Thursday, Friday and Saturday, March 8-10, the OHSAA State Wrestling Tournament was held at the Jerome Schottenstein Center at The Ohio State University. In order to qualify for the State Tournament, wrestlers had to place in the top four at their District tournament. This year, Jonathan Alder only had one wrestler qualify. Senior Jacob Johnson placed first at the Division 2 Central District Tournament to qualify for the State Tournament.

    Johnson was placed in a 16-man bracket where the top eight in the bracket would place, ergo in order to place, Johnson had to win two matches. This was Johnson’s third consecutive year returning to the State Tournament, so the pressure was nothing new to him. In his two previous years, Johnson went 1-2 and was never able to place. Johnson came much more prepared this year, working with not only his JA coaches, but previous Penn State and Ohio State coach Ross Thatcher, and previous Ohio State coach Miron Kharchilava.

    Johnson’s first round came easily with a victory against Keegan Kohler of Lancaster Fairfield Union. His next round proved more difficult with a controversial loss to the 2017 state runner up, Dominic Carone. Johnson came back for revenge in the next two rounds with two impressive victories to put him on the podium. In the match to determine whether or not Johnson would wrestle for third place, he faced a tough loss against Matthew Cardello of Cuyahoga Falls, who was projected to win first. Johnson then went on to win the 5th place match against a familiar opponent, the same opponent he wrestled for the championship at the District Tournament. Johnson said: “I knew he was done, and I had already won as soon as the match hit overtime.”

    This was Johnson’s first year placing, proving that the third time’s the charm. He is usually a very calm wrestler and rarely celebrates after matches, though Johnson did allowed himself a small celebration by throwing both his hands in the air after his win. Johnson will now begin to search for a college to further his academic and athletic career. Johnson is excited for the future, saying, “I’m looking forward to visiting and finding the right school, and wrestling at the college level.”