By Dustin Bentz

Edited by Phillip Wimpee

Well, it’s that time of year again; I hope everyone in Southern Indiana is ready for best show on ice at Ford Arena. This year’s Evansville Semi-State is shaping up to be sensational due to the fact that, with the exception of a few dominant wrestlers, there is so much depth and parity in the weights. This tournament should also be an example to all non-wrestle back fans as to why wrestle backs are so important, with some gut busting ticket round matches.

And here we go, starting off at 106 lbs.

106 –

Ticket Punchers – Terrance Kennedy, Griffin Schermer, DJ Smith, Brock Hudkins

Best Curtain Jerkers (1st rd) – Isaac Gomez (Plainfield) vs. Cale McCoy (Northview)

Best R2G (Round to Go) – Tyler Ferguson vs. DJ Smith

Dark Horses –

Tyler Ferguson (Not really a dark horse, but the draw makes him one) and Isaac Gomez

113 –

Ticket Punchers – The Castle Flush - Jacob Brown, Damon Kuhn, Mitch Lehman, Matthew Mastison

Best Curtain Jerkers – Ryan Koerner vs. Brian Rassbach

Best R2G – Jacob Brown vs Elliot Molloy (Can the frosh break up the Castle Stronghold?), Hunter Fox vs. Damon Kuhn (Both returning State Qualifiers)

Dark Horses –

The Little Brothers (They’ve been in shadows, can they break out?) Elliot Molloy and Devin Hupp

120 –

Ticket Punchers – Bailey Lahue, Josh Davis, Anthony Schoettle, Nick Etienne

Best Curtain Jerkers – Julian Suar (Mount Vernon) vs. Zack Runyon (Bloomington South), Nathan Schitter (Jasper) vs. Nick Meyers (Heritage Hills)

Best R2G – Bailey Lahue (Corydon) vs. Alex Johnson (Mater Dei), Josh Davis (Evansville Reitz) vs. Chris Whitley (Floyd Central) It’s Castle’s two best vs. Jeff’s two best, should be great matches!

Dark Horses –

Nathan Schitter/Nick Meyers – Both have always been close to breaking through, can they finally break through when it matters most?

Alex Johnson – Never count Mater Dei out in Evansville!

Chris Whitley – a win over Lahue last year shows he can win the big ones, two close losses to Lahue the last two weeks shows he’s close to getting over his injury. It’s now or never for the Highlander.

126 –

Ticket Punchers – Luke Welch, Tyler Fleener, Austin Jamison, Cory Orndorff

Best Curtain Jerkers – Austin Jamison (New Albany) vs. Bailey Schober (Greenwood), Tyler Fleener (Center Grove) vs. Austin Ward (Floyd Central)

Best R2G – Cory Orndorff (Sullivan) vs. Angelo Robles (Decatur Central)

Dark Horses –

Dalton (or is it Dustin?) Noblitt (Columbus East) – Convincing wins over Holwager and Ward combined w/ a close loss to Jamison shows this Olympian can shake thing up.

Bailey Schober – (Greenwood) Mooresville’s 126 was insanely tough, as was Schober’s sectional. As navigating through that made him prime to pull the Upset?

132 –

Ticket Punchers – Levi Moss, Devin Broukal, Skyler Lykins, Logan Wedding

Best Curtain Jerkers – Korbin Karges (Princeton) vs. Skyler Lykins (Franklin)

Best R2G – Devin Broukal (Bloomington South) vs. Josh Pierre (Mater Dei)

Dark Horses –

Josh Pierre (Evansville Mater Dei) – He has state experience and lost a close 2-1 decision to Broukal back at IHSWCA Duals.

138 –

Ticket Punchers – Tyler Hupp, Isaiah Kemper, Cory Troutman, Brady Meenach

Best Curtain Jerkers – Don’t leave your seats, lots of interesting first round match ups here that could really shake up brackets. Brennan Barlow (Bloomington South) vs. Zach Batts (Cascade), Austin Spray (Southwestern) vs. Branson Schroeder (Mater Dei), Patrick Schnell (Castle) vs. Brady Meenach (New Washington), Cory Troutman (Floyd Central) vs. Charlie Allen (Boonville), Ruger Kersteins (Jasper) vs. Jonah Thompson (Greenwood).

Best R2G – Isaiah Kemper (Evansville Central) vs. Zach Batts (Cascade), Cory Troutman vs. Ruger Kersteins, Phoenix Adams vs. Brandy Meenach, Tyler Hupp vs. Branson Schroeder

Dark Horses – Anybody not listed in the Ticket Punchers section!

145 –

Ticket Punchers – Neal Molloy, Brent McCreary, Brendon Kelly, Logan Weinzapfel

Best Curtain Jerkers – Can I just move some 38lb matches down here? Only one SS ranked match is Alex Riegel (Reitz) vs. Brent McCreary (Mooresville)

Best R2G – Mike Wayant vs. Logan Weinzapfel

Dark Horses –

Grant Brescher (Jasper) – Has a returning SQ in the R2G but this Jasper Junior has had a great year.

152 –

Ticket Punchers – Brayden Montgomery, Jacob Stevenson, Kyle Stillinger, Kody Henshaw

Best Curtain Jerkers – John Meldrum (Floyd Central) vs. Jacob Mundy (Southridge)

Best R2G – Jordan Partee (Madison) vs. Jacob Stevenson (Franklin), Cody Helms (Terre Haute South) vs. Kody Henshaw (Memorial)

Dark Horses –

Jordan Partee (Madison) – He’s been to SS 3 times and now is a two time Regional Champ. Can he finally get over the hump w/ a tough draw R2G match looming?

Ashton Forzerly (Mater Dei) – I think I said it earlier, Never count out Mater Dei in Evansville

160 –

Ticket Punchers – Mahlon Parkinson, Luke Kriech, Seth Seitzinger, Jacob Franklin

Best Curtain Jerkers – Jacob Franklin (New Washington) vs Kyle Reeves (Danville) , Cole Kreilein (Jasper) vs. Michael Rynkiewich (Mount Vernon), Dalton Wheeler (Center Grove) vs. Chase Herron (Floyd Central)

Best R2G – All of them… Very competitive weight class… Luke Kriech (Franklin) vs. Cole Kreilen (Jasper). Kriech’s style of winning close matches and Kreilen’s big move finishers could produce an exciting match.

Dark Horses –

Gabe Koontz (Edgewood) – Having Seitzinger two weeks in a row has gotten this very talented sophomore battle ready for Evansville.

Cole Kreilen (Jasper) – see R2G explanation above

Dalton Wheeler – He’s been in the R2G before, he has experience

170 –

Ticket Punchers – Jake Rickenbaugh, Connor Galvin, Larry Schaffer, Evan Elmore

Best Curtain Jerkers – Jordan Frye (Mooresville) vs. Alex Schneider (Mater Dei)

Best R2G – Connor Galvin (Bloomington South) vs. Jordan Frye (Mooresville), Jimmy Fisher (Columbus East vs. Evan Elmore (Avon), Garrett Fentz (Franklin) vs. Larry Schaffer (Owen Valley)

Dark Horses –

Jimmy Fisher (Columbus East) – I really like Fisher but didn’t want to buck my own rankings. Call it stubbornness. Fisher has multiple wins over Ethan Lee of New Albany while Elmore has lost to him. Fisher has bounced through the tourney almost untouched, will that help or hurt him Saturday?

Alex Schneider (Evansville Mater Dei) – Not really favored to win either the Curtain jerker or the R2G, see above descriptions. Don’t count out Mater Dei in Evansville

182 –

Ticket Punchers – Dakota Thacker, Duvante Lane, Jonah Zoringer, Damien Chambers

Best Curtain Jerkers – Gabe Konerding (Heritage Hills) vs. Michael Petrole (Franklin), Duvante Lane (Evansville North) vs. Connor Ludwig (Brownsburg) ?This could be a finals match!

Best R2G – Gabe Konerding (Heritage Hills) vs. Dakota Thacker (Bloomington South)

Dark Horses –

Michael Petrole (Franklin) – Not wrestling Konerding could help him, having wrestled Thacker could also help him if he gets passed Konerding.

Tanner Thompson (South Putnam) – The Senior from South Putnam could turn some heads

Ian Songer (Jasper) – With lots of the attention on Lane/Ludwig, the winner might be thinking of Bankers Life while the Jasper Sophomore will be preparing to give them there Swan SONG(er).

195 –

Ticket Punchers – Clayton Fiddler, Kalob Salkill, Mitchell Sandlin, Moises Valenciano

Best Curtain Jerkers – Kalob Salkill (South Spencer) vs. Randy Scott (Mooresville)

Best R2G – Rudy Harris (South Putnam) vs. Moises Valenciano (Jasper)

Dark Horses –

Autry Pickens (Danville) – With only 3 losses and the schedule Danville wrestles shows this junior is no slouch.

Ben Patton (Edgewood) – This Senior has had a great year, can he put together 2 more matches to end it in Bankers Life?

220 –

Ticket Punchers – Jared Boehm, Dylan Jones, Connor Tolley, Boyd Haley

Best Curtain Jerkers – Tyler Harlan (Brownsburg) vs. CJ Andry (Paoli)

Best R2G – Body Haley (Bloomington South) vs. Austin Pace (Evansville Central)

Dark Horses –

Tyler Harlan (Brownsburg) – Does this senior have what it takes to knock off Boehm in the R2G?

285 –

Ticket Punchers – Austin Little, Ethan Schwoeppe, Nathan Wright, Drew Ponder

Best Curtain Jerkers – Ummm… two top five state ranked wrestlers right off the bat? Austin Little (North Posey) vs. Justin Sampson (Northview)!!

Best R2G – pick one… I’ll go with Guss Dajani (Bloomington South) vs. Drew Ponder (Center Grove) and Gavin Jolley-Little (Jeffersonville) vs. Ethan Schwoeppe (Southridge)

Dark Horses –Dalton Miller (Pike Central) – The junior has some big wins already on the year

Adam Wolka (Seymour) – Can Fozzie Bear pull off two big wins to punch that ticket?

Rob McKee (Columbus East) – I mean he does have minimal TripleB and TSkin training… That should be enough….

With so many big matches in the first two rounds, and some big time upsets brewing, fans should really appreciate the action this weekend. Don’t forget your blankets and hand warmers folks and remember, it takes a real man to eat Dippin Dots in a 60 degree arena.

Good Luck This Weekend!