Blake Maurer

To my knowledge these are the years that MD had atleast 10 Qualifiers... MD 96' 11 State Qualifiers 7 Placers (1st, 2nd, 4th, 4th, 5th, 5th, 5th) MD 02' 10 State Qualifiers 6 Placers (1st, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 4th) MD 03' 10 State Qualifiers 8 Placers (1st, 1st, 1st, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 6th) MD 07' 11 State Qualifiers 6 Placers (2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th)

Coach Peck, Kids that wrestle for Jr. Wildcats... (MD Middle School Team) They scored 178 of our 432.5 points yesterday. No idea how you officially determine the team champion but thought I'd share. Thanks for putting on the tourney...love seeing the level of competition and coaching going on at this tournament! Awesome to see the high school coaches there for their programs! Many academies, schools, clubs, and individuals are making Indiana a tougher state in our sport!

I heard about this thread yesterday from a someone in the Gibson Southern Community. Even though I know Greg would never let this get him down because he has been through far tougher journeys, I felt compelled to make a statement on this topic... I would like to start with that this was my 5th year coaching at the high school level, 1st as a head coach. I worked under David Grant at Westerville North High School in Ohio(2 years), Rick Stenftenagel at Jasper High School(1 year), and Greg Schaefer at Mater Dei High School last season. All 3 Coaches are very good and I am very fortunate to have learned so many things from them all... But what I learned from Greg has been very critical in my molding of becoming a better coach and more importantly, a better man...and the thing Greg knows in wrestling is that its not about your final destination, but your journey with your coaches and teammates. There's no doubt Greg, his staff, and his athletes had higher expectations at Semi-State---which is one reason the program is so great---they expect more(which is also why people are so hard on the program)---but everything doesn't always work out. And what makes every wrestlers own journy special and unique is the amount of adversity he/she endures. I can tell you I was personally proud of the young men at MD that lost in the ticket round cause they went down swinging...yes the pain of losing will be there for a while but its a pain they can live with cause they gave it their all...and that's what matters---learning to give it all you've got! Here's a question to ask...Why do you think MD has such a strong following?...Is it because everyone that's wrestled for MD was a state qualifer, placer, or champ?...Heck no!...I'd say most of the fans in the stands had some great experiences with their coaches and teammates wearing the red and gold for MD and take pride in the fact that they battled when they were on the mat, just like the kids are today! And here's something everyone should understand...Experience and Confidence go hand-in-hand and right now MD has some youth that lacks experience at this point in the state tournament. Must remember that they are teenage boys and surroundings can get to you if you haven't been there before. As said in an earlier post, MD fans were spoiled for a while....but don't worry, you have a lot of youth that is working very hard! In closing, I just want to say that Matt Coughlin and I are not MD's Savior because there's nothing to be saved from! You have an excellent Program! Excellent Head Coach! With a staff that has loads of state experience in Nick Dewig, Craig Macke, Zeke Zenthoefer, and Jeremy Goebel...And don't worry MD...At this point in time, NOONE works harder or wants to see MD succeed more than Greg Schaefer!...So I think you're in great hands! Blake Maurer