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I’m sure it’s been talked about somewhere but I’ve been away from the board for awhile. What is the latest on the individual state tournament... will there be a crowd allowed at bankers life? If not this would be the first one I’ve missed in 2 decades. Really hoping the IHSAA and bankers life can find a way!

February 26, 2011 Mater Dei vs. Crown Point For the fans, it was the worst-possible draw. Top-ranked Crown Point and second-ranked Mater Dei were paired for the first round of Team State. For the first-ever meeting between the schools, Crown Point brought a star-studded lineup. Headliner Jason Tsirtsis was fresh off his third State Title. Tsirtsis’ practice partner, Eric Roach, had just won his second State Championship. Tyler Kral had finished third, while Josh Flamme was sixth. Jake Fuqua and Dusty Schurg qualified for the State Meet. Crown Point won the Team State title in 2009 and was eager to return to the winner’s circle. Mater Dei countered with State Runner-up John Sims. Josh Boots and Jake Lannert finished third, while Sam Goebel and Josh Pierre were State Qualifiers. In a storyline all too familiar to Mater Dei fans, Crown Point’s Kyle Shrewsbury’s life was rocked by tragedy. The previous Wednesday, Kyle’s third-grade sister, Brianna, complained of abdominal pain. She was taken to a local hospital where she died of an aneurism. The Shrewsbury family decided that Crown Point, the community and Kyle would best be served by Kyle’s appearance in Crown Point’s line-up. The match opened at 189 pounds, where Josh Boots lit up the Red and Gold with a first period pin of Matt Langbehn. Nathan Wright minimized the damage at 215, losing to the Bulldogs’ Tyler Kral, 9-1. Justin Van Winkle put the ‘Cats back in the driver’s seat with his second period pin of Josh Swope. The Bulldogs got back on track when Josh Fuqua and Colton Saroff beat Wyatt Seng and Sam Goebel to make it 12-10. Freshman Josh Pierre delivered for the ‘Cats, winning a nerve-wracking, 2-1 decision over Trevor Burlison. Zach Henderson got out early and built a 3-0 lead over Matt Harvey. Harvey, however, mounted a comeback and beat Henderson, 6-3. Max Mangold punched back, decisioning Cameron Halsted, 5-1. Crown Point had its opportunity to put the match away when Jake Fuqua had a 2-0, third period advantage over Quinn Schroeder. Schroeder escaped early in the third to cut the deficit to one. Fuqua was exhausted; he took no shots, backed up and countered. With a stall warning already issued, Fuqua backed off the mat and was assessed a penalty with one second remaining on the clock. The Crown Point coaches meekly went to the scorer’s table to protest. Quinn Schroeder heard the conversation. “The referee told them ‘We are going to overtime, if your boy backs up again, I’m going to ring him up,’” said Schroeder. “I had nothing left, so I kept my elbows in and pushed as hard as I could.” The plan worked. A few seconds into overtime, Fuqua backed up, referee Frankie Medvescek raised his fist and Schroeder was a 3-2 winner. The Red and Gold exploded while Crown Point’s coaches meekly protested. Leading 21-13, the Wildcats faced the heart of the Crown Point line-up. Hurricane Jason Tsirtsis took the mat against Jake Lannert and scored a technical fall, followed by an 8-1 decision by Josh Flamme over Sam Riggs. Senior Evan Weinzapfel attacked Dusty Schurg off the whistle, taking him to his back and nearly pinning him. Weinzapfel took an 8-0 lead before an injury robbed the wind from his sails. Sporadically burning nearly all of his injury time during the match, Weinzapfel struggled to complete the match, losing in overtime, 11-9. This set the stage for one of the greatest coaching blunders in Indiana wrestling history. Crown Point head coach Scott Vlink sent his State Champ, Eric Roach to wrestle John Sims. Evidently, Vlink did not realize that Roach was not certified to wrestle at 160. Assistant Coach John Dewig immediately caught the mistake and called the officials to the table. After a brief conference, the ruling was issued. Roach would not be allowed to wrestle. Substitute Hunter Moore was no match for Sims and succumbed to a first period pin. With a 27-25 lead over the Bulldogs, the bout between Dalton Brandenstein and Crown Point’s Kyle Shrewsbury would decide the dual. Shrewsbury scored the opening takedown and the match devolved into a cat and mouse game. Brandenstein managed an escape early in the third period to make it 2-1. With time winding down and the two hand fighting, it appeared that Shrewsbury would end the match with both wrestlers on their feet. With less than ten ticks on the clock, Brandenstein took a shot and scored the takedown, touching off a wild celebration. Final Score: Mater Dei- 30, Crown Point- 25. The aftermath of the substitution debacle left Crown Point’s coaching staff embarrassed and their team enraged. The Bulldogs believed that rules or not, Roach should have been allowed to wrestle. “Why? “asked an enraged Josh Flamme. “You’re going to lose your entire State Tournament. What’s the point? They said what we did was illegal. They won on something we didn’t expect.” “I understand what their coach (Greg Schaefer) did,” said Eric Roach. “Obviously it was a smart move for them. But all the people are saying ‘What are you doing?’ I would take him (Sims) on. What are you scared of? He’s got 20 pounds on me. Let’s see who has the better team. Our team worked their butts of all year. It’s hard to end like this.” The joy of one Mater Dei’s greatest victories on a big stage was short-lived. The next round, Mater Dei gave up four pins to Lawrence North and lost the match on criteria. Many in attendance believed it to be the toughest loss Mater Dei Wrestling ever endured. The next season, Jason Tsirtsis won his fourth State Title. Tsirtsis was regarded as the nation’s top high school prospect in 2012. The Olympic aspirant accepted a scholarship to Northwestern. Eric Roach joined Indiana University’s wrestling team, while Tyler Kral became a grappler for the Purdue Boilermakers.

Better than the time Eric Roach bumped up at team state.

This whole thing sucks. But.... I am happy we live in Indiana and how they are handling it.

Faulkens expressed that they are not changing the venue no matter how much they take a bath on it. He said they are not going to take away from the athletes experience. I almost shed a tear.

Not a chance they allow football and not wrestling. They allowed 7k in tickets to Lucas Oil per class. 67,000 in The Luke with a little more than 12%. If Bankers does 13%, we’ll at least get the parents in to the 17,000 seat stadium. Thinking 2000-3000k loved ones. AlI I know is IHSAA is effing killing the non-fear game. Couldnt be more proud of their efforts.

Today was an awesome day of wrestling at the Team State Duals. I was at the 3A tournament and was checking results all day from the other 2 locations. The team aspect of a good dual is one of the best parts of wrestling. Watching wrestlers sacrifice to cut a few extra pounds or willing to bump up a weight class to sacrifice for their team to try and get the win is really selfless. Watching teammates erupt from a pin and also watching teammates congratulate their teammate for getting beat by 13 and saving 2 team points is fun to watch. In a year where we were told to stay away from each other, it was refreshing to see teammates jumping up and down in celebration. It made the stresses of 2020 seem distant. This year took more work than ever. Coordinating with multiple locations, teams droppings out from quarantine, getting weigh-ins coordinated for 40 teams was really a struggle. It was a relief to finally have the day here. I think JD Minch and Pat Culp deserve some huge recognition for so much time working on this. Dane Fuelling seeding 40 teams is incredible. You honestly are an Indiana wrestling genius. Chuck Barnett sent me 6 revisions on officials assignments and was available always to help with any changes. Franklin and Brownsburg stepped up to host their class, and I know that added work to their load. But those schools made this happen too. There was help from several people at each location that deserve recognition, and I won’t even try to say them all. But a great day of wrestling all over the state was possible because a lot of people worked hard. I’ll tell them all thanks personally, although we all may need a 24 hour break from each other. I got to catch some of the Facebook live from Joe and Mike too, and that was a great add for those at home.

Sergio vs Zeke was the best bump up in match in years!

Results from today's Buffalo vs. Ohio U match. Notice the extra matches at the bottom that do not count toward the team score. That looks like it will be common at matches this year, to enable guys to get matches when they can. It's a way to insure against loss matches due to Covid. Close losses for Alex Mosconi, Carson Brewer and Brayden Littel here. Weight Summary BUFF OHIO 125 Tristan Daugherty (Buffalo) over Giovanni DiSabato (Ohio) (Dec 2-0) 3 0 133 Mario Guillen (Ohio) over Caleb Svingala (Buffalo) (Dec 7-3) 0 3 141 Derek Spann (Buffalo) over Conor McCrone (Ohio) (Dec 7-2) 3 0 149 Ty Raines (Buffalo) over Alex Mosconi (Ohio) (SV-1 8-6) 3 0 157 Michael Petite (Buffalo) over Andrew Knick (Ohio) (TF 24-9 5:50) 5 0 165 Colt Yinger (Ohio) over Noah Grover (Buffalo) (Dec 5-4) 0 3 174 logan Stanley (Ohio) over Marcus Petite (Buffalo) (Dec 4-1) 0 3 184 Peter Acciardi (Buffalo) over Carson Brewer (Ohio) (Dec 6-2) 3 0 197 Jake Walker (Ohio) over Samuael Mitchell (Buffalo) (Dec 7-2) 0 3 285 Tobin Cahill (Buffalo) over Jordan Earnest (Ohio) (Dec 8-2) 3 0 125 Extra: oscar Sanchez (Ohio) over Jordan Reyes (Buffalo) (Dec 6-2) 0 0 133 Extra: Thomas Maddox (Buffalo) over Bradyen Littel (Ohio) (Dec 12-9) 0 0 184 Extra: Mason Kroening (Ohio) over Adam Daghestani (Buffalo) (Dec 10-8) 0 0 Team Score: 20 12

I got my first look at Simpson today. WOW!! That kid is put together!!! What’s in the water up there in Hobart! He’s only a junior too! He may make a splash in February! Timmerman isn’t an easy out and he made it look EASY!

And they aren't making our kids compete with masks on.

He came to NC semi state last year and talked to @Perseverance and myself.. He really does care about the sport and was nothing but class.

Guessing they lock in the location almost a year ahead of time, so not likely to move or they would still have to pay for the cancelation cost. Maybe just as affordable to spread out entire immediate families in the big area as to pay that cost just to downsize and only allow one or two guests. Sadly this years athletes won’t get the crowd experience they deserve regardless of the location.

Rulez is rulez

2 coaches per team. No fans.

It was streamed on trackwrestling. Where's the hide and seek?

They better allow us in or..... ALOT of people will be dressed up as janitors.

Is Koontz staying at 132? Great match between him and Pierson.

#10 170 Jake Simpson (Hobart) over #8 182 Cody Timmerman Maj Dec 8-0

Congratulations to Braydon Erb from Western for signing with Indiana Tech. He is projected to wrestle 285. View full signing

So sorry to hear this. Mac and his Dad were quite a pair and it was always fun to coach against him. Really got to know him when he came back to coach at Connersville. Mac always took time to say hello and talk about old times. Deepest sympathies from Arabian Wrestling to Mac's family and Spartan and Trojan Wrestling. RIP, Mac. Dave Cloud