Caden Kenworthy clinches All-Ohio honors at OHSAA state meet

On Mar 13, 2022

Cambridge’s Caden Kenworthy competed in a 175 pound match on day two of the 85th annual OHSAA state wrestling tournament at Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio, on March 11-13, 2022.

COLUMBUS — Cambridge High senior Caden Kenworthy accomplished his goal of closing out his Bobcat wrestling career by getting onto the championship podium. Kenworthy reached that goal during Saturday’s Day 2 action at the Ohio High School Athletic Association state meet.

Kenworthy will be wrestling in the consolation semi-finals with the opportunity to take anywhere from third place to sixth place for All-Ohio honors in the 175-pound weight class.

Up first for Kenworthy on Sunday will be a match versus Zack Burroughs of Graham Local.

“It was a fun day for sure,” Cambridge head coach Kollin Clark stated. “To finish anywhere from third to sixth in the state and be All-Ohio is not bad at all. Caden still has that fire in his eye, and is looking forward to getting back on the mat against Burroughs.”

Much like Kenworthy’s opening round victory over Ryan Iams, Burroughs is a new opponent so Clark explained they will use that same effective first round strategy.

“He looks like a pretty tough kid,” Clark offered. “But we don’t know much, so we will go back to our strategy against Iams. Just be very aggressive with plenty of attacking in the game plan.”

To conclude a busy day on the mat, Kenworthy notched a thrilling 4-3 ultimate tie breaker in overtime over Louisville’s Noah Peterson to move into the consolation semi-finals.

Kenworthy’s day started with a loss to defending state champion Brody Conley of Columbian who recorded the pin in 1:52 who improved to a perfect 52-0 on the season.

“After a tough loss Conley, Caden really came back strong,” Clark said. “He was able to pin the Beddow kid from Norton, and then had just a exciting overtime win over Peterson in just a heck of a battle.”

But Kenworthy regrouped with his second pin at the state meet, this time over Reid Beddow of Norton in 2:50 to effectively secure his spot in Sunday’s championship round.

During Friday’s opening round, John Glenn sophomore Cohen Bunting collected a huge 4-3 victory over Conner Roback of Licking Valley in 138-pound action was some sweet payback after an 11-0 loss he suffered during the regular season.

But on Saturday, Bunting endured a rough day by dropping a pair of matches to end his quest for a spot on the podium for this season.

In his opening match of the day, Bunting dropped a 16-0 tech fall loss to junior Dominic Hoffarth of Louisville. West Holmes senior Dylan Strouse then ousted Bunting with a pin in 4:57.

“Today was a bittersweet end to a nice run by Cohen,” JG head coach Connor McMahon said. “He looked good at times today, but was up against a pair of tough kids. We knew going in to the match against Hoffarth would be a tough one to win based on our earlier match.”

“We talked and I think Cohen is even more inspired to get back here next season,” McMahon added “Getting that close to placing, I think Cohen knows that he belongs at this level. Plus getting to wrestle at the Schott was special for him and I think he’s determined to get back next year.”