COLUMBUS — For the third straight year, Perrysburg wrestling is the Division I state runnner-up, finishing behind Lakewood St. Edward on Sunday at Ohio State University’s Schottenstein Center.
St. Ed’s scored 226½ points, Perrysburg followed with 137½ and Massillon Perry finished third with 132½.
Perrysburg had 10 state qualifiers and seven placers, including three state champions and one runner-up. Perrysburg needed the state champions to defeat Perry, a team the Yellow Jackets trailed going into the championship session.
There were 64 teams that put points on the board in D-I, but Perrysburg once again overcame the odds and continued it’s reign as Ohio’s top public school program in the big school division.
“Lakewood St. Edward, their tradition speaks for itself. They are elite,” Perrysburg coach Scott Burnett said. “We’re a different vehicle. The machines are different.
“We’re a closed enrollment community so we’re really building our kids from within. You’ve got to move into Perrysburg and live there and go to our school, which is what it is. So, our program is right where we need to be,” Burnett continued.
“We’re going to continue to build individuals who are champion human beings who compete hard individually for individual accolades, and hopefully one day we’ll have a team championship.
“But our kids and our families in our program make me proud. I push our program hard. I have high standards. But I have my end and we’re going to continue to work. I’m curious to see, and I’m excited for the future of Perrysburg wrestling.”
The three state champions include the coaches’ son, freshman Grey Burnett (44-3) at 113 pounds, junior Cole Evans (33-5) at 126 pounds, and junior Marcus Blaze (50-1) at 132.
Evans said watching his teammates win titles makes all the hard work even more worthwhile.
“It’s great. It’s amazing,” Evans said. “It’s just the amount of people that we have that are in the Perrysburg program right now who are doing really good.
“We’re just able to help build off each other and nobody is better than each other. We’re all kind of right there, ready for iron versus iron — right there.”
Blaze added, “It makes me feel good, it makes me happy because I know what they put in every single day.”
No. 3 for Blaze
In his championship match win over St. Edward junior Adam Butler (26-11), Blaze quickly built up an 11-3 lead early in the second period, then pinned Butler with 54 seconds remaining in the middle period.
It is Blaze’s third state championship, but his first by pin, taking him down with a near-side cradle. Blaze won by major decision as a freshman and by technical fall as a junior.
However, Butler had a first period takedown and went after the Perrysburg champion with all the energy he had but may have worn himself out.
“He came out with a good game plan, had high energy and tried to pull me down, and I don’t know many people who can stay at that pace,” Blaze said.
This year, Blaze pinned his way through the entire tournament. First, he pinned Cincinnati Elder junior Joey Thamann (34-19) in 1:25, then Massillon Perry senior Nate Dulcie (25-14) in 1:34 in the quarterfinals, and Cincinnati Anderson sophomore Marshall Morency (37-9) in 4:28 of the semifinals.
Perrysburg coach Scott Burnett has long known he has a one-of-a-kind wrestler in his presence.
“He’s special. He’s generational,” Burnett said. “We have to enjoy him. He’s a great human being. He’s a leader.
“He’s got some really big goals — he wants to be an Olympic champion, he wants to build off his 17U World Championship (won in Istanbul, Turkey last summer), he loves our team, and he loves our program.”
Blaze has been invited to compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials at the end of April.
“It’s just another step in the big process that I’m taking at the moment,” Blaze said. “I’m just focusing on that, especially the Freestyle and having fun with that.”
Blaze says when he steps onto the mat, it’s all about having fun. In his words, you have to treat it like a “game.”
“It feels good but when you’re having fun it makes stuff a lot easier,” Blaze said. “When you’re having fun and you smile and make everything a game it makes stuff a lot easier.”
The Perrysburg junior says he has a great support system around him, too, starting with coach Burnett.
“He’s like a father-figure to me,” Blaze said. “He mentors me a lot, always has me sharp and ready to go, and obviously that pays off, and you can see it with other guys, too.”
He takes that further to include his family, like his father Joe Blaze III, his grandfather Joe Blaze II, and his brother, Joe Blaze IV, who is wrestling at Purdue University.
“My grandfather and my parents are always supporting me — they are my biggest support,” Marcus said.
