Big Red’s Talea Guntrum has her arm raised after winning her second-straight state championship.

For the second consecutive season, Guntrum, now 50-4, has defeated Olentangy Orange sophomore Mackenzie Carder for the title for the second year in a row. She did so in exciting fashion with a pin in 5-minutes, 49-seconds while leading 11-5.

“My plan was to take her down, let her up, take her down, let her up,” Guntrum said. “Sometimes the plan doesn’t work out, so I just had to wrestle my match,”

Guntrum posted an early takedown and took Carder straight to her back for a 7-point move.  Carder cut the deficit to 7-5. However, Carder gave Guntrum a point to start the third period in the neutral position got an 8-5 margin. A subsequent takedown once again put Carder on her back, and Guntrum finished the deal with her fourth pin of the tournament.

“Once I got her on her back the second time, there was no way I was letting her out,” Guntrum noted. “This one (championship) feels a lot better.”

Steubenville’s Brody Saccoccia tries to escape the grasp of Sheridan’s Tyler Reedt during their Ohio Division II 157-pound state championship match Sunday night at Value City Arena inside the Jerome Scottenstein Center on the campus of Ohio State University.

Steubenville head coach Jamie Weaver, in his first season, was extremely proud of his wrestler.

“Talea is a hard worker. She definitely puts in the time,” Weaver said. “He wrestles against boys during the regular season and that helps when she competes against the girls. I’m proud of her.”

In the boys 88th annual state tournament, Steubenville’s Cooper Smith (144) and Brody Saccoccia (157) both finished as runners-up.

Smith, a junior, fell 5-3 to Columbus Bishop Watterson senior Mitchell Younger who finished his season at 36-0.

“We knew coming in that Cooper had a tough match,” Steubenville head coach Lucas Huffman said. “He battled and battled, but came up just short.”

Smith improved from a sixth-place performance last winter.

“We’re looking for big things from Cooper next season,” Huffman said.

Saccoccia, who is headed to Purdue University to continue his academic and athletic careers, dropped a 11-9 decision to Sheridan senior Coltyn Reedy. The Big Red senior led 6-1 after one period and 7-5 after two, but Reedy, who finished 44-0, traded two takedowns for escapes in the third for the win, his second in two weeks over Saccoccia.

“Steubenville wrestling has had a lot of accomplished wrestlers and Brody is right up there with the best,” Huffman noted. “He had a great career. I wish we had him for another four years.”

Saccoccia became a four-time state placer as he finished runner up as a freshman at 120; fifth as a sophomore at 132 before winning at 150 last winter.

Other placers included the Beaver Local quartet of Justus Fisher (106-3rd), Bobby Buchheit (138-6th), Jake Hughes (150-3rd), Evan Ours (165-3rd) and Kane Curran (190-7th). East Liverpool’s Tristan Eckles (120-7th) and Paige Cowan (125-6th) also stood on the podium.