ALLIANCE — Will Greenberg is not your normal, everyday heavyweight wrestler. Yeah, at 6-foot, 285 pounds he certainly looks the part. The senior multi-sport athlete from Hawken has the size and strength to match up against pretty much any heavyweight he sees. What sets Greenberg apart from the rest is his speed. What evens the playing field is familiarity. Greenberg found that out the hard way in the heavyweight championship match against Brecksville’s E.J. German at the Alliance Top Gun Tournament. German took down Greenberg in double overtime for a 3-2 decision for the Top Gun title on Jan. 18 in a match between two longtime friends and drilling partners. Hawken senior Will Greenberg When the match was over, the two state-ranked heavyweights embraced and shared a smile. German is the fourth-ranked Division I heavyweight in the state per borofanohio.net, while Greenberg is ranked second in Division II. “There aren’t many secrets,” Greenberg said as he walked off the mat. “He knows my moves and he took them away.” With each wrestler escaping in regulation, it was tied 1-1 after the sudden-victory overtime period. Each wrestler also escaped in the 30-second overtime period. With just a few seconds left in that period, Greenberg tried to throw German for a late takedown, but slipped off and German got the 3-point move instead. Game over. “I thought I had a chance so I went for it,” Greenberg said, to which German responded, “I’m not 100 percent sure how I was going to get out of that.” Greenberg said he and German have known each other for years, noting, “There aren’t a ton of big heavyweights at that age,” so their paths met often. A friendship was forged, therefore. “I have a lot of respect for Will, training with him for so long, German said. “His hand-fighting was incredible today.” When the pair of heavyweights left Alliance, they did so as each other’s biggest fan. “There’s no reason why we can’t both win a state title,” Greenberg said. Greenberg was one of 11 area boys wrestlers who earned podium spots at Top Gun, a list highlighted by six West Geauga Wolverines: Caiden Kaleal (120), Zander Joltin (126), Danny Sizler (144), Brian Denamen (165), Austin Wheatley (175) and Bryce Welker (215). Sizler, a junior, joined Greenberg as the only other area wrestler vying for a championship at Top Gun. Sizler was one of the eye-openers in Alliance this weekend, after coming in with no tournament seed. He advanced to the championship match with a 9-7 win over Minerva’s Jason Sivy, but it wasn’t an easy win. As he did in his quarterfinal win over Huntington’s Jeff Hood, Sizler hit a Gator Roll for a seven-point move in the first period. That gave him a comfortable early cushion. “It works on most of the kids I wrestle,” Sizler said. “I love that move. It’s my bread-and-butter move.” And he needed ALL of it. After extending his lead to 9-0 with a reversal to end the second, Sizler gave up a seven-point move near the end of regulation. Sizler lost the 144-pound championship match by pin, but said his confidence is at an all-time high heading into next weekend’s CVC tournament. “Yeah, I do feel like I’m a wild card,” he said. “But this is going to boost my confidence a lot. Just making it to the finals feels great.” West Geauga finished fourth in the team standings because of its six podium wrestlers. Aside from Sizler: • Kaleal took sixth with a 15-4 major decision loss to Claymont’s Daniel McGarr. • Jolton took seventh with a third-period pin of Brecksville’s Cash Tharp. • Denamen took sixth with a 9-6 sudden-victory loss to Streetsboro’s Cohen Klimak. • Wheatley took eighth with a 12-4 major decision loss to Brecksville’s Frank Aquila; and • Welker took third with a 2-1 decision over Mayfield’s John Harris. Chardon’s Dylan Kick, right, works for points during a semifinal match at the Alliance Top Gun Tournament on Jan. 18. (John Kampf – The News-Herald) Other area placers included University’s Doyle Grosz, a 7-2 decision over South Range’s Kayden Welker to place fifth at 132, Chardon’s Dylan Kick, a 7-6 winner over Salem’s Shawn German for fifth place at 150 and Chardon’s Logan Webster, who placed sixth at 215 with an 8-2 loss to Tuslaw’s Guhner Eberhardt.