Formidable Elder wrestling eyes state duals tourney win

Jason Roush knew he had a formidable group of wrestlers heading into his second season at the helm of the Elder program, but the fast and dominant emergence of some underclassmen has the Panthers turning heads.

Elder is ranked No. 2 in the latest Enquirer Division I area coaches' poll and is 9-0 in dual meets this season with wins over St. Xavier, No. 3 Moeller, No. 6 Oak Hills and Harrison.

The Panthers finished second at the Glenn Sample Classic at Harrison in December and second at the CIT Tournament Jan. 17 and 18 in Toledo. Now they have designs on bigger things as the state duals tournament opens this week.

"We have a team that is pretty good top to bottom and that makes us a pretty good dual team," Roush said. "At CIT, I had eight freshmen and sophomores place. That's been an exciting thing. We have a lot of youth competing right away. We've competed well."

Senior 195-pounder Gage Brock, a district qualifier last year and the team leader in wins thus far this season, leads a powerful roster.

"I think we have a great team with a lot of depth," Brock said. "We can definitely make it through the state duals and get pretty far. I'd love to see us win all the way up and go to Columbus. That's definitely my goal. Win GCL. I'd love to see our team do well there too."

Freshman Austin Murphy already has more than 20 wins and has placed at every tournament Elder has attended. Murphy had a big weekend at Brecksville a couple weekends ago where he wrestled four state placers in one weekend and knocked off three of them to make the finals.

"It was pretty exciting," Murphy said. "I didn't expect to make it that far and when I beat the three state qualifiers in a row, it was pretty surprising."

Senior Joe Isham has moved up to heavyweight and leads the team in pins. Freshman Ti'Ric Evans has 20 wins at 152 pounds. Evans is the nephew of Orlando Scales, a two-time undefeated state champ at Elder who is on the Panthers' coaching staff.

The biggest team win was a 37-22 final at Moeller Jan. 9. The Crusaders have been the top area team for several years and the Panthers won eight of the 14 matches in a dual that Roush said was closer than the score.

"It shows how far we've come and it shows how much our team has grown," Brock said. "We're really looking to change the view that Moeller is top dog because that's what we want to be."

Roush said Elder has beaten Moeller less than five times during the past 20 years.

"We hadn't beaten Moeller since I was a freshman and that was a big deal even then," Isham said. "Coming out in their home gym during their Senior Night and beating them was one of the high points of Elder wrestling for me."

The Panthers host the first round of the state duals beginning Wednesday and will see the winner of Colerain and Mount Healthy in their first match. That winner will face La Salle or St. Xavier.

Three wins in the tournament could set up a possible rematch with Moeller for the Region 8 championship and a trip to Columbus.

"Getting a dual win over Moeller is something that hasn't happened a whole lot in recent history," Roush said. "So it was a big win for our staff and our kids. But we have to be able to turn around and do it again if we want to get to St. John's Arena and wrestle in the final eight of the state duals."

Elder also has its sights set on the Greater Catholic League South Tournament Feb. 21 at St. Xavier and then the sectional, district and state meets. The Panthers have not won the GCL Tournament since 1990, according to Roush.

"That's one of our big goals this year," Roush said. "We want to break that streak."