Following Avon Lake and Columbia’s respective dual victories over Brunswick, 42-6 for the Shoregals and 54-0 for the Raiders, in a Jan. 9 girls wrestling tri-match, it came time for the two Lorain County squads to throw down.
With the score 30-18 ahead of the final wrestled match, Columbia tacked on 12 match points via forfeits. It made it all the more important for Lola Seone to take down Jasmine Razo by any result in their 170-pound bout to secure a sweep for the visiting Shoregals.
Following a few twists and turns, Seone pinned Razo in the last two seconds of the second period, with the crowd going into a frenzy before and after, with Avon Lake pulling out a 36-30 victory over Columbia.
170: Lola Seone vs Jasmine Razo
Seone's pin decides the match. 3:58
FINAL (COL +12 ON FF'S)@CoachCopfer 36@CHSraiders_wr 30 pic.twitter.com/bhDV0OpabT
— Sean Fitzgerald (@fitzonsportsbsr) January 10, 2024
“It’s tiring, but you got to handle it,” Seone said of the long match as the crowd got more and more into the match. “You’ve got to keep going. You’ve got to keep pushing no matter what. No matter if it’s tiring, just make that win. That’s all that matters.”
Fellow teammate and junior Rejan Al-Hashash, a returning junior state runner-up, won her match as well with a pinfall of her own.
140: Rejan Al-Hashash vs Callie Demagall
Al-Hashash, a state runner-up last year, gets the fall in 1:17@CoachCopfer 24@CHSraiders_wr 12@MJournalSports pic.twitter.com/C7CemjDgXJ
— Sean Fitzgerald (@fitzonsportsbsr) January 10, 2024
Though for her to see Seone’s grit and watching that scoreboard clock tick, Al-Hashash couldn’t have been prouder for her teammate’s success.
“The room was definitely excited about that match,” Al-Hashash said with a smile. “Everyone was screaming. The atmosphere was crazy, and it was kind of going back-and-forth. We knew Lola would come out on top, but it got us on our toes.”
When the moment mattered for Seone, a first-year wrestler, she didn’t shy away and embraced the moment.
“Lola has been a huge surprise for us this year,” Avon Lake coach Dennis Copfer said with a grin from ear to ear. “It’s her first year wrestling – she came in at 190 (pounds). She was wrestling at 190 for the beginning part of the year and was winning some matches. But toward the end of getting (cutting her weight down) to 170 (pounds), she started losing matches that she would normally win.
“Now that she’s at 170, I think she’s really finding her own space there. It’s been a fun ride so far.”
With all the noise and the cheering from fans and teammates, Seone was able to block it all out after getting turned over a few times herself. Still, she found a way to win and it’s a credit to her mental sharpness.
“It’s hard to concentrate, but you’ve just got to quiet down your mind and think,” Seone explained. “Just think, and then you keep moving and you keep going and you keep pushing until you get that pin. It’s a strong mentality. You have to quiet down those people yelling, focus on the move you’re taught in the wrestling room and just be a winner.”
While Marti Belfi’s Columbia squad came out of tonight with a split, the Raiders weren’t at full strength but competed hard in every match down to the bitter end.
“We still haven’t had the chance to compete with our full lineup yet this year,” Belfi said. “So to come in one match short, I’m satisfied with the outcome. We wrestled them tough and they’re a quality team. My hat’s off to them.”
