Teams: Adams Central, Bluffton, Garrett, Heritage, Leo, South Adams, Southern Wells, Woodlan
The Allen County Athletic Conference(ACAC) is one of the premier small school wrestling conferences in the state. The conference has many superb individuals along with some very talented teams this season. The conference that features schools in 3A, 2A and 1A in football, only has four, yes four forfeits in the whole entire tournament. Six of the eight teams have full line-ups, which will lead to a very competitive tournament.
During the regular season, the South Adams Starfires ran the table and beat everyone in the conference. They beat both Garrett and Southern Wells by narrow four point margins. The Starfires are also the defending tournament champions and will look to retain the title on their home floor. They will find stiff challengers in the other seven teams who will aim to knock them off any chance they get.
103lbs
At 103lbs, the #1 seed is Todd Batt from South Adams. He sports a superb 27-2 record on the season. The #2 seed is Logan Buuck of Woodlan who has a record just under .500, beat the #3 seed Brandon Bennett of Heritage 7-3 earlier in the season. The sleeper of the tournament could be Nate Hess of Adams Central. He comes in with only nine matches under his belt, but he is a returning regional qualifier from last year.
112lbs
Phillip Gerber of Bluffton has the top seed at this weight class. The freshman comes into the conference tournament with a 20-8 record and has beaten the #2 seed Gabe Sprunger of South Adams and #3 seed Michael Hirshy of Adams Central during the season. Once again, there is no slouch at the #4 seed in Heritage's Alex Richman who comes into the tournament with a stellar 19-4 record.
119lbs
This weight class is going to be one of the most interesting of the day. Bluffton gets their second #1 seed in a row with Bobby Perry and his 24-3 record taking the honors. One of those losses however is to the #3 seed from Garrett, Logan Lee. The #2 seed is Adams Central's Zeke Schultz. Schultz and Lee did not wrestle during the dual and sport nearly identical records. South Adams rounds out the top four seeds with Cajon Dailey taking the 4th seed.
125lbs
Returning ACAC champion Troy Fiechter claimed the top seed at this weight class. Fiechter sports a superb record of 27-2 after bumping up from 112lbs last season. He will have some tough wrestlers to go through this year to defend his title. The #2 seed, John Striker of South Adams comes in with only three losses on the season, including one to Fiechter's brother Darin. The #3 seed, Shea Novy of Garrett comes in with a 24-4 record. Bluffton's Seth Higgins, wrestling at a more natural weight this year, took the 4th seed, but will face a tough Blake Thieme of Adams Central in the first round.
130lbs
This will be one of the best weight classes to watch on Saturday, with one returning state qualifier and two semi-state qualifiers battling it out for top honors. As with his brother Troy, Darin Fiechter of Southern Wells is a defending champion and has the #1 seed. Darin has only one blemish on his record, a loss to Andrew Heistand of Yorktown. Second seed Jace German also sports just one blemish on his record, a 6-4 loss to Darin Fiechter. The #3 seed is returning state qualifier Josh Ehr of South Adams. While he has seven losses on the season, he has lost to some tough kids while wrestling 135lbs most of the season. The #4 seed is the very talented freshman from Woodlan Cody Zink.
135lbs
This is another interesting weight class with some very tough wrestlers. Earning the #1 seed is Matthew Gerber of Bluffton who has a 25-2 record on the season. His two losses have come to Zach DeHaven of Evansville Memorial and Chris Goodwin of Perry Meridian. The #2 seed is Garrett's Bryce Schendel. Schendel only has one loss on the season and that is to Gerber. Gerber will be looking to capture his second straight title, while Schendel will be going for his third title in three years. While these two are the top contenders in this weight, they cannot overlook #3 seed Josh Morris of Southern Wells, #4 seed Taylor Isch of Adams Central or unseeded Jordan Buuck of Woodlan.
140lbs
Leo brings in back to back #1 seeds at 140lbs and 145lbs respectively. The first is Justin Beck at 140lbs. He has an outstanding 20-2 record on the season with his only losses to the top two seeds at 135lbs, Bryce Schendel of Garrett and Matt Gerber of Bluffton. The #2 seed is Matt Kaehr of Adams Central who comes in with a 26-4 record on the season. TJ Burnfield of South Adams has the third seed and comes in with a very impressive 25-5 record on the season. The fourth seed is Garrett's Brayden Moreau who comes in with only three losses in limited action this year.
145lbs
Returning state qualifier and ACAC champion Cam Friend is the headliner in this weight class. The tournament features seven wrestlers with only a single loss, but Friend is the only wrestler without a defeat this season while wrestling mostly 152lbs and 160lbs until just recently. Garrett senior Nik Isham is the #2 seed, while Levi Jones of Southern Wells is the 3rd seed. The 4th seed is Dustin Hunt of South Adams, who has only four losses in limited varsity action this year.
152lbs
Defending ACAC champion Zac McCray of Garrett is back at this weight class for the third straight year. He comes into the tournament with a 23-5 record on the season and is looking to bring home his second ACAC title. Chase Sprunger of South Adams is the second seed and will be looking to claim his second ACAC title also. Sprunger won a title in 2006 as a sophomore, but was defeated in the finals last year. Last year's runner-up, Jayme Schwartz of Woodlan is the third seed at this weight class. The fourth seed is Leo's Caleb Eicher.
160lbs
Bluffton has yet another top seed, this time Josh Fiechter at 160lbs. Fiechter comes in as the heavy favorite with a 23-5 slate on the season. The second seed is Joe Taube of Garrett who has an 18-6 record on the season. Ben Sowles of Woodlan who has the third seed with a 12-5 record will push Taube in the lower half bracket. The fourth seed is Heritage's Dan Gibson.
171lbs
This is another weight class that will be fun to watch with two wrestlers having only one blemish on their record. The top seed is Garrett's Luke Rieke with a 26-1 record. Not to be outdone, Adams Central's Trey Schultz has a 21-1 record on the season. Rieke was the runner-up last year at 171lbs, while Schultz won the title at 160lbs. While those two wrestlers are very talented, they cannot overlook the #3 seed Matt Morrissey of Bluffton or #4 seed Brandon Biberstine of Southern Wells. Tyler Unsicker of Heritage is unseeded, but could give fits to the seeded wrestlers, as he is 15-10 on the season.
189lbs
Heritage's lone #1 seed is Taylor Scott at 189lbs. Scott comes in with 20 wins on the season against only three losses. The second seed is Bluffton's Levi Mock who comes in with 21 wins himself. The #3 seed is Garrett's Logan DeMarco, while Leo's Ben Meeks has the 4th seed.
215lbs
South Adams rounds out the last two weight classes with returning champions and #1 seeds. The first is Jackson Werst at 215lbs, who comes in with a stellar 29-1 record on the season. His only loss is to #4 seed Seth Biberstine of Southern Wells. The second seed is Garrett's Geoff Getts, while Adams Central's Aden Feasel has the third seed. Biberstine defeated Werst by major decision less than a week ago, but Biberstine lost to both Getts and Feasel earlier in the season. On top of that Werst has defeated both Getts and Feasel. If you are too confused to follow, just come to Berne on Saturday to see everything sort itself out!
285lbs
Finally, the last weight class is also one that has two top competitors. South Adam's Jim West comes in as the defending champion and #1 seed with a 24-4 record on the season. Joe Grueb of Woodlan is the second seed with only one loss on the season at 14-1. The third seed is Leo's Nick McAbee and Alex Reinhard of Adams Central rounds out the top four seeds. Not to be overlooked is Heritage's Josh Mitchel who has a 17-9 record on the year and is unseeded.
Team Race
Lovely Berne, Indiana and South Adams High School will play host to this great tournament. The team championship race looks like a two-horse race with the host Starfires and Garrett Railroaders looking to lead the way. Adams Central, Bluffton, Leo and Southern Wells each bring in their fair share of top seeds and could add some excitement to the team race. Look for the team race to be hotly contested with all the teams potentially affecting the outcome.
IndianaMat.com Ranked Wrestlers
135lbs #10 Matt Gerber- Bluffton
135lbs #11 Bryce Schendel- Garrett
145lbs #11 Cam Friend- Leo
171lbs #9 Trey Schultz- Adams Central
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