18
THE PRESS
FEBRUARY 6, 2017
Genoa sophomore Julian Sanchez on his way to a 16-0 technical fall decision over
Oak Harbor sophomore Tad Jensen during Wednesday’s Division III regional semifinal dual meet. (Press photo by Harold Hamilton/HEHphotos.smugmug.com)
Genoa sophomore Oscar Sanchez (right) on his way to a 9-3 decision over Oak Harbor sophomore Cameron Dickman during Wednesday's Division III regional semifinal dual meet. (Press photo by Harold Hamilton/HEHphotos.smugmug.com)
For opponents, Sanchez twins a devastating tandem
By Mark Griffin
Press Contributing Writer
[email protected]
Oscar Sanchez saw the writing on the
wall.
“My freshman year I knew I wasn’t
going be able to compete at the state tournament because of Dylan (D’Emilio),”
Sanchez said. “My goals were to keep getting better and working to improve every
day. This year my goal is to win a state title.
I knew it wasn’t going to happen last year.”
Sanchez is a sophomore at Genoa and
teams up with his fraternal twin brother,
Julian, to form a devastating tandem for
coach Bob Bergman’s wrestling team.
D’Emilio, a sophomore, won the 106-pound
Division III state championship last March
and is 38-2 this season. Oscar Sanchez is
35-4 at 106 and 113 pounds. Julian is 36-3
at 120 and 126 pounds.
Those three all went 9-0 and were
named to the all-tournament first team
along with undefeated teammates James
Limongi (24-2), a sophomore, and freshman
Dusty Morgillo (30-10) at last weekend’s
D-III Duals in Sandusky. Genoa won the
18-team tournament with a 9-0 record and
defeated Edison, 39-28, in the title match.
Xavier Beach (30-10) and Gabe Scott
(25-13) earned second-team all-tournament
honors for the Comets.
However, despite jumping out to a
20-point lead, Genoa’s mat men couldn’t
pin down Oak Harbor Wednesday night in
a Division III Region 18 semifinal.
Second-ranked Oak Harbor climbed
their way back, tying the meet at 26-26
heading into the final two bouts before
pulling away. Oak Harbor won, 35-26.
For the Comets, Oscar Sanchez earned
a decision while Dylan D’Emilio and Julian
Sanchez scored bonus points with a pin
and a technical fall. Corey Welsh and James
Limongi collected forfeits for the Comets.
The third-ranked Comets end their
dual meet season with a record of 27-2 on
the year while the Rockets won their regional final match and are moving on to the
state duals.
Sibling rivalry
The Sanchez brothers both stand
5-foot-5 and have been wrestling together
since they were 6 years old. Bergman said
he can tell them apart because Julian is just
a tad heavier than Oscar, who was born six
minutes before his sibling.
“We have a pretty good relationship,”
Julian said. “We kind of mess with each
other about who does better and we try to
push each other to be better. I don’t like to
lose and he doesn’t like to lose either.”
Julian had a special season at 113
pounds as a freshman. He won Northern
Buckeye Conference and district titles en
route to a sixth-place finish at the state
tournament. He placed fifth at the Ironman
this season, took third at Medina and won
the Napoleon Duals.
“Julian and Oscar are smart kids,”
Bergman said. “Julian has an unbelievable
conditioning and cardio (regimen). It’s off
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runner-up to Dylan. Oscar is a huge part of
Dylan’s success. He’s making him better.
That shows how selfless Oscar is. He’s a total team player and that’s very rare. Oscar
is the ultimate optimist. He’s always positive.”
Julian and Oscar said wrestling with
each other on the same team has been a
good thing.
“He’s always been a partner for me,”
Julian said. “He wants to do well and I
want to do well. We’re built-in partners.
Any room we go to, any practice, we always have a partner.”
The brothers admit they get nervous
when the other brother is competing in a
match. Julian said he sometimes gets more
nervous watching Oscar than he does wrestling his own matches.
“I’m not out there and it’s hard to
watch sometimes,” Julian said.
Oscar added, “I watch him and I do get
nervous sometimes, like when it’s really
close. I don’t know how to describe it. I feel
like when he loses, I lose.”
The brothers’ main goal this season
is to win a state title. They said they have
things to work on, but no one is counting
them out.
“I’m getting there,” Oscar said, “but I
have to work on improving every day, like
improving my offense. I watched the state
finals last year. Ever since then I’ve felt like
I couldn’t wait until it was my turn.”
Genoa will look to win their fifth consecutive NBC championship next Saturday,
February 11 at Fostoria High School.
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the charts. He won three overtime matches
at Ironman. He’ll just go, go, go. It’s definitely a gift and he takes pride in working
at it, too. He’s the complete package. He’s
never intimidated and he just does his
thing.”
Julian said he is a different wrestler
than he was last season.
“I’m doing a lot more this year,” he
said. “I was a little hurt last year, a little
banged up. I’m healthier this year and I’m
doing more second practices and workouts
in the morning. I also did more preseason
tournaments.”
Genoa has early-morning workouts
and another workout after school. Several
individuals then take part in what they call
a “second” practice in the evening, concentrating on improving their cardio and working on individual drills.
“I’ve been going to more of the second
practices,” Oscar said. “It gives me a lot of
confidence going into my matches. I don’t
have any doubts that I’m the best wrestler
on the mat. I just have to wrestle my match.
I’ve been able to do it for most of the season
and I’ve learned from my teammates.”
Bergman said Oscar didn’t pout about
being the backup behind D’Emilio last season. Oscar went 36-0 at 106 pounds while
competing in the Comets’ dual meets. He
is a projected state champion this season,
according to Bergman
“Oscar was probably the second
best 106-pounder in the state last year,”
Bergman said. “If he would have been in
the lineup, he would have been the state
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