This past weekend, the Bison wrestling team opened up their 2015-2016 season in the 8th annual Ron Madow Memorial Tournament.

The home tournament is named in honor of former Beachwood wrestler and coach Ron Madow. Madow was the first state tournament qualifier and placer for the Beachwood wrestling program.

The Bison legend lost his battle with Leukemia in 2005 at age 52, but coaches and alumnae remember his incredible spirit and memory, which continues to inspire the program’s current wrestlers.

This was the first year in the eight year history of the tournament that the format was changed.

Junior captain Josh Bialosky explained the change.

“This year there were team duels rather than an individual tournament with one person from each team in a weight class.”

With the new duels format, the Bison went up against one other team at a time instead of having one wrestler compete against the entire field in their respective weight class. Joining Beachwood in the tournament field was Youngstown Liberty, Shaker, Columbia, Firelands, Willoughby South, John Adams and Garfield Heights.

The Bison began competition as they first faced off against the Raiders of Columbia High School.  

Sophomore Ryan Sappell and Junior Matt Henry won both of their matches by fall, while freshman Paul Jacobs and Junior Josh Bialosky picked up wins by forfeit. The Bison managed 24 points between their four wins, but it was no match as Columbia ultimately reigned victorious, 51-24.

Following their match against Columbia, the Bison then met Shaker. At 106 and 113 Will Henry and Paul Jacobs both earned forfeit wins for Beachwood. Unfortunately, the Bison were not able to manage any more wins until the 160 lb. match as Matt Henry got his second win of the day by fall.

The Bison then earned another forfeit win, as well as a win by fall from Bialosky. However, Beachwood was not able to match up with Shaker’s 195 or 285, so the Red Raider wrestlers both earned wins by forfeit. A lack of depth proved critical for Beachwood, as the boys lost by a very close margin of 33-30.

In the next round, Beachwood squared off against Firelands High School. Firelands was not able to fill in many weight classes, giving Beachwood forfeit victories at 113, 132, 152, 160, 170, and 182.

Junior Ben Kitay and Sophomore Melvin Kado performed very well, winning by fall at 138 and 145 respectively. The Bison were able to pick up their first duel victory of the day, with the final score standing at 48-24.

Beachwood’s victory earned them a spot in the 5th place duel against Youngstown Liberty.  Sophomore Michael Schmidt gave the Bison their first victory in the match at 132, and Kitay followed by earning a win by forfeit.

Sappell and Osbourne continued the winning trend at 152 and 160. Yet Bialosky was the only other Bison wrestler able to provide his team with a victory, so Beachwood fell to the Liberty Leopards 51-30.

Beachwood finished in 6th place out of 8 teams.

Despite the result, Captain Bialosky was very proud of his team.

“We did very well, we have many first or second year wrestlers and we won our first duel meet since the end of the 2013-2014 wrestling season against Firelands.”

Bialosky continued by commenting on the strengths and weaknesses of the young Bison team.

“We have tremendous will,” he said. “We all work hard and are determined to get better. Our major weakness is our inexperience.”

Bialosky and Kitay are the only returning district qualifiers for the Bison team, who currently have no senior wrestlers in the starting line up.

However, Bialosky believes that the young wrestlers can learn quickly due to the addition of coach Dominic Velotta to the high school staff. Bialosky complemented Velotta’s ability to improve the Bison wrestlers.

“He brings great experience and technique,” he said. “He teaches perfect position.”

The Bison wrestling team will travel to Kirtland on Thursday, December 10th for their next competition; a CVC Tri-Meet against the Kirtland Hornets and Cardinal Huskies. The meet will begin at 6:00 P.M.