In a tightly contested bout, Peterson defeated Firelands’ James Berry, 6-1. After a scoreless first period, Peterson took a 2-0 midway through the second with a reversal. He pulled away late with a takedown.PHOTOS: Firelands vs. Vermilion wrestling, Feb. 13, 2025“Those guys are special,” Vermilion coach Brandon Gilbert said of the seniors. “They’ve been with […]
In a tightly contested bout, Peterson defeated Firelands’ James Berry, 6-1. After a scoreless first period, Peterson took a 2-0 midway through the second with a reversal. He pulled away late with a takedown.PHOTOS: Firelands vs. Vermilion wrestling, Feb. 13, 2025“Those guys are special,” Vermilion coach Brandon Gilbert said of the seniors. “They’ve been with me for four years and you flash through that while they’re out there and you take time to appreciate what they’ve done for you. It’s obvious when they come out they’re seasoned guys. It was nice that all of them cleaned sweep. I wish Ashton would’ve had a match but at least the other two got theirs.”
“There were a lot of mixed emotions,” Peterson said. “It was my last time wrestling in a meet at home. I’m happy about it. It’s coming to an end.”
“I feel like our whole team was kind of hyped about it,” Vermilion senior Logan Peterson said. “The previous years, after one of our better teammates lost, we would just lost hope. This year it feels different. We have better leadership throughout the team.””A couple of matches, I think we could’ve gotten back but they’re a good team,” Firelands coach Mason Rogozinski said. “We just got to keep growing and getting better as the Firelands program.”Vermilion 49, Firelands 21On senior night, the Sailors cruised to a 49-21 victory over Firelands on Feb. 13 for their first win over the Falcons since the inception of the Stillman Cup in 2016.The Kyser’s also got into the mix for Vermilion as junior Aiden (150) and freshman Isaac (175) stacked up wins. Aiden racked up a 15-0 tech fall win in just one period while Isaac was the only Sailor to win by pin with a first-period fall. Vermilion also benefitted from the numbers game with five forfeit wins.In the match of the night at 120 pounds, Dane Vanderpool held off Vermilion’s Ethan Stefan for a 16-12 win. Vanderpool led in the third period, 16-6, but withstood Stefan’s flurry to emerge victorious.D’Mari Campbell was Firelands’ lone LC8 champion and he made it look easy against the Sailors with a second-period pinfall at 138 pounds over James Henkel. Isaac Bowsher also won by pin for the Falcons over Vermilion’s Chase Jackson at 157.Mooney took an early lead and didn’t look back in his 16-1 tech fall victory over Firelands’ Clifford Stull. Taking a 7-0 lead into the third period, Mooney had two takedowns and a near fall to earn five points for Vermilion.Vermilion made up for nine years of misfortune in the Stillman Cup rivalry.”It was fun. It was cool seeing the previous seniors do it so I was looking forward to it,” Mooney said of the senior night ceremony. “It kind of reminds me that time flies. … I just felt good. We’ve been working hard all week so it’s nice to see it pay off.”The Sailors won four of seven contested matches and all three seniors — Peterson (165 pounds), Ashton Clifton (132) and Cohen Mooney (215) — had their hands raised.
The score
Firelands only had five wrestlers at this past weekend’s LC8 tournament and had eight at this dual. Despite the numbers disadvantage, the Falcons didn’t give up.
