Devils27

I think coach tucker had one too many coffees this morning haha. Congrats to her and Good luck at Merrillville Semi-State that weight class is worth the price of admission with 8-9 ranked kids at 103 there.

Well you and oscar can wrestle on another post haha. No worries good luck to your boys this year.

Well Coach Riesens I believe you're missing the point of my initial post. It was put up there to support my past coach who was pulling together a new mind set at a school that has lost sight of it. It is very easy for a Coach with 2 Senior wrestlers who show leadership everyday to comment the way you have. He is bringing a mind set of a coach who has had 3 individual state champions in his wrestling room. He is instilling the mindset of past Indiana High School Coach of the year in young adults that want to be there. He is doing this for the sport we love and I was hoping some people who love wrestling would support him, his efforts and those that want to be there to achieve greatness through hard work and determination. Thank you for all the support!

I took the article from nwitimes.com fyi but Coach Line was my Coach at Lowell.

It's funny how as a 26 year old you still remember your crushing defeats, upset victories and the people who pushed you when weakness was leaving your body. When your in high school you almost despise the coach that pushes you while the swim team is sitting around laughing and having fun at practice. Why can't we just sit around and do nothing haha. It becomes apparent when they are done come regional time and you are in the money round at semi-state getting your hand raised in victory punching that ticket to Conseco. Other people pay money for that ticket, you earned it with years of Blood, Sweat and Tears. I wanted to say thank you to Coach Line for all of his years of hard work and passionate dedication to this sport we all still love and think about no matter the age. Your strength has made boys into men and that is something that does not go unnoticed. Thanks for always being there Coach! Sincerely Matt Puskar class of '02

Boone Grove's Iron Five Jared Cockrell, Jr., 152 Neal Cleland, Jr., 160 Ryan Abrego, Jr., 171 Patrick Poxon, So., 189 Zack Keilman, Fr., 215 It would be easy for Mark Line to soften his approach. But it's just not the way he's built, not back in the day when he was coaching state contenders at Lowell and not now when he's got a team of five at Boone Grove. "We're going to work hard, drill, condition and let the chips fall on the mat," Line said. "I'm not going to back off on my philosophy. I told them either you're here or you're not here. I can't fear that I can't push them. It doesn't do justice to the kids who are here." Twenty-six boys signed up in the preseason. The number dwindled to 14 by the start of practice and 10 or 11 for the first meet. A couple more dropped off after the holiday break, leaving the Wolves where they are now. "My hat's off to those who have stayed," Line said. "It's never a question of them being there. They work hard and do what they're asked. It takes courage, bravery to step out on that mat, especially when you don't have a lot of experience." For juniors Jared Cockrell and Neal Cleland, it was never an issue. The two have wrestled since middle school and it's their only sport. "It's easy to stay, with this group of guys," Cockrell said. "They're all hard workers. We've got a strong bond. It would be nice to have more people, but I'd rather have less with a group with heart, like we have." Boone has no wrestlers under 152, meaning Cockrell starts many of the Wolves' matches. He's followed by Cleland (160), classmate Ryan Abrego (171), sophomore Patrick Poxon (189) and freshman Zack Keilman (215). "We're all friends. We hang out outside of school," Cleland said. "No other sport allows you to be as aggressive. You work really hard in practice, wrestle a match, give it all you've got and when you end up with a win, it's a great feeling." The sweat comes with no guarantees, one reason Line believes there aren't more kids. "Wrestling's a tough sport," he said. "You've got to go through the battles to win the wars. If you don't win them all, you don't win them all. Learning is always the most important thing. That's my philosophy. You're just trying to get better every day, and I think they are. It's making them a better athlete, a better person." Poxon and Keilman are both there largely because of football, but Line doesn't mind. Assistant coach Tony Girgenti encouraged them to come out, as he was urged when he was at Portage by Larry Tharp. "It's good that there aren't so many. It's my first year and I get more experience," Poxon said. "I'm getting in better shape. I feel better. I'm losing more weight than in football. Wrestling's far tougher than football. All the kids (badmouth) wrestling, but it's fun." The handful of Wolves who wrestle may be the 'odd balls,' according to Keilman, but it's a moniker he wears with pride. "I feel stronger every day," Keilman said. "I practice and I have more energy the next day. When someone quits, you just learn to deal with it. You move on, keep going. I plan to stay with it all through high school." Sure, Line would like to have more bodies simply to improve the quality of practices. But as long as he's got one kid willing to lay it on the line for him, he's going to do the same. "They're the men of valor," Line said.

Sorry I forgot CMA reports to Merrillville. That makes this a pretty stacked weight class then. A lot of it is in the draw. You could have 3 of these wrestlers vying for one spot and others getting a easier road to the ticket round.

103lbs at Merrillville Semi-State is going to be a shootout and unfortunately only 4 make it out. Who will those 4 be? #3 Josh Fuqua #4 Stevan Micic #6 Reise Overby #8 Santo Marciano #10 Max Buckley #11 Michael Garza Looks like 2 top 11 ranked wrestlers will not be dancing this year. Who's in your top 4?

I loved watchin Jason Cook and Jordan Hump go at it. That was a brawl.

That Kinda sounds like the year Weinzapfel was facing a small freshman named Angel Escobedo. Angels father bet his Craigs father 100 bucks on the match. Then Angel quieted the crowd by putting Craig on his back early and often. Never heard EMD fans so quiet in my life.

Was I the only one that was upset when the referee only gave 3 points for that? I would have grabbed for 5 for the one

Discussion over!

215 look to be competitive with a place winner from Illinois vs. Cleveland. Indiana looks to take it. Did anyone else read that the 145lber didn't wrestle in the postseason bec of a broken finger??? I would have cut that thing off. I mean you got back ups

There is no 103 weight class because usually there aren't many seniors at 103.

This sounds like a quote from a cross country runner. I would rather take a loss then injury default. If he was seriously injured that is completely fine. But to say all of us would do the same is BS. I am glad willis was able to wrestle but he looked fine...if he was told to stay down I guess only he has to live with it.........and Vlahos.

From what I saw though it was thr right call. Control was lost. Not a reversal but definitely an escape. I wish the brothers could be in the finals together but it was the right call no matter how loud that fan yelled, "You're lousy!!!" to the ref haha

if Tyler Willis cannot go can Vlahos wrestle in his spot???

Aren't 10 of these guys from Mishawaka hahaha Mishawakas tournament is the best because if your team under performs there 2-3 years in a row they get rid of you and get a better team in . I remember when Lawrence North had their state championship team up there. Great competition. If you place top 3 at Mishawaka you are basically going to place at state. Now there are a few exceptions so don't start talking smack everyone haha

Oh and while your filming have some rando take actual pictures of your kid. My biggest regret is have film but only a few actual pictures of me wrestling at state.

Ok mom this is something important. Look at the bracket for state. If your son is in the top quarter his first round match up will be on mat #1. The second quarter he will be on mat #2 and so on and so forth. So if your son is on the bottom bracket he will be on mat #4 so when you go in locate seats as close as possible to mat #4. You don't want to be by mat #1 and have to scramble when you see little johnny on the other side of Conseco.

I posted this on Sunday.

Devils27 Sectional Qualifier Cool Points: -9 Location: Chicago Posts: 12 Worst first round Draw??? ? on: February 14, 2010, 06:13:29 PM ? Quote Modify Remove -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have only looked at 2 weight classes so far and I found it already! #3 Bryan Kuhn (42-1) VS. #1 Paul Beck (44-1) Both just suffered their first losses of the season and now one of them will NOT medal. This is a great match up for the fans but unfortunate for the wrestlers. I feel like this shoudl have been a semifinals match up. So who takes it folks? Let's hear it? Right now I give it to Beck. not because of rankings but Mishawaka has one of the toughest schedules in the state. Any other BIG TIME matches in the first round?

Is 1-0 a close match? I mean I have seen people get whooped but the score was only 4-3. In high school there is no riding time and stalling calls are not as prevalent. So a lot of wrestlers can buy time, not really do anything the whole match and then be talked about on the boards because they "Kept it Close" I remember Alex Tsirtsis wrestling Persin from Portage his freshman year and he only won 1-0. Everyone was saying how close it was but Alex rode him for a whole period and persin ony shot once, maybe twice. You can get beat BAD and only lose by one point. They only people who fight that are the ones who lost and just because a defending state champ doesn't win by tech fall doens't mean they can't repeat.

You guys make me laugh. I feel like the whole McMurray thing is a joke. This kid has to win his title every weekend with you guys. There were people sayin he would lose this weekend to Vlahos and that kid got owned. I am not saying McMurray will tech fall the field, but he is lookin like he is going to join a very small class of individuals who have won 3 state championships. He knows better than anyone that a 6th place sophmore, the year before, can come in and take the title from him. He will not dissappoint.

I have only looked at 2 weight classes so far and I found it already! #3 Bryan Kuhn (42-1) VS. #1 Paul Beck (44-1) Both just suffered their first losses of the season and now one of them will NOT medal. This is a great match up for the fans but unfortunate for the wrestlers. I feel like this shoudl have been a semifinals match up. So who takes it folks? Let's hear it? Right now I give it to Beck. not because of rankings but Mishawaka has one of the toughest schedules in the state. Any other BIG TIME matches in the first round?