Correspondent photo / Michael G. Taylor South Range's Tyson Seesholtz battles with Amanda-Clearcreek’s Bodie Martin in the championship semifinals of the Division III 150-pound bracket Saturday at the OHSAA state wrestling tournament in Columbus.

COLUMBUS — Two area wrestlers will compete for an OHSAA state championship today in Columbus.

Canfield’s Gabe Miller and South Range’s Tyson Seesholtz advanced to their respective weight classes’ finals with wins Saturday evening at the state tournament.

Miller, a two-time state qualifying sophomore, defeated Eaton’s Presley Stewart 9-3 in the Division II 190-pound semifinals. The Canfield star previously beat Bellevue’s Tatum Gore via pinfall in the first round and Benjamin Logan’s Owen Jordan 4-1 in the quarterfinals to earn his spot in the semifinals.

After the win over Stewart, Canfield head coach Craig Shaw praised Miller’s performance.

“Gabe wrestled extremely smart. He knew exactly what he was doing. We had a great game plan going in, and he executed,” Shaw said. “It’s his smarts, his work ethic, it’s everything all put together, and that’s what showed off in a big way.”

Specifically, Miller said he was weary of Stewart’s slide by and focused on getting into an inside tie up and high-crotch single-leg takedown.

The strategy worked well and sets Miller up for a state championship match vs. Archbishop Hoban freshman Brydon Feister, who is 23-2 on the season and has been each of his three opponents in Columbus. In his semifinals matchup, Feister pinned Columbus DeSales senior Lincon Shulaw in overtime.

Shaw, who is in his fourth season as Canfield coach and previously coached Alliance for more than a decade, has never tutored a state finalist wrestler – until now.

“It’s pretty cool,” Shaw said. “I’ve been at Canfield for four years; we’ve had some placers. I coached at Alliance for 12 years; had some thirds, a lot of placers. Never had a final.”

Similarly, Seesholtz, a three-time state qualifier and 2023 placer, became just the second South Range wrestler to qualify for a state final, joining Raymond Cmil, who finished second 132 pounds in 2022.

Unlike Miller, though, Seesholtz punched his proverbial ticket to the finals in dramatic fashion.

Tied at three points apiece at the end of regulation, Seesholtz, who had already been warned and penalized for stalling, and Amanda-Clearcreek’s Bodie Martin went to the sudden victory period. Neither scored a takedown within the minute, necessitating overtime tiebreakers, which came and went without either taking advantage.

The match then went to the ultimate tiebreaker, a 30-second period during which Seesholtz had to either escape or reverse Martin or be defeated.

Throughout the match previously, Seesholtz had been ridden out each time he found himself under Martin. But the South Range junior made the most of his final time on bottom, reversing Martin on the edge of the mat to score the 5-3 victory.

“Honestly, I was really nervous and I didn’t know what to think,” Seesholtz said of his mindset going into the ultimate tiebreaker. “But I’m a pretty religious dude, and I just put all my faith into my training, Jesus Christ, and left it to him. And somehow, when you do those two things, you always end up doing better than when you count on yourself.”

Seesholtz said that he did not feel as if he wrestled his best match from a physical standpoint, but he said that his win over Martin was the strongest he has been mentally in a match all year.

“I felt really confident the whole time. I kept affirming myself. ‘I can do this. I’ve been in this situation before. I’ve wrestled in tournaments like this. I got this.'”

To become state champion, Seesholtz will have to beat Beechwood’s Caleb Greenwood, who defeated Seesholtz 18-1 via technical fall a week ago in the Independence district final.

TO BE DETERMINED

In addition to Miller and Seesholtz, several other area wrestlers will earn a spot on the podium in Columbus.

Poland girls duo Ella Thomas (100) and Abbie Miller (145), as well as Salem’s 165-pounder Aiden Stecker will compete in the consolation semifinals and have a shot to place third in their respective weight classes.

Thomas and Miller each lost in the championship semifinals; Thomas was pinned by Tinora’s Bella Graziani, while Miller was pinned by Pickerington North’s Reagan Knapp. Stecker lost in the championship quarterfinals 3-1 to Minerva’s Hunter Dietrich before winning two matches – vs. Streetsboro’s Cohen Klimak and Mansfield Comprehensive’s Aiden Proctor – to get to the consolation semifinals.

If Miller, Thomas or Stecker lose in the consolation semifinals, they will wrestle afterward for fifth place. A win guarantees them no worse than fourth.

Five others from the Mahoning Valley will attempt to place seventh; Howland’s Christopher Mijavec (190), Canfield’s Joey Pannunzio (175), Austintown Fitch’s Reghan Koch (155), Howland’s Madison Burns (140) and Hubbard’s Emily Flynn (130) lost in the consolation quarterfinals, ensuring them either seventh or eighth in their weight class.

Wrestling will begin at approximately 9:30 a.m. today at the Schottenstein Center. The consolation semifinals will be first up, with consolation placing matches following to end the fourth and penultimate session of the weekend.

After a midday break, the championship matches will begin at 5:15 p.m.