COLUMBUS — The evening session of Day 2 of the 2013 OHSAA State Wrestling Championships was about climbing as many steps up the podium as possible.
Having already wrapped up at least an eighth place finish, Mount Vernon’s 113 pound Dakota Riley (45-3) took on Santino Disabato (38-8) in Friday evening’s consolation quarterfinal, decisioning the Westerville North wrestler, 4-2. The win guarantees Riley at least a sixth place finish overall.
“That’s not enough,” said Riley. “We’ve got more to go.”
He also has a shot at finishing as high as third — the same place he finished in the 106-pound bracket at last year’s state.
It didn’t look so promising early. Disabato took a 1-0 lead in the middle of the first period with an escape. Riley was unable to score until early in the final period when, with Disabato in control, Riley rolled into a spectacular reversal to take a 2-1 lead.
“I just wanted to stay in the match,” said Riley. “I finally got my points.”
Riley lost hold of Disabato with 1:08 to go, tying the score. Disabato then took a low shot at Riley with a little over 30 seconds to go in the match. A few seconds later he took a high shot trying to outmuscle the powerful Riley. In both cases, Riley fought off the attack.
Finally, Riley, attacking from Disabato’s left, got a last-second takedown to score a pair of winning points. After a brief discussion, the officials agreed that the takedown came before time expired in the match.
“The last second, I had him in a front headlock,” said Riley. “He started to relax. I got my two.”
“(Riley) did a nice job of pushing the action late,” said Mount Vernon coach John Brown.
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