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Eagle Wrestlers are WCC champions
CLOVERDALE--In another matchup for the West Central Conference, Saturday morning marked the 43rd time the WCC wrestling meet was convened.
By the time the final round approached at Cloverdale High School, Greencastle and South Putnam were locked in a straight-dual to be crowned the final WCC champion.
While both teams had nine wrestlers competing for first place, a meet-record eight wins in the finals ensured that the Eagles would defend their conference title, flying past the Tiger Cubs 203.00-184.50.
Trailing 158-140 after the semi-final round, South Putnam crucially won all five finals matches when pitted against Greencastle wrestlers and won seven of their eight titles by fall.
Jacob Lorimer started the rally, coming from behind to pin Trae Carrington at 132 pounds. Cody Wyatt pinned Andrew Ruiz at 170 pounds before the Eagles finished the meet with three straight wins over the Tiger Cubs.
Kyle Shaffer started the run with a pin over Cade Winslow at 195 pounds, followed by a fall for Bradley Ballard over Braden Lady at 220 pounds and Joe Master's emphatic finish over Joe January at 285 pounds.
Kieffer Vittetow had been the first to claim a win for the champions, winning over Cascade's Austin Hudson by a 5-0 decision at 120 pounds. Dakota Bunten turned the tables late on Cloverdale's Nick Blundell to secure a title at 152 pounds while Will Cruse pinned Cascade's Jesse Van Ness at 182 pounds.
South Putnam head coach Josh Hendrickson said the team came out knowing pins were needed and got them.
"I was really proud of the kids and happy with the way they wrestled," Hendrickson said. "I knew it was going to be a tight race between us and Greencastle.
"I told the kids we needed to come out, win and get pins to win the meet and they did that. We had eight champions and seven of them won by pin.
"I felt like we got some redemption matches in there," Hendrickson added. "Cody Wyatt and Bradley Ballard lost to Greencastle in the county meet and they were able to come out today and avenge their loss."
Greencastle had three individual champions on the day. Keaton Boswell started the round with an 18-4 decision over North Putnam's Terran Wittig at 106 pounds.
Michael Anderson produced a 20-3 technical fall finish over Cascade's Brandon Griffith at 126 pounds and James Brown pinned Cascade's David Turner for the title at 160 pounds. Ryley Cook, the other finalist for the Tiger Cubs, fell to Cascade's four-time WCC champion Hunter Fox at 113 pounds.
Greencastle head coach Charlie Pingleton, in contrast to Hendrickson, said the squad could not afford to be pinned so often during the meet.
"We can't get pinned," Pingleton said. "Every match we lost in the finals was by pin and we're going to have to keep working on that.
"They've progressed a lot but the bottom line is, we've got problems once we're on our backs. That's what we're going to be working on the rest of the time until sectionals."
North Putnam had two finalists but the strength of the team in the third-place matches eventually told as the Cougars had 10 wins in the consolation bracket to jump into third place overall ahead of Cascade.
In the finals, Gage Bell lost to Cloverdale's Jackson Szczerbik at 145 pounds, while Terran Wittig lost early at 106 pounds.
The consolation bracket was far kinder to North Putnam. The Cougars picked up wins through Trae Straziscar at 126 pounds, Jacob Plessinger at 132 pounds, Patrick Kimes at 160 pounds, Reuben Edwards at 170 pounds, Brandon Binnion at 195 pounds, Bobby Scheele at 220 pounds and Alan Aynes at 285 pounds.
Jacob Scott, Zach Culberson and David Flannelly received wins by forfeit while all 14 wrestlers placed inside the top four.
North Putnam head coach Bucky Cramer praised the squad for sticking to their task after a rough opening round.
"We had every one of our wrestlers place," Kramer pointed out. "That's the first time in school history, I think, that every single wrestler placed in the top four.
"We knew that we were going to have a rough first round but we also know that we've improved drastically since the county tournament. When we got some different match-ups, we picked up some wins.
"We're excited for freshman Gage Bell," Kramer added. "He had a nice match with Jackson Szczerbik and also happy with Terran Wittig."
Cloverdale, who finished fifth in the team scores, featured two of their four wrestlers in the finals.
Jackson Szczerbik pinned his way to title at 145 pounds while Nick Blundell eventually fell in a topsy-turvy match at 152 pounds. Fellow Clovers Noah Dean and Payton Skadra both placed fourth.
Cloverdale head coach Christian Frye was hoping for two champions but said the team battled hard throughout.
"I feel like we missed some opportunities today," Frye said. "We had the chance for two conference champions but we look forward to seeing everyone again at sectionals.
"We were missing a two-seed through illness, but overall the kids wrestled hard. It is sad to see the conference end with this meet."
With two weeks remaining in the season before the four schools travel to the Avon sectional, three of the four schools have dual meets to conclude before gearing up for the post-season.
Cloverdale is the only school who has no matches over the time period, though Frye said the squad had time to rest and focus entirely on the sectional.
"The guys are peaking at the right time," Frye said. "They're getting better and these guys will be rested as we have an entire weekend off.
"They should be ready to go because it's win-or-go-home time. Hopefully we'll get the better end of that deal."
North Putnam hosts South Vermillion for senior night Wednesday and Cascade Thursday.
Kramer said the conference provided a stiff challenge and was interested in seeing how the five schools fared at the sectional.
"I want to give credit to a lot of kids in our county and conference," Kramer said. "Everybody's improved and I'm excited to see how our whole conference does at the sectional and we've got two dual matches to help prepare us before then."
Greencastle travels to Danville Thursday, a meet which Pingleton hopes will get the team into a better mind state before sectionals.
"I think a lot of them are down right now, so having that Danville meet right before sectionals hopefully will build our confidence back up," Pingleton said. "Using that, hopefully we can have a run to semi state or state, whatever our goals might be, individually."
South Putnam hosts Avon Wednesday night, a dual that Hendrickson said would allow the team to see the best of the best before they meet again in two weeks' time.
"I think it's good to see the best," Hendrickson said. "Avon is the program that's at the top right now and it's good to see them.
"It's good to see what they have and get everyone quality matches. We'll see them again in a couple of weeks so hopefully we can get a lot of wins or avenge those losses later."
At Cloverdale
West Central Conference Wrestling Meet
Team Scores
South Putnam 203.00, Greencastle 184.50, North Putnam 168, Cascade 151.50, Cloverdale 50.00
Individual Champions
106: Keaton Boswell (G)
113: Hunter Fox (CA)
120: Kieffer Vittetow (SP)
126: Michael Anderson (G)
132: Jacob Lorimer (SP)
138: Thomas Long (CA)
145: Jackson Szczerbik (CL)
152: Dakota Bunten (SP)
160: James Brown (G)
170: Cody Wyatt (SP)
182: Will Cruse (SP)
195: Kyle Shaffer (SP)
220: Bradley Ballard (SP)
285: Joe Masters (SP)
Next Meet: North Putnam hosts South Vermillion and South Putnam hosts Avon Wednesday. Greencastle travels to Danville on Thursday.