Although not sporting their most talented lineup in recent years, the East Central Trojans continued to show their superiority in the Eastern Indiana Athletic Conference wrestling realm with another title claimed Saturday at Lawrenceburg. EC scored 279 points with five champions as Franklin County settled for runner-up with 218 and a trio of champs. Rushville's 195 was good for bronze. Connersville (3 champs), LHS (1 champ), South Dearborn (1 champ), Greensburg (1 champ) and Batesville rounded out the standings. 

Colton Roth (285 pounds) of Lawrenceburg remains the league's lone unbeaten wrestler as his record went to 13-0 with a 5-0 finals decision over Greensburg's Robert Eisert (22-7). Eisert had narrowly escaped Batesville's Max Amberger (28-5) in the semifinals, 3-2, after a pin of Rushville's Justin Foreman. Roth pinned FC's Clayton Bolser (9-7) in the second period in the other semi. 

Colin Troyer of FC is now 30-1 after running through the 120 bracket unscathed. After a forfeit, Troyer earned a pin of Rushville's Neeko Hodson, then needed 2:38 to pin EC's Brayden Proctor. Proctor had earlier pinned BHS' Cade Simonson in the third period. 

FC's Cole Freese won three matches to claim the 113 division and push his season mark to 29-2. Following a forfeit, Freese pinned Blake Hunt of Rushville early before outlasting EC's Jaxon Carr 13-10 in the title bout. 

The Wildcats' third grappler to stand atop the podium was Hayden Newell at 160. Newell is now 24-6; a forfeit put him into the semis where he secured a third-period pin over EC's Logan Schott. In the finals, Damien Dance of BHS was no match in a 15-2 major decision. Dance (28-3) had pinned the hosts' Trey Campbell in the semifinal. Schott pinned Rushville's Quinn Barada in the first round. 

Preston Merritt of Greensburg stands at 27-4 as he was last man standing at 132. Merritt got a takedown in the first overtime period to defeat EC's Nyden Euson. Merritt outpointed Rushville's Tuff Tackett in the semifinal round (10-4) after Tackett had pinned Connersville's Mauro Lopez. FC's Avery Crouch lost a tough 9-8 battle to LHS' Javier Payne in the opening round. 

EC's champs came at 126 (Blake Wolf), 145 (Dylan Lengerich), 152 (Grayson Hylton), 170 (Brayden Huber) and 182 (Brendin Kolter). 

Kolter pinned FC's Lane Westerman (21-6) in the finals after Westerman had dropped Elijah Biggs of Rushville, who himself earned a fall over CHS' Kayden Woods. Huber was an 11-7 winner over the Cats' Breck Bohman (8-3), the latter getting to the final by virtue of a pin against LHS' Drake Rorabacher. Huber had pinned Rushville's Sam Pavey in the semis after Pavey pinned Cash Boulware of CHS. It took Wolf 1:22 to get Greensburg's Landin Shepherd on his back in the finals. Shepherd had earlier pinned Kian Nash of Rushville and Wolf the same over FC's Roger Zurborg (9-7); Zurborg had pinned CHS' Dylan Steele to start his day. 

For the Spartans, Orlan Foster and Levi DeGroat locked down the 195 and 220 brackets, respectively. Foster pinned FC's Nathen Noble (14-12) in the semis after Noble had pinned BHS' John Dirkhising. EC's Brayden Rouse was his finals opponent after Rouse pinned Greensburg's Will Cunningham; Cunningham had won by fall over Rushville's Kaleb Amos. DeGroat pinned FC's Lendon Sizemore (24-5) in the second period of the finals after Sizemore had earned an exciting pin late in his semifinal match with EC's Brady Jones. DeGroat won 7-0 over BHS' Andrew Jones in his semifinal. A. Jones had earlier pinned Keilan Abdon of LHS while B. Jones did the same versus Rushville's Jordan Collins. 

Aric Fox has 15 season losses for CHS, but none came Saturday. Fox got by Batesville's David Maher in the semis, 8-5, before getting a pin in the finals. In other 138 action, Rushville's Pacey Dye majored FC's Trevor Bruns 17-6 but was edged by EC's Tyson Miller 5-3 in the semis. 

SD's Liam Hubbartt won the 106 bracket. Part of his path was a pin over Greensburg's Tristan Smith, who had pinned CHS' Audri Turley. EC's Tyler Stenger pinned FC's Bryce Bruns and Rushville's Zakk Reed on his way to the finals. 

In other 145 results, BHS' Brady Wonnell was pinned by Rushville's Denver Campbell and Greensburg's Connor Campbell suffered the same fate vs. LHS' Brayden Tudor. FC's Dakota Schwab (20-10) was pinned by Tudor after pinning CHS' Matt Koons. In more 152 action, FC's Cody Bolser (8-9) pinned BHS' Hudson Kohlman before being pinned by Hylton. Rushville's Trenton Dyer lost by fall to CHS' Jahmel Carter. 

At the Wayne County Classic hosted by Centerville Jan. 6-7, FC went 5-3. The Cats knocked off Monroe Central 60-18, Jay Co. 54-27, Tri 66-9, Northeastern 41-39 and Blackford 72-12 while falling to Centerville 38-35, Beech Grove 45-34 and Winchester 45-32. 

Noble, Sizemore and Newell earned pins against Monroe.

Last Tuesday the Rushville Lions and Franklin County Wildcat wrestling teams faced off. Franklin County won with a score of 60-18. 
Franklin County's record is 19-5 while Rushville's is 15-4.