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Evansville Semi State Recap


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106- Danville’s Logan Boe nearly stole the show.  After a 4th place regional showing, the freshman knocked off a couple of giants before bowing to eventual runner-up Ray Rioux of Avon.  Boe is a bad first round draw at State.  At the end of the day, the top podium spot belonged to Brownsburg’s Drake Campbell.  The freshman spent less than three minutes on the mat, in his first three matches, before hanging a 3-1 decision on Rioux.

 

113- Memorial’s Seth Horty had a career day of wrestling on his run to the finals before hitting the stopper, Avon’s Asa Garcia.  Garcia dominated the field without getting out of second gear. 

 

 

120- What kind of day did Columbus East’s Cayden Rooks have?  He only beat top-rated Ty Mills and Indian Creek’s Alex Mosconi for the title.  I have seen Triana and Poynter; don’t be surprised to see Rooks, Mills and Mosconi as 1-2-3 at the Bank.  Just don’t ask me which order.

 

126- Not to be outdone by his brother, Graham Rooks hung the “L” on top-ranked Blake Mulkey and cruised to a win in the final.

 

132- Dawson Combest made it three in a row for the Olympians

with his 6-1 win over Ben Davis’ Donald Campbell. 

 

 

138- Floyd Central’s Tristan Sellmer silenced many naysayers with one-point semi-final and final victories.

 

145- Five minutes on the mat yielded a pair of pins and two tech falls for Brownsburg’s Brayton Lee.  A “win” against Lee would have amounted to slowing him down for a bit; that did not happen in Evansville.

 

152- Mater Dei’s Joe Lee wrought similar wreckage in his third semi state title.  I hope Mt. Vernon’s Austin Bethel gets healthy.  Lee/Bethel would be a great one under the lights.

 

160- Monrovia’s Ethan Stock remains hot, but dropped the final to Center Grove’s Gleason Mappes.  Mappes is studied, poised and made zero mistakes at the Ford Center.

 

170- The 170 final, by a wide margin, is the worst match I watched this wrestling season.  For 6:45, absolutely nothing happened.  With 15 seconds remaining in overtime, Monrovia’s Eli Stock took a shot on Franklin’s Burk Van Horn.  Mercifully, the referee awarded the takedown and ended the match.  I have watched Van Horn since middle school and am a fan of his considerable skills.  I would love to have seen them on the center mat Saturday night.

 

182- Franklin’s Jake Moore wasted no time in getting after Brownsburg’s Nathan Walton in the final.  Walton won a heart-stopping scramble and ended up with the fall.  I would be hard-pressed to bet against Walton for a state title.

 

195- Has anyone told South Putnam’s Kyle Shaffer he does not weigh 126 pounds?  That is how he wrestles—non-stop pressure and offense.  The South Putnum contingency met Shaffer’s intensity.

 

220- Not to be outdone by Shaffer, Avon’s Gunnar Larson put on an equally good show.  Not content with a win, Larson continue to cut and take down a very solid Garrison Lee to win the final by a major.  Larson is going to West Point—the smart money says he will get by in the hand-to-hand combat training.

 

285- Mt. Vernon’s Wade Ripple is a snake in the grass.  You better watch him, or he will put the hurt on you.  I loved the post-match celebration of his win over Brownsburg’s Rickie Clark.  Speaking of Clark, he is also fun to watch.  With his million-watt smile, Clark looks like he is having the time of his life.

 

Many thanks to Reitz high school for sponsoring the semi state.  They did a great job of organizing the event and keeping things moving.

 

Did you enjoy the lovely awards hostesses?  Sharp-eyed wrestling fanatics spotted Hookticia in the mix.

 

Track wrestling struggled early on, but the announcer picked up the slack.  

 

Tough day for the Zebras.  Inconsistent and head-scratching calls were the order of the day.  Time and time again, wrestlers would be locked in a position and a “two” would go up.  What changed?

Near the end of the Lee/Bethel match, Lee picked up Bethel head-high and took him to the mat for a near fall.  While Bethel was head high, the referee hit Lee with stalling.  Have you seen Joe Lee wrestle?  Does he even know how to stall?  Stalling was aggressively called, or not at all. In a ticket round match, one kid had a one-point lead and was backing away.  With two seconds to go, the match was stopped and he was warned for stalling.  On the restart, he literally backpedaled off the mat—no call.  

 

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