Tournament recap · Rootstown Rover Rumble Fall Open · Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026

Marlington Runs Away With Rootstown Title as State Champs Show Out

ROOTSTOWN, Ohio (Nov. 1) — Marlington brought a deep lineup with plenty of hardware to the Rootstown Rover Rumble Fall Open on Sunday. It left with the team title, piling up 168 points to finish 64 clear of runner-up Berkshire among 60 teams.

Four-time OhioQuest state champion Nash Hallman led the way for Marlington, joined in the winner's circle by state champion teammate Easton Hone. But the loudest statements of the day came from two wrestlers who are fast becoming the faces of the 2026–27 OhioQuest Series: Gladiators' Bucky Smith and Bad Karma's Justin Edwards Jr. Each won two brackets at Rootstown.

Standouts

Bucky Smith, Gladiators. Smith was perfect again. He went 8-0 with eight pins to win both of his Open 12U brackets, and his 22-second fall was one of the quickest of the day. He has now won five brackets this season and is a perfect 18-0 in series play, with a series-best 17 pins.

Justin Edwards Jr., Bad Karma. No one won more matches Sunday. Edwards won nine matches with six pins, taking the Open 10U and Open 12U titles, and his 15-second fall ranked among the fastest of the day. His 21 series wins are tied for the most in OhioQuest this season. Teammate Joseph Edwards added the Open 8U title, helping Bad Karma to an 18-1 day as a team.

Nash Hallman and Easton Hone, Marlington. Hallman, one of only two four-time state champions in the OhioQuest Hall of Fame, won his Open 12U bracket and has now opened his season with a title. Hone, the reigning state champion, won a stacked Open 12U group that included 2025 state champion Ryan Vraciu and Ayden Strecker.

Ayden Strecker, BTW. Strecker went 8-1 with five pins in his OhioQuest debut, winning one Open 12U bracket and finishing second in another.

The Vozars, Longwood. Salvatore Vozar won the Open 8U Group 2 title and is now a champion at all four OhioQuest events this fall. He is still unbeaten in series play at 12-0. Santino Vozar won Rookie 8U with five wins and three tech falls, bringing his season total to five bracket titles. He leads the entire series with 21 wins.

State champions keep rolling. Sebastian Swartzmiller, a two-time state champion, won Open 8U for his third bracket title in three events. Reigning girls state champion Willow Hale of Hubbard Youth Wrestling took home two titles, in Open 10U and Girls 10U. Fellow 2026 state champion Winter White won Girls 10U and placed second in Open 10U. Marlington's Lincoln Sharp, the 2025 state champion at 72 pounds, posted five pins.

Hometown heroes. Two Rootstown wrestlers won titles in front of the home crowd. Ryan Earls took Rookie 12U Group 3 with a 32-second pin along the way, and Kiel Reuting won Open HS Group 6.

Fastest fall. Berkshire's Hudson Geiss needed four seconds for the fastest pin of the day. It is also the fastest pin of the OhioQuest season so far.

Team Race

Marlington crowned five champions: Hallman, Hone, Tesen Hennebert Jr., Luke Kaminski and Hall of Famer Andrew Bell. It also wrestled 57 matches, the most of any team, which added up to 168 points. Berkshire took second behind Ryker Spoon's Rookie 8U title and Piper Geiss's Girls HS win. Host Rootstown finished fifth with 80.5 points.

Best records of the day: Gladiators (8-0), Massillon Perry (5-0), Bad Karma (18-1) and BTW (8-1).

By the Numbers

• 60 teams and 46 brackets

• 285 matches wrestled

• 9 wins for Justin Edwards Jr., the most of the day

• 8 pins for Bucky Smith, the most of the day

• 0:04, Hudson Geiss's fall and the fastest of the season

Up Next

The OhioQuest Series heads to the Canfield Fall Open at Canfield High School on Saturday, Nov. 7, and the Madison DQ Open at Madison High School on Sunday, Nov. 8. Marlington hosts the Alex Hallman Memorial Open on Saturday, Nov. 14. Series leaderboards are updated weekly at ohioquest.com.

Division Champions