knights wrestlers who have stood on the podium at the Ohio High School Athletic Association Div. II State Championship Tournament. Taylor (2-3) scored an eighth-place finish on Sunday, March 14 and earned All-Ohio status in his first appearance at the “Big Dance” held this season at Highland High School near Marengo.

Taylor finished his campaign with a 34-12 record after dropping a tight 2-1 decision to freshman Cooper Rathburn of Columbus Bishop Hartley in the seventh-place match, but his effort was enough to earn the coveted All-Ohio status.

Sewing up a state-placer slot on Saturday, Taylor needed a win in the consolation quarterfinals on Sunday to wrestle for third to sixth place. Taylor faced freshman Josh Carman of Carrollton, whom he had beaten a week earlier in the district championship semifinals by a 5-3 ultimate tiebreaker decision. Leading by a point, 6-5, with seconds left in the match and the wrestlers on their feet, Taylor was taken down by Carman with the winning points pushing Taylor to the seventh-place match.

After dropping his first-round match on Saturday, Taylor came back through the consolation rounds with a hard-fought 5-3 decision win over A.J. Kimble of Newark Licking Valley in the first round. A payback 2-1 decision triumph over Alexander Crane of Sheridan, who had beaten Taylor by tech fall the weekend prior in the district title match, kept Taylor’s season alive and sewed up All-Ohio status.

“Mason flashed elite potential this weekend,” Knights wrestling head coach Scott Vaughn said following the tournament. “After dropping his first match, Mason really turned it on. He even avenged a district final tech fall loss to Crane from Sheridan. That was the kind of wrestling that I expect more of from Mason next year. There have not been very many sophomore state-placers in West Holmes history, quite an impressive feat by Mason.”

For his efforts, Taylor earned the Knights Varsity Wrestler of the Week Award from Vaughn and his staff.

For the Knights’ three other state qualifiers, juniors Brady Smith (0-2), Dylan Strouse (1-2) and Tucker Kaufman (1-2 with one fall), their seasons came to an end on Saturday.

Smith, wrestling at 106 pounds, lost by fall to undefeated Codie Cuerbo of Aurora in his first-round match before losing to A.J. Hurt of Mt. Orab Western Brown by fall in the first round of consolations to end his season. The second-year wrestler ended his campaign with a 32-7 mark.

“What a season for Brady,” Vaughn said of his lightweight. “He has worked his butt off to qualify. After he lost his second match, as he walked off the mat, he was already ready to get after training for next year. That is his mentality.”

Strouse, wrestling at 132, won his opening-round match, topping Jacob Bryan of Cincinnati Wyoming by a 9-3 count, but then lost a hard-fought 8-6 decision to Bret Minnick of Tiffin Columbian in the championship quarterfinals. Strouse couldn’t rebound in the consolation second round, ending his season at 37-14 after suffering a 6-0 loss to Elliott Alessia of Akron St. Vincent St. Mary.

“Dylan wrestled a lot of top-level kids this season, and it showed that he was battle-tested,” Vaughn said of Strouse. “He nearly defeated the projected state champ and then lost to the eventual sixth-place finisher in the consolation match. If Dylan puts in the right work this off-season, I really believe he will make the jump to the next level.”

Kaufman, wrestling at 138, was upended by Harris Foad of Cincinnati Indian Hill by an 11-7 decision in his opening match to fall into the consolation bracket. Kaufman kept his season alive by flattening C.J. Poole of Tiffin Columbian at 3:40 in the first round of consolations, then saw his season end when he suffered a 9-4 decision loss to Cooper Krauth of Revere in the consolation second round.

“Tucker didn’t have a bad tournament, just not exactly how he wanted it to go,” Vaughn said. “His losses came to the third- and sixth-place finishers. Like Dylan, both are very dangerous and are always in a match because of it. Tucker had a very dominant regular season and is very close to being in that elite category. Also, like Dylan, putting in the right work will give him that opportunity.”

Kaufman completes his junior season at 46-7 and with his pin in the consolation first round became the WHHS new record holder for most pins in a season with 37. Kaufman’s mark breaks Knights wrestling legend Colt Sponseller’s previous record of 36, set in 2007.

When asked how he would assess his first-time state qualifiers’ performance knowing all four will be back next season, Vaughn said, “Learning experience.”

“If this trip to the state tournament was titled something, it would be a learning experience,” Vaughn said. “I liked that the boys weren’t just satisfied to make it. That showed in the practice room this week as well as on the mat. They went out and battled. As we know, there aren’t usually any easy matches at the state tournament. The competition level is high, and small mistakes can cost you dearly. We learned that this weekend. That will be the take-away for all four of the boys. We will take that into the off-season.”

In the team race, the Knights accumulated 8 points, finishing in a tie for 47th in the 114-team field.

St. Paris Graham Local (181.5) ran away with the team championship, notching its 22nd overall and 20th consecutive Div. II team championship. Louisville (95) earned runner-up honors, followed by Copley (78.5) in third with Akron St. Vincent St. Mary (74) and Mentor Lake Catholic (68.5) rounding out the top five.