PERRYSBURG – Perrysburg’s wrestling team can be summed up in one word – loaded.Coach Sam Cotterman
returns many of his stars from a team that had a great season last year.The Jackets’ placed 14th in the
Division I state individual tournament, qualifying four and placing three.The team was one match away from
reaching the finals in the first state team tournament. It placed fourth in the tough Cleveland State
district where eight individuals placed.Perrysburg won its third consecutive Northern Lakes League
Tournament with 240 1/2 points, 122 1/2 points ahead of the nearest team. It returns seven of the 10
champions from that team.The leader of the team looks to be JP Newton (152). Newton, who has signed to
wrestle collegiately at Ohio State, placed third at 152 at the state tournament with his only loss coming at
the hands of the state champion.Newton is shooting for his fourth NLL title this year. That feat would make
him only the sixth in the 51-year history of the NLL and the fourth from Perrysburg."JP is just a pure
competitor,’ said Cotterman. "He doesn’t shy away from competition. He wants the tough match. JP has to
deal with me in two sports. I saw his toughness at a young age and made him a defensive lineman for the
football team. He earned a starting spot as a sophomore and has been a 160-170-pound three-year starter for
us on some great teams, especially this year as he was named first-team All-NLL and hopefully more accolades
to come."Sophomore Mario Guillen (113) placed fifth at state at 106, third in the district and was the
NLL champion. Junior Cale Bonner (285) placed eighth at state, second in the district and won an NLL
championship. Bonner was also a member of the football team.Senior Rocco Caywood (182) was 33-7 last season
and qualified for state. He placed fourth in the district and won his second NLL title.Multi-sport athlete
senior Mark Delas (220) was an NLL champion and placed fifth at the district meet along fellow football
teammate senior Kadin Llewellyn (195), who placed second in the NLL and sixth at in the district.Perrysburg
finished seventh at the Disney Duals this summer. Mario Guillen, Caywood, and Newton went unbeaten and
Bonner only lost one match."(Newton and Bonner) went down to Fargo (North Dakota) this summer and were
All-Americans and (Caywood) just returned from a fourth-place finish at Super 32s," said
Cotterman.Sophomores Brock Jones (120) won an NLL title at 106, Leo Romp (132) won at 126, and Adam Shue
(145) placed fourth at 135. Junior Nathan Meyers took third at 120.Seniors, Lucas Manning (170) and Mat Rich
(138); juniors Dan Waltmeyer (160) and Matt Waltermeyer (145) all could find a spot in the lineup."Keep
your eyes out on those Waltermeyer twins," said Cotterman. "They have been under the radar having
been behind very good wrestlers, but they will find a spot this year and make a great impact. They are very
very tough kids."Freshman Moises Guillen (106), Josh Herhold (126) and Chase Newton (170) will take
their junior high success to the varsity level"Of course, Mario’s brother, Moises, will make an
immediate impact," said Cotterman. "He was third at the junior high state meet. He is a very
different type of wrestler than Mario. Mario uses finesse, while Mo tries to hurt you.""Josh
Herhold and Chase Newton also had great junior high careers, qualifying and placing at the junior high
states. Josh and Mo won NLL both years while chase won his eighth-grade year. Josh should find a spot on the
starting line up," said Cotterman.Perrysburg has been ranked as high as third in an early wrestling
publications and looks to have a shot to reach Columbus in the state duals.The Yellow Jackets face a
formidable schedule. They will wrestle in the Iron Man at Walsh Jesuit and Brecksville, two of the nation’s
toughest tournaments."It is well known how tough our district is," Cotterman opined. "Our
schedule is so important. I don’t want the kids to wait until the district tournament to see that high
caliber of wrestling. We take the kids all over there to get the best competition to better prepare them for
the end of the year run."