Enlarge Image

Eric George/ThisWeek

Marysville’s Noah Forrider works on Nick Varney of Westerville Central in a match at 138 pounds during a meet earlier this season. The Monarchs will play host to a Division I sectional tournament on Feb. 18 after cruising to the OCC-Cardinal title at 7-0. Buy This Photo

The Marysville High School wrestling team enters each season with several goals.

The Monarchs achieved their first goal by winning the OCC-Cardinal Division title.

Marysville capped an undefeated season in the league by beating Dublin Jerome 59-9 and Westerville North 58-15 on Feb. 7 at Jerome.

The Monarchs finished 7-0 in the league ahead of Olentangy (6-1), Olentangy Liberty (5-2), North (4-3), Jerome (2-5), Westerville Central (2-5), Dublin Scioto (1-6) and Westerville South (1-6).

“Obviously, when you start the year you look at what the league duals are and that’s important, so you start with (winning the league as a goal),” said coach Shawn Andrews, whose squad won its 11th league title overall and first since 2010. “The big one was Olentangy (38-21 win Jan. 26) and you have to make sure you close out the rest of the matches as well. It’s all (about) moving forward to (the) sectional, district and state (levels).”

The Monarchs have even higher expectations as the postseason begins.

Marysville, the top-ranked team in the district, will play host to a Division I sectional tournament Saturday, Feb. 18.

It appears to be a two-team chase for the title between the Monarchs and Hilliard Davidson, which is ranked third in the district behind Marysville and Olentangy.

“According to the poll, it’s probably between the two of us,” Andrews said. “We’ll see how it comes down. Obviously, with a smaller sectional it makes it tighter because there’s not as many guys, so you have a better chance of a team like Davidson or Marysville having all 14 guys qualify (for the district tournament). We’re just going to focus on what we can control and work as hard as we can.”

Other teams competing will be Briggs, Columbus West, Jerome, Franklin Heights, Mount Vernon, Northland and Thomas Worthington.

The top four finishers in each weight class will advance to the district tournament Feb. 24 and 25 at Hilliard Darby.

Against Jerome, the Monarchs received pins from David Sparks at 113 pounds (2 minutes, 24 seconds), Noah Forrider at 138 (2:27), Jason Wilkinson at 152 (39 seconds), Alex Roberts at 170 (2:50) and Austin Pfarr at 182 (33 seconds).

Against North, freshman Taleb Rahmani defeated Santino DiSabato 9-4 at 106. Rahmani (37-2) is sixth and DiSabato is 18th in the Brian Brakeman’s High School Wrestling Forecast.

Winners by pin were Sparks at 113 (1:46), Forrider at 138 (2:59), Wilkinson at 152 (3:29), Roberts at 170 (1:29), Austin Rine at 220 (2:33) and Kyle Thirkield at heavyweight (31 seconds).

Other Marysville wrestlers ranked in Brakeman’s report are Forrider (25-1) at 138 (third), Sparks (27-8) at 113 (eighth), Thirkield (30-6) at heavyweight (ninth), Tyler Miller (31-9) at 160 (10th), Pfarr (28-9) at 182 (11th), Thomas Taylor (31-5) at 195 (11th) and Chase Boyd (29-8) at 145 (20th).

•The boys basketball team will look to gain momentum heading into the Division I district tournament when it visits Scioto on Friday, Feb. 17. The tournament draw is Sunday, Feb. 12.

Scioto defeated Marysville 72-60 on Jan. 13.

The Monarchs were 5-13 overall and 1-11 in the OCC-Cardinal before playing North on Feb. 10.

Marysville defeated Jerome 61-55 in overtime on Feb. 7 as Craig Runyan and Steven Romesburg each scored 16 points and Kody Davisson scored 10.

“I thought our kids executed our game plan extremely well in the first half,” coach Ryan Grose said. “Jerome made some adjustments that got them back in the game in the third quarter, but we were able to make enough plays down the stretch to get the win. Our kids continue to work hard and improve.”

•The girls basketball team is seeded 34th for the Division I district tournament and will play fifth-seeded Dublin Coffman on Thursday, Feb. 16, at Davidson. The winner will play Watkins Memorial in the second round Feb. 21 at Davidson.

Marysville was 4-15 and 2-11 before concluding the regular season Feb. 10 against North.

Coffman led the OCC-Central at 12-1 before playing Worthington Kilbourne on Feb. 10. The Shamrocks were 17-2 overall.

“Coffman has the ability to score from the perimeter and via offensive rebounding,” coach Aric Tucker said. “We will need to control the defensive board. Their ability to pressure in full-court, man-to-man (defense) is a concern as they are very athletic and aggressive.”

The Monarchs lost to Jerome 52-12 on Feb. 7.

Katy Turner scored five points.