COLUMBUS – The second day of the 86th annual OHSAA Boys State Wrestling Tournament began on Saturday at the Jerome Schottenstein Center.

Sophomores Lyric Dickerson of Miami Trace and Mack Parsley of Washington each won their first match Friday to advance to the quarterfinals

Dickerson was the first to wrestle on Saturday, taking on freshman Aiden Ohl from Ontario High School. He would lose a 6-0 decision to Ohl, sending him into the consolation bracket.

In round two of the consolation bracket, Dickerson went up against sophomore Zavian LaFountain of Wauseon High School.

Dickerson would lose a 6-3 decision which would ultimately end his season.

Dickerson improved on his initial State appearance (0-2) in 2022.

“I went out there and I was kind of flat,” Dickerson said of his consolation match. “Until the third period, then I got my confidence up. Then I wrestled how I know how. In the third period, I just ran out of time.

“I had a better experience (at state) this year, because, obviously I won a match,” Dickerson said. “I’ve seen a lot of improvement since last year, so, I’m not too disappointed.”

Dickerson said that as the season changes to spring, he plans to keep wrestling and lifting.

“The hardest part about the state tournament is getting the nerves out of the way,” Miami Trace head coach Ben Fondale said. “And wrestling the way you do all year. That’s just something we struggled with, both with Lyric and Asher (LeBeau). We struggled to get our nerves out of the way.

“Lyric had a close match at the end,” Fondale said. “He lost by three. He just couldn’t quite get a turn there at the end. (He was) dealing with a little bit of an injury.

“We did make progress this year, compared to last year,” Fondale said. “Last year Lyric was a State-qualifier. This year he was a State-qualifier and was able to win a match. We’ll just work to make progress and we should be a state-placer next year.

“Asher’s back next year,” Fondale said. “He’s a junior this year. He’s also going to rearrange his goals for next season and probably set his goals to be a State-placer next year.”

Dickerson finished his sophomore season with a record of 49-9.

LeBeau finished his junior season at 46-10.

Parsley would wrestle next, going against sophomore Andrew Barford from Columbus DeSales. Barford would pin Parsley late in the second period. This set up a consolation round two match between Parsley and sophomore Devin Shaw-Mason from Padua Franciscan.

In that match, Parsley lost an 11-2 decision which would bring his wrestling season to a close.

Parsley reflected on his season following the loss.

“I think I did pretty well this season. I learned a lot, and making it to State as a sophomore feels pretty good. I plan to do a lot of off-season training with Coach Snyder and spend a lot of time in the weight room.”

Washington head coach Louis Reid spoke about Parsley’s season.

“I thought he had a fantastic season. He won a second league title, he was a Sectional champ, he was a District finalist, and then he won a match here. He was able to do all of this as a sophomore. He comes here and wins his first match against a kid that had pinned him earlier in the season. Today, I think a little bit of his nerves kicked in, along with the realization that he had a chance to be in the semifinals. Kids say all the time, ‘I’m gonna make it to State, I’m gonna place’ but when that realization is there and you can just reach out and grab it, sometimes it can get to them. It’s difficult when you’re down in a match and you’re trying to block out the thousands of people here. There’s nothing that can simulate this atmosphere. We’re thankful that he will have more opportunities to get back to State, and he’s talking about doing the right things in the off season.”

Assistant coach Craig Snyder gave some comments about Parsley.

“Mack has improved so much over the years and has really matured into a great wrestler. If he gets in the weight room this off season, I would be looking out for him next year. In his district matches and his first match here at State, you could tell that he was calm and relaxed. He was a little nervous this morning, but it’s tough on you mentally when you know you are one match away from the semifinals. I think next year it won’t even phase him because now he’s been here before.”

Parsley finished his sophomore season with a record of 35-15.

Record-Herald Sports Editor Chris Hoppes contributed to this report.