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Perfection has always been the standard that coach Jeff Jordan has held his Graham wrestling team to.

Now the nationally No. 1-ranked Falcons will have to be perfect in the finals of the Division II state wrestling meet at Ohio State University’s Schottenstein Center today, March 1, if they want to equal the long-standing record of six individual state champions — held since 1951 by Cleveland West.

Graham advanced six to tonight’s finals and wrapped up an eighth straight D-II team title on Friday, Feb. 29. The Falcons also have an outside shot at the team points title of 229 set by Lakewood St. Edward.

Advancing to the finals for the Falcons were seniors Ben Jordan (145) and Coby Boyd (152); juniors David Taylor (112), Zach Neibert (119) and Adam Walls (285) and sophomore Tucker Armstrong (125).

“I’m sure my guys would like to beat that record,” said Graham coach Jeff Jordan of the six individual champs. “I was hoping for a couple more (than six in the finals). We had a great quarters (the morning session, when the Falcons won 10 of 12 matches).”

Indeed, the Falcons advanced 10 to the evening’s championship semifinals. And they lost two matches by a single point as senior Zac Thomusseit (171) dropped a controversial 2-1 decision and junior James Mannier (160) came up on the short end of a 3-2 score.

“The last couple of years, even though we’ve wrapped up the team title on Friday night, it seems bittersweet,” said Jordan. “Here, some guys reach their goals and some fall short. That’s just crushing for a coach.”

Thomusseit’s loss left Jordan particularly bummed.

“In that third period, 99.9 percent of the referees here would have called that a takedown,” said Jordan of a controversial no-call late in Thomusseit’s match. “We had two seniors make the finals, and I thought a third should be there. But I’m happy with our performance.”

Also losing in the semifinals for Graham were sophomore Max Thomusseit (to two-time state champ Cody Magrum of Oak Harbor) and freshman Nick Brascetta (103). They, along with Zac Thomusseit, Mannier and freshmen Matt Stephens (140) and Mark Meyer (135), are still alive and could place as high as third.

A pleasant surprise for the Falcons was Walls’ two wins. He beat projected state champ John Hiles of Columbus DeSales in the quarterfinals for the first time in nine meetings (2-1) and then won a 2-0 overtime match in the semifinals.

The day’s activities left Graham with 167 points. Could they break St. Edward’s record?

“To get close to that, a lot of our guys are going to have to come back and get third (places),” admitted Jordan. “I just want to get home and try to get some of these guys who lost pumped up again. We’ll see what tomorrow holds.”

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