CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio (March 2, 2024) -- Rocky River had its 2023-24 season come to an end on district mats Saturday. Two Wrestling Raiders competed in the DII Northeast/Kenston District Tournament at Kenston High School. In the two-day even commencing Friday evening, junior Dylan Heffron and senior Connor Schiefferle registered game efforts but were ousted short of the fifth-place-or-better qualifying standard for advancing to the March 8-10 Buckeye State tournament at Ohio State University's Schottenstein Center in Columbus. [
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Heffron had a tough draw. Wrestling at 144 pounds, the Great Lakes Conference runner-up was pinned in his opening bout against eventual champion Danny Beckett of Buckeye High School. Heffron was then felled in the wrestleback to close out his season with a 29-21 mark.
Wrestling at 165, Schiefferle grinded out a 9-7 decision in his opening match and a masterful 2-1 triumph in his second. The two-time district qualifier was then undone by a loss by fall against Alliance High School's Quinn Callock in a semifinal bout. Callock went on place first, upping his season record to a robust 30-7 along the way.
Schiefferle, a GLC runner-up who had lost just four times previously this season, moved on to the consolation bracket where he was pinned by eventual third-place finisher Dillon Badiu (Buckeye). In a bid to qualify for the state meet as an alternate, Schiefferle was defeated by Copley senior DeVonn Nixon in a hard-fought 7-2 tussle. The talented River senior closed out his season with a fine mark of 27-7.
The event in Chagrin Falls closed out a solid season for Rocky River. Highlights for the Wrestling Raiders included a first-place finish at a Jan. 20 tournament hosted by Akron Garfield and a third-place finish at a Dec. 16 tourney hosted by Cuyahoga Heights. River went 8-13 across 21 dual matches and had four losses by five points or less. The season also included a Senior Night victory over Elyria Catholic on Feb. 1.
With the season concluding, so do the careers of four Pirate Greybeards. Connor Schiefferle is one of those. River's other seniors this season were Ilyas Bouchanafa, Ricky Skains, and Zane Lindquist.
by Skip Snow