Trojans power through sectional; FC runner -up
February 1, 2023 at 9:03 p.m.
AURORA – East Central (253 points) captured another IHSAA wrestling sectional title Saturday at South Dearborn while the Franklin County Wildcats (207) battled to second place. The Trojans pushed five champions on to the Richmond Regional with FC, third-place Milan (180) and Connersville sending two each. Lawrenceburg, Greensburg and Union County had the other individual champs.
Remaining unbeaten through the first postseason weekend were Milan's 106-pound freshman Matthew Baylor (41-0) and LHS' Colton Roth at heavyweight (17-0). EC's top guys were Blake Wolf at 126, Dylan Lengerich at 145, Grayson Hylton at 152, Brayden Huber at 170 and Brendin Kolter at 182. Representing FC atop the podium were Cole Freese at 113 and Colin Troyer one class up at 120. Levi DeGroat (220) and Orlan Foster (195) were Connersville's toughest while Milan's Indians saw Kaleb Wilburn (138) join Baylor in the winner's circle. Greensburg's Preston Merritt was the best at 132 and Jordan Takara of UC ran through the 160 bracket.
Overall, EC got 11 wrestlers to the regional – top four in each weight class advanced – as FC totaled 10, Milan 9, 4th-place Rushville 7, CHS 5, 6th-place UC 5, LHS 3, 9th-place Greensburg 3, SD 2 and last-place Batesville 1.
Freese (35-3) had a bye and forfeit to the semifinals, then pinned Rushville's Blake Hunt and earned a 10-1 major decision over EC's Tyler Stenger in the final. Troyer (35-1) likewise moved into the semis with no early foes, then won by fall over Connersville's Aiden Maze and took less time to pin Milan's Lucas Richards in the championship bout. UC's Landon Myers was 3rd at 120.
Merritt (30-4) pinned CHS' Gavin Lemen, then won by decision over UC's Carson Whitley (7-1) and edged EC's Nyden Euson in the final match. Tuff Tackett of Rushville won by injury default over Whitley in the second period of the 3rd-place bout.
Takara (36-4) made quick work of LHS' Trey Campbell in the quarterfinals, then majored Cameron Gilb of Milan in the semis (13-5) and took down FC's Hayden Newell early in the second period to claim the title. Rushville's Matthew Komlanc won a 3-1 decision over Gilb for third place.
FC had two more grapplers join Newell in the runner-up position. Lendon Sizemore pinned Kyle Mellon of SD in the 220 division before duplicating a late pin over EC's Brady Jones – similar match at the conference meet – and falling to DeGroat in the second period. Breck Bohman at 170 pinned UC's Matt Wooley and earned a 13-5 major over LHS' Drake Rorabacher. He was pinned late in the second period by Huber. Rushville's Sam Pavey was 4th at 170.
Jesus “Chewy” Aquino-Morales took 2nd at 126 as EC's Blake Wolf pinned him in the finals. Chewy earlier pinned Landin Shepherd of Greensburg, who ended up third when he pinned 4th-place Kian Nash of Rushville. In the heavyweight final, Batesville's Max Amberger fought Roth to the end before losing by a 2-0 count; the 31-6 Amberger earlier pinned Parker Moles of UC and Gotts.
FC's Nathan Noble was 3rd at 195, narrowly losing to Milan's Carson Betz but flourishing in the consolation bracket. He pinned Rushville's Kaleb Amos, won 3-0 over Greensburg's Will Cunningham, finally avenging his earlier loss by pinning Betz. Wildcat senior Clayton Bolser also took bronze in the 285 class. The big man was pinned by Rushville's Trey Newman but pinned Milan's Kyle Gotts and EC's Matt Mittermeier.
At 106, Zakk Reed of Rushville earned a pin over Greensburg's Tristan Smith to decide third and fourth placement. UC's Evan Wolf placed 3rd at 145, pinning Rushville's Denver Campbell, losing 7-0 to LHS' Brayden Tudor, then majoring FC's Dakota Schwab and Landon Walton of SD.
Trevor Bruns of FC placed 4th in the 138 bracket, falling twice to EC's Tyson Miller but also getting wins over LHS' Ben Heath and Rushville's Pacey Dye. Teammate Cody Bolser was also 4th at 152, falling to SD's Nick Wismann before defeating LHS' Braxton York and Batesville's Hudson Kohlman. Also taking 4th was FC's Phoenix Simons at 182; Simons pinned Rushville's Elijah Biggs, was pinned by Milan's Mason Green, then pinned LHS' Patrick Nanz before losing by fall to Biggs in the rematch.
The Tiernan Center is host to regional Saturday. Other feeder sectional is Shenandoah. Wrestlers must win at least one match to advance to semistate.
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AURORA – East Central (253 points) captured another IHSAA wrestling sectional title Saturday at South Dearborn while the Franklin County Wildcats (207) battled to second place. The Trojans pushed five champions on to the Richmond Regional with FC, third-place Milan (180) and Connersville sending two each. Lawrenceburg, Greensburg and Union County had the other individual champs.
Remaining unbeaten through the first postseason weekend were Milan's 106-pound freshman Matthew Baylor (41-0) and LHS' Colton Roth at heavyweight (17-0). EC's top guys were Blake Wolf at 126, Dylan Lengerich at 145, Grayson Hylton at 152, Brayden Huber at 170 and Brendin Kolter at 182. Representing FC atop the podium were Cole Freese at 113 and Colin Troyer one class up at 120. Levi DeGroat (220) and Orlan Foster (195) were Connersville's toughest while Milan's Indians saw Kaleb Wilburn (138) join Baylor in the winner's circle. Greensburg's Preston Merritt was the best at 132 and Jordan Takara of UC ran through the 160 bracket.
Overall, EC got 11 wrestlers to the regional – top four in each weight class advanced – as FC totaled 10, Milan 9, 4th-place Rushville 7, CHS 5, 6th-place UC 5, LHS 3, 9th-place Greensburg 3, SD 2 and last-place Batesville 1.
Freese (35-3) had a bye and forfeit to the semifinals, then pinned Rushville's Blake Hunt and earned a 10-1 major decision over EC's Tyler Stenger in the final. Troyer (35-1) likewise moved into the semis with no early foes, then won by fall over Connersville's Aiden Maze and took less time to pin Milan's Lucas Richards in the championship bout. UC's Landon Myers was 3rd at 120.
Merritt (30-4) pinned CHS' Gavin Lemen, then won by decision over UC's Carson Whitley (7-1) and edged EC's Nyden Euson in the final match. Tuff Tackett of Rushville won by injury default over Whitley in the second period of the 3rd-place bout.
Takara (36-4) made quick work of LHS' Trey Campbell in the quarterfinals, then majored Cameron Gilb of Milan in the semis (13-5) and took down FC's Hayden Newell early in the second period to claim the title. Rushville's Matthew Komlanc won a 3-1 decision over Gilb for third place.
FC had two more grapplers join Newell in the runner-up position. Lendon Sizemore pinned Kyle Mellon of SD in the 220 division before duplicating a late pin over EC's Brady Jones – similar match at the conference meet – and falling to DeGroat in the second period. Breck Bohman at 170 pinned UC's Matt Wooley and earned a 13-5 major over LHS' Drake Rorabacher. He was pinned late in the second period by Huber. Rushville's Sam Pavey was 4th at 170.
Jesus “Chewy” Aquino-Morales took 2nd at 126 as EC's Blake Wolf pinned him in the finals. Chewy earlier pinned Landin Shepherd of Greensburg, who ended up third when he pinned 4th-place Kian Nash of Rushville. In the heavyweight final, Batesville's Max Amberger fought Roth to the end before losing by a 2-0 count; the 31-6 Amberger earlier pinned Parker Moles of UC and Gotts.
FC's Nathan Noble was 3rd at 195, narrowly losing to Milan's Carson Betz but flourishing in the consolation bracket. He pinned Rushville's Kaleb Amos, won 3-0 over Greensburg's Will Cunningham, finally avenging his earlier loss by pinning Betz. Wildcat senior Clayton Bolser also took bronze in the 285 class. The big man was pinned by Rushville's Trey Newman but pinned Milan's Kyle Gotts and EC's Matt Mittermeier.
At 106, Zakk Reed of Rushville earned a pin over Greensburg's Tristan Smith to decide third and fourth placement. UC's Evan Wolf placed 3rd at 145, pinning Rushville's Denver Campbell, losing 7-0 to LHS' Brayden Tudor, then majoring FC's Dakota Schwab and Landon Walton of SD.
Trevor Bruns of FC placed 4th in the 138 bracket, falling twice to EC's Tyson Miller but also getting wins over LHS' Ben Heath and Rushville's Pacey Dye. Teammate Cody Bolser was also 4th at 152, falling to SD's Nick Wismann before defeating LHS' Braxton York and Batesville's Hudson Kohlman. Also taking 4th was FC's Phoenix Simons at 182; Simons pinned Rushville's Elijah Biggs, was pinned by Milan's Mason Green, then pinned LHS' Patrick Nanz before losing by fall to Biggs in the rematch.
The Tiernan Center is host to regional Saturday. Other feeder sectional is Shenandoah. Wrestlers must win at least one match to advance to semistate.