Photo by Kim North Barnesville’s Hines Ford has a headlock on Union Local’s Brody Perzanowski during their 175-pound championship bout Saturday at the Ohio Division III Eastern District Tournament at Coshocton High School. Ford won, 3-2, in a tiebreaker.

COSHOCTON — Eleven area Division III wrestlers punched their tickets to the Ohio State Wrestling Tournament this weekend with top four finishes at the Eastern District meet Saturday inside the Wigwam at Coshocton High School.

Barnesville leads the area contingent with four qualifiers, including half of the four champions.

Bridgeport and Union Local have two each, while Buckeye Local, Harrison Central and Martins Ferry each will be sending one.

The event begins its three-day stay Friday at Value City Arena inside the Jerome Schottenstein Center on the campus of Ohio State University. The state championships are set for Sunday with the Parade of Championships beginning at 5 p.m.

Highlighting Saturday’s district finals was the fifth installment of the Hines Ford-Brody Perzanowski 175-pound season rivalry, with Ford, a Barnesville junior, holding on for a thrilling 3-2 tiebreaker victory over the Jets’ sophomore. The win gave Ford a 3-2 edge in the matchups.

“It feels amazing,” Ford said of his first district title. “It’s a war every time we meet. It’s a very hard match when we wrestle.”

Scoreless after the first two periods, Perzanowski took a 2-0 lead with a reversal, but Ford duplicated that with one at the halfway mark of the period to send the match to overtime. Neither wrestler was able to score in the 1-minute extra session, setting up the tiebreaker.

Perzanowski chose the down position to start the 30-second rideout period and Ford was able to keep him on the mat. However, Ford was able to escape in his 30 seconds in the down position to secure the championship.

Both wrestlers are ranked in the top 10 in Ohio by several different outlets. Ford is now 48-8 and qualified for the state last year. Perzanowski now stands at 39-6 and was a sixth-place finisher at the state meet last winter.

Teammate and two-time All-Ohioan Ayden King (165) ran his season record to a superb 51-2 with a 7-4 decision over Malvern’s Tyler Clear in a rematch of the consolation final at last year’s state tournament, which the Shamrocks standout won. King led 7-0 at one point.

“It feels good,” King said. “He’s a tough kid.”

Other champions were Union Local sophomore Gunnar Gossett (144) and Harrison Central freshman Knox McKibben (215).

Gossett, now 45-4, was dominant in the tournament as he pinned Garaway’s Mitchell Tetreault in 2:42 of their finals bout. Gossett took control early with a takedown and three-point nearfall in the first period.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Gossett said. “After losing in the semifinals last year, it was nice to get back into the finals and finish things off with a pin.”

Gossett advanced to the state semifinals last year before finishing sixth at the same weight.

McKibben, now an impressive 44-3, was also dominant throughout the two-day district. He recorded three pins, including a first-period fall (1:12) of Trimble’s Coltin Ward in the finals.

Joining Ford and King are Shamrock teammates Colt Carpenter (138) and Christien Hannahs (215). Carpenter, a state qualifier as a freshman last winter, finished second as he dropped a 7-3 decision to Garaway’s Braylon Brooks. He is now 34-8.

Hannahs, now 35-16, finished third after losing to McKibben in the quarterfinals.He slipped past Fort Frye’s Braxton Ross, 2-1, in a tiebreaker.

Bridgeport’s Robert Weekley (120) and Ax’Zavior Santana (132) both placed fourth to punch their tickets. Weekley, now 34-9, fell to Sandy Valley’s Owen Simpson, 8-7, while Santana, 39-11, dropped a 14-4 major decision to Christian Browning of Crooksville.

The Purple Riders’ Colton Nixon (126) advanced to the finals as a freshman but fell 10-3 to Fairland’s C.J. Graham in the championship bout. He is now an impressive 43-7. Graham was a state runner up last year at the same weight.

The Panthers’ Nathan Dentz (106) was fourth and will carry a 39-5 mark to the state tournament.

Harrison Central junior Landen Thomas (285) was ranked No. 1 in the state after finishing second last winter. However, he fell 4-1 in the semifinals and then received a flagrant unsportsmanlike conduct infraction that caused him to be eliminated from further competition and ended his season.