Logan Stieber wins state title No. 4, Monroeville rolls to Div. 3 crown

COLUMBUS — Logan Stieber will settle for being No. 19.

Stieber became the 19th wrestler in Ohio history to win four state championships Saturday. He did it with an emphatic first-round pin of Miami East’s Zane Goldberg.

While he still was on the mat and on the podium, almost 14,800 fans stood and cheered.

“It means a lot,” Logan said. “Only 18 guys have done it, and I look up to those guys.”

He joined the ranks of names such as the Schlatter brothers; St. Mary Central Catholic’s Jared Opfer; his private coach, Erik Burnett; and the last wrestler to defeat Stieber, St. Paris Graham’s David Taylor.

“It’s great to be with those people,” he said. “Hopefully it will propel me to a great college and international career.”

Stieber, who will wrestle for The Ohio State University, became the first four-timer in the area since Opfer did it for SMCC in 1996-99, and Monroeville is the first area team to win a state title since the Panthers did it in 2006.

Stieber (55-0) capped his high school career with a record of 174-1, winning a state-record 171 consecutive matches. His only was was to Taylor at the Ironman finals his first week of high school wrestling.

“It’s a bittersweet moment, I’ll tell you what,” Eagles coach Scott Bauer said. “Most coaches wait a lifetime to see one of those kids, and we’ve got four. Logan’s one of those kids who’s extremely special. I don’t know what to say about him. He’s awesome. We’ll miss him.”

And for the third and final time, Stieber, brother Hunter Steiber, Cam Tessari and Chris Phillips all won state titles together for the final time.

He and his brother, Hunter, started wrestling at around four years old, said their father, Jeff. He knew they could be special wrestlers when he saw how devoted they were to the sport.

“Whether they won or lost when they were younger, they put a lot of time in,” Jeff Steiber said. “They made a lot of sacrifices. There were some birthday parties they never made it to, or got there late because of practice or a tournament.”

Tessari enjoyed Stieber’s achievements while he was getting ready for his championship round.

“I kind of got teared up when I was warming up for the match and they started announcing that stuff,” Tessari said. “He’s just an all-around great guy, and I’m really glad he got it.”

Logan’s fourth title was just a part of a historic weekend for the Eagles. Monroeville finally earned that elusive team crown with 116 points, trouncing second-place Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy (76).

Monroeville lost the team title last year by a slim margin, 113-112, to Troy Christian. The back-and-forth with Troy Christian was fun, said Bauer, almost like a dual match.

“It was fun for our fans at the Schott here, but I told them, ‘You know what? This is a whole lot more fun here when you don’t have to count all the points,’” he said.

The “Fab Four” — Logan (125), Hunter (119), Tessari (140) and Chris Phillips (171) — finished the season with a combined 183-1 record.

“We just started thinking about it,” Hunter said. “It’s the last time me, Logan and Cam will probably be together. From now, we’ll go to different colleges, probably, so we’ve got to make the most of it right now.”

Hunter’s season

Hunter started off Monroeville’s night with a 14-4 victory over Tyler Heminger of Galion Northmor.

Hunter pinned Heminger in the 2009 state finals, but took his time down the stretch this year, playing it safe.

He jumped out to an early 8-0 lead early in the second period before he hit the brakes.

“I didn’t try to slow down, I just wanted to be more conservative ... I wanted to be more safe than anything,” he said. “I still wanted to score points, though, get a major and maybe help our team points a little bit.”

Steiber, a junior, won his third state title with the major decision.

“There’s a lot of pressure on these kids in certain ways to win, because of their records and their national standings,” Jeff Stieber, Logan’s and Hunter’s father, said. “They handle it really well, they really do. They’re good kids and they work hard. I’m just proud of them.”

Cam can

Tessari followed Logan with a 10-0 major decision over Chad Sonnenberg of Van Buren, who came into the match with a 44-0 record.

“Both of us were undefeated, so I was a little nervous going into it,” Tessari said, “But I knew if I stayed solid and didn’t try anything too flashy, kept control the match and didn’t let it get out of control, I could try to pull out the win in the end.”

It took him a little while to figure Sonnenberg out, he said.

“The first couple of times I tried to take him down, he was really strong,” he said. “Once I got that first takedown, I started wrestling my match after that, and things started to flow.”

Tessari, a junior, won his third title, and will vie for his own fourth title next year.

“That’s the goal,” he said.

Phillips caps four-by-four

Chris Phillips rounded out the perfect night with a 7-4 decision over CVCA’s Alex Utley.

All four of Utley’s points came when Phillips backed away and let him escape, but the Monroeville junior just couldn’t turn Utley on his back.

“I knew Alex Utley was a really tough kid,” Chris said. “Usually, when I wrestle at states, all the kids bump up to ‘89 or go down to ‘60. Alex Utley stayed at ‘71 — I knew right when he did that it was going to be a pretty good match.

“I give him a lot of respect for not trying to run from me, for actually trying to challenge me and trying to beat me, actually.

“So far it was the funnest match I’ve ever had at the state finals. I didn’t know if I was going to win that match towards the end. At this level it’s pretty exciting.”

The relatively low-scoring affair followed a semifinal on Friday night in which Phillips and his opponent combined for 38 points.