Now in his fourth year of leading the Eagles, Jayne is regarded as one of the better lightweight wrestlers to come out of the state and the storied St. Edward program. He won three consecutive state titles at 112, 119 and 125 pounds.

And yet, the Avon program is forced to forfeit the first four weight classes every time it competes in a dual match.

“It’s an enigma for the sport of wrestling not to have the lighter guys, because wrestling is specifically for the little guys,” said Jayne. “But we haven’t been able to procure any. It’s unfortunate, but we’re still working on it.”

Hosting Olmsted Falls in a Southwestern Conference dual match Thursday, the Eagles watched as the official raised the hand of the Olmsted Falls wrestlers from 106 pounds to 126, giving the Bulldogs a 24-0 lead. But the large deficit was nothing new to Avon.

Actually, the Eagles were down, 30-0, after Olmsted Falls freshman Gavin Ashley won by pin at 132 pounds. But that would be the only match that the Bulldogs won that was actually wrestled, as Avon won the final nine matches—six by pin—to take a 48-30 victory.

“We were down, 24-0, to begin with, because we don’t have the lighter weight classes,” said 215-pounder Connor Krystowski. “But I felt pretty good coming in. We felt we could win it, even after being down. I felt like we really, really trained in the wrestling room, putting in the work there, seeing good progress. I felt like we should win this, and we did. That’s all thanks to hard work.”

While Jayne was happy with the victory, winning the team score was not high on his priority list.

“Winning is always a possibility, but I like to have the guys just focus on themselves, focus on their next points, and the rest will take care of itself,” he said. “Don’t worry about losing the team match or the individual match, just focus on the next score. I’ve been preaching that, and hopefully, it’s been kicking in a little bit.”

Faced with a 30-point deficit, the Eagles got right to work, Evan Janson (138) and Tony Mrosko (144) won consecutive matches by pin. Kane Sparks (150) then won by technical fall, and when Matt Dooris won at 157 by major decision, the margin was cut to 30-21.

The match at 165 seemed to be a turning point, as Olmsted Falls’ Logan Clark appeared to be the dominant wrestler, holding a 3-0 lead after one period and looking to be ready to get another three points early in the second period. But Avon’s Gabe Klemola got a sudden reversal and pin, bringing the Eagles to within 30-27.

“That’s why wrestling is great,” said Jayne. “You can be down a bunch and come back and get the win. You’re not sure the mentality or the attitude you have after you get taken down. How are you going to respond? Are you just going to sit there on the bottom? Are you going to try to fight back? He almost got an escape at the end of the first period, so I saw him coming alive a little bit. He had a spark, and he ended up on top and got the pin. It was a great match for him.”

Jack Schumacher (175), Krystowski (215) and Eian Englehart (285) each posted first-period pins around a 4-1 decision by Evan Branham at 190. The pin by Krystowski was the most impressive, as it occurred after just 21 seconds. It also clinched the match for the Eagles, giving them a 42-30 lead with just one match remaining.

“I try to end the match as fast as possible,” said Krystowski. “My conditioning is good, but I don’t want to go later in the match because it’s harder. The fastest match I’ve had so far is six seconds. I got an award for that two weeks ago in the Beachwood tournament.”

Krystowski is one of several Avon wrestlers who came out aggressively at the opening whistle. While he had the most explosive opening move, getting his opponent onto his back in just five seconds, several of his teammates earned a takedown less than a minute into their matches.

“I want us, especially in the beginning of the year, just to be more aggressive, just try to keep scoring, because that’s how you get better,” said Jayne. “That’s how you win, that’s how you improve. Wins and losses at this point don’t mean as much as later in the year. So, this is where we want to focus on that aggression. I would like to see a little more of it, but we’re getting there.”

The Eagles will be in action again this weekend as they compete in the Rebel Invitational Tournament at Willoughby South on Saturday.