Fairview’s Corey Carlo gets the upper hand during one of his matches at 152 last weekend at the Ohio State Wrestling Championships. Carlo closed out his career with a sixth-place finish in Division II. (Photo courtesy of John Gibbs)

Fairview’s Carlo sets tone for Warrior program
By Jim Horvath
Sports
Published March 5, 2008

The look on his face said all that needed to be said.

Corey Carlo’s high school wrestling career was over.

Carlo, side by side with Fairview coach Darrin Laughlin, didn’t leave the Schottenstein Center floor empty handed, however. The Warrior senior, battling through a broken bone in his hand, managed a sixth-place finish at 152 after losing his final match, 8-1, to Marlington’s Erik Schott.

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“It was great to get back here, but I still wanted to improve on what I accomplished last year,” said Carlo, who matched his sixth place performance of  last season. “But he scored the first couple of points on me, and that discouraged me a bit.”

Carlo started the weekend on a strong note, winning his first two matches. He took out West Holmes senior Tyler Hoover in his first match by a convincing 10-4 decision, then made it to the championship semifinals with an 11-7 decision over Schott.

But on Friday, Carlo’s dream of a state championship ended as he lost a 12-6 decision to Coby Boyd of state Division II  powerhouse St. Paris Graham. Boyd finished the weekend as state runner up.

Saturday morning, Carlo lost by the narrowest of margins, 1-0, to Steve Timoteo of Medina Highland before losing his rematch with Schott in the fifth- place bout.

“He did well against him in the quarterfinals, but Schott caught him with a big move early,” said Laughlin. “Still, he’s had a great season despite the hand injury and a severely sprained ankle during the first part of this season.”

“My dad and I took care of it the best we could,” Carlo said of his hand injury. “I took off the conference match to rest it, and I concentrated on other things, like my conditioning. Then we got back into it for the sectionals.

“My hope for my teammates coming back next year is they’ll work hard in the off season and work to get ahead of everybody else,” he added.

Laughlin said Carlo made a big difference in the entire Warrior program this season.

“He’s our first two-time state qualifier since 1997,” said Laughlin. “He’s really set the tone for this program. His example will surely carry this program into the future. We had a young team this year, and had two other wrestlers just one match away from getting here.

‘Like I said, he’s set the tone. He’s showed our guys that they can work hard and get down here too, that they can do it,” he added.

Duffy takes fourth
Lakewood’s Pat Duffy made it all the way to the semifinals of the Division I 135-pound competition, but had to settle for fourth place Saturday afternoon with an 8-4 loss to Mike Mencini of Twinsburg.

Duffy, who finished eighth at 130 last season, defeated Kevin Drake of Upper Arlington, 7-1 in Thursday night’s first round, then came back Friday and claimed an 8-4 decision over John Gallagher of St. Xavier. He got knocked out of the championship bracket when he lost an 11-7 decision to Josh Speelman of Mansfield Madison.

Duffy rebounded Saturday morning with a 9-5 decision over Tommy Sasfy of Reynoldsburg.

Knapp claims eighth spot
Olmsted Falls senior Jerry Knapp, making his first trip to state, finished eighth at 215 when he lost a 9-4 decision to Nate Weeks of Marysville Saturday afternoon.

Knapp started out strong on Thursday with an 18-4 win over Reggie Romine of Xenia. He got sent to the consolation bracket in his next match on Friday, however, with an 8-2 loss to Matt Cook of Reynoldsburg. He advanced with a big 6-5 overtime win against Chris Miller of Austintown Fitch, but fell to Cortlen Banks of Trenton Edgewood, 9-7.

Teammate Mike Varga at 125 lost his first match in Columbus, 6-5, to Jake Sage of  Kettering Fairmont, then rebounded in his first consolation match with a win over Charlie Hill of Mt Vernon with a 14-4 major decision. But an 11-2 loss to Matt Genetin of Massilon Perry ended Vargas’ state run.