No. 4 Cathedral leaves no doubt

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By Steve Brooks / Star correspondent

February 1, 2009

 

An offseason change to the format of the high school state wrestling tournament meant that only the first-place team from each of Saturday's sectionals would advance to the team regional.

 

Cathedral left little mystery as to who would be advancing from Lawrence Central.

 

The fourth-ranked Irish won seven weight classes and advanced all 14 of their wrestlers to Saturday's Pendleton Heights Individual Regional, while the team will compete in Wednesday's North Montgomery Team Regional. Cathedral racked up 324 points to win the team title by 681/2 points.

 

"We thought it was a legitimate goal to get all 14 out," Cathedral coach Sean McGinley said. "Some of our kids had to beat kids they'd lost to earlier in the year. Hopefully we can take this momentum into Wednesday."

 

Two Cathedral wrestlers knocked off undefeated competitors from Tech in the finals. At 103 pounds, Brian Harvey got an escape as time expired to edge Tech's Dominique Price 5-4. Price had won his first 33 matches of the season. At 119, Cathedral's Brandon Wright -- the defending 112-pound state champ -- built up a 21-7 lead before pinning Storm Cosby (36-1) with 13 seconds left in the second period.

 

Irish freshman Tyler Willis, ranked 11th in the state at 160 pounds, handed Bishop Chatard's Anthony Bill (33-1) his first lost of the season, topping the 10th-ranked Bill 5-4.

 

Cathedral also got sectional titles from Dominic Corsaro (135 pounds), Gavin McGinley (145), Calvin Sullivan (152) and Jake Buchanan (215). Sullivan improved to 34-0.

 

Tenth-ranked Lawrence North was second with 2551/2 points and will take 12 wrestlers to the individual regional. North Central advanced 10 individuals.

 

Lawrence North won three individual titles. Top-ranked Cashé Quiroga (36-0) dominated No. 7 John Grey of Cathedral 14-5 in the 125-pound finals. Brandon Nelsen improved to 32-1 with a 10-4 win against Cathedral's Blake Roytek in the 112-pound finals. At 171, Bryce Grimes moved to 36-1 with a 3-0 win against North Central's Mike Smith.

 

"It's real tough (not advancing as a team). It's kind of a letdown," Grimes said. "But we can't focus on that now because a lot of us are still in the (individual) tournament."

 

Lawrence Central also won three titles. Josh Franklin topped Lawrence North's Greg Bell 8-2 in the 130-pound finals. Daniel Sandberg rode out Tech's Arthur Wright the entire third period to pull out a 1-0 win at 189 pounds. Dominique Butts won the 140-pound class when his finals opponent, second-ranked Tony McGinley of Cathedral, had to default because of a shoulder injury. Coach McGinley said holding his wrestler out of the finals was just a "precaution."

 

North Central heavyweight Ethan Cuevas will take a 38-1 record into the regional after pinning Lawrence Central's Eric Thigpen in the finals.

 

At Mooresville Martinsville led the way with five individual titles to edge Franklin 220-219.5 for the team championship. Center Grove and Indian Creek each earned three individual titles. First-place finishers for the Artesians were Derek Fisher (112), Caleb Purtlebaugh (130), James Walker (140), Jordan Krulik (145) and Briar Runyan (160).

 

At Decatur Central All 14 Perry Meridian wrestlers advanced to regionals, including eight champions, as the Falcons easily won their ninth consecutive sectional title. Perry Meridian's 352 points easily outdistanced Ben Davis (237) and Pike (216.5).

 

At Zionsville Carmel scored 249 points to hold off Westfield (2111/2) and win the team championship. Zionsville (185) finished third and Lebanon (179) fourth. Pat Parham (103), Cody Watson (112) and Will Mascaro (135) earned individual titles for Carmel. Parham defeated Clayton Campbell of Lebanon 9-1. Watson beat Lebanon's Josh Julian 12-6. Mascaro defeated Adam Skelton of Lebanon 7-2. Brady White of Westfield topped Ben Sommer of Carmel 9-2 at 119.

 

At Warren Central Roncalli (2491/2) edged Warren Central (232) for the team championship. Individual champions for the Rebels were Aaron Davis (103), Josh Kieffer (112), Justin Kieffer (119), Joe Kieffer (125) and Tony Bell (285). Individual champions for the Warriors were Nick Odom (130), Jonathan Decker (140), Michael Johnson-Jones (189) and Gabriel Berry (215).