Juggernaut

Congratulations to Riley Horvath from Jimtown for signing with Indiana Tech. She is projected to wrestle 109, 116.
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Congratulations to Noah Hollendonner from Crown Point for signing with Cumberlands(KY). He is projected to wrestle 165.

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Congratulations to Elliott Rodgers from Indianapolis Cathedral for signing with Marian. He is projected to wrestle 157, 165.

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Congratulations to MaCartney Parkinson from Evansville Mater Dei for signing with Purdue. He is projected to wrestle 174.

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Discuss
 
 

By JEREMY HINES
Thehines7@gmail.com
 
Howard Jones is, without a doubt, the face of Jennings County wrestling. Jones has coached the Panthers for over four decades (41 years to be exact). And during those 41 years he’s always had to do things the hard way. That’s all about to change.
 
Jennings County has started the construction of a one-of-a-kind wrestling facility. Jones believes this might be the only dedicated wrestling venue for a high school in the Midwest, and possibly even the entire country.
 
The new, five-million-dollar venue will feature seating for over 800 fans. It will have four full-size mats down with the ability to remove some seating and go up to six full size mats. The 24,000 square feet venue will also have two locker rooms and a coaches’ office.
 
“We expect this to make our wrestlers feel like first-class athletes,” Jennings County Athletic Director Cory Stevens said. “They are going to have a facility that no other wrestlers in the region or in the state will have. We hope this attracts others to use it as well, for camps and things of that nature.”
 
For Jones, this is a dream come true. His wrestlers have practiced in a balcony overlooking the basketball gymnasium. The school has two balconies on each side of the gym, and the wrestling team was often so large that it had to split the team up and use both sides.
 
“I was lucky enough to have real good assistant coaches over the years,” Jones said. “I would go on one side and the assistants would go on the other. Sometimes we would divide by weight class. Sometimes we would divide by varsity and junior varsity.”
 
The wrestlers would also have to move the 800-pound mats that were stored in various places throughout the school down to the gym floor for invitationals or dual meets.
 
“Needless to say, it was an inconvenience, at the minimum,” Jones said. “We didn’t get the lighter mats until about four years ago. We always had to end practice early if there was a girls or a boys basketball game.”
 
Jones didn’t much believe that the program was getting its own venue when he was first told about it. He had heard similar talk before. One time the school was going to build a 4.7-million-dollar facility that would house three basketball courts, a weight room, a track and a wrestling room. Ultimately that got voted down by the community.
 
This time around school superintendent Teresa Brown told Jones that it was going to happen.
 
“One day she told me ‘Coach Jones, we’re going to get you that wrestling room.’,” Jones said. “I didn’t believe her. That was about three years ago. Then, at the first of the year, she steps into the gym and said to me ‘Don’t you doubt me coach Jones, don’t you doubt me’.”
 
Jones has had a hand in the design of the facility. He has looked at places like Purdue for inspiration and has tried to emulate what he knows works.
 
“It’s been a very emotional time for me,” Jones said. “I have thought our kids deserved something better, but maybe not this elaborate, for years. I questioned why it was going to be so good. The principal at the time said ‘Howard, why can’t we have the best for our kids?’ That made sense to me. I think this state-of-the-art facility will be what’s best for our kids.”
 
For Jones, the principal’s statement got him thinking.
 
“I’m pretty conservative with things,” Jones said. “When he said that to me, I started thinking differently. I started thinking why not. The school wants to be greedy for the kids and it really shows.”
 
The wrestling facility isn’t the only thing to get a major upgrade at the school. The baseball and softball fields got a multi-million-dollar upgrade. The weight room doubled in size. The football field got new turf. The tennis courts are getting a facelift. But, the largest change, is the wrestling renovation.
 
According to Stevens, this might not have ever happened if it weren’t for the influence Jones has had on the students and the community through wrestling.
 
“They say it has a lot to do with me, but it’s really for the kids,” Jones said. “The kids deserved better and we’re getting there. The educators care for the kids. But since this announcement I’ve had hundreds of people call or contact me about how much wrestling has done for them. That was done without this kind of facility. It’s not that we create champion wrestlers. It’s important that we realize we’re creating champion kids.”
 
This has been an emotional journey for Jones. Former wrestlers are working on the building of the new facility and even the companies that put in the bids for the construction were ran by some of Jones’ former wrestlers.
 
“Each of our six elementary schools have former wrestlers of mine that are coaching,” Jones said. “All but one of my assistants were coached by me. The middle school – all but one of the coaches was coached by me. It makes me very proud. One of the things that probably puts things in perspective for me the most is that I had a principal at one of the elementary schools come up to me and said ‘Howard, I’m tired of going to principal meetings and hearing about your wrestling program.’ But wrestling is a fraternity, not just within the school, but it creates a strong bond for life.”
 
Stevens hopes to see other schools build similar facilities for their programs in the future.
 
“We hope this inspires other schools to do something similar,” Stevens said. “Everyone is going to benefit from this – not just the high school, but the younger kids as well. Wrestling is a sport that does great things for kids. The more we can inspire other kids, the better. I was not a wrestler, but I see the value the sport offers for kids today.”

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Congratulations to Eli Dickens from Evansville Mater Dei for signing with George Mason. He is projected to wrestle 157, 165.

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Congratulations to Brice Coleman from Warren Central for signing with Indiana Tech. He is projected to wrestle 157.

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Congratulations to Dorian Keys from Brownsburg for signing with Purdue. He is projected to wrestle 285.

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Congratulations to Tyce Freije from Roncalli for signing with Wabash. He is projected to wrestle 141, 149.

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I seen on Facebook Coach black said they accepted for New Castle... east central will be a great addition at 3A and do very well.

Here's the updated list of teams' acceptance status for Team State.
 
Teams have until Monday, March 9, to accept bids. At that point vote-in candidates will be sent paperwork to fill out regarding their new incoming talent and any reasons their qualification campaign didn't fully reflect their potential strength for next year.
 
(Bold = accepted, Strikethrough = declined)
 
4A:
Brownsburg
Cathedral
Chesterton
Mater Dei
Perry Meridian 
Warren Central
 
Crown Point
 
3A:
Columbus East
Bloomington South
East Central
Franklin
Hobart
Mishawaka
Northridge
 
2A:
Bellmont
Garrett
Jimtown
Mt. Vernon-Posey
New Castle
New Haven
New Prairie
Oak Hill
Wawasee
Western
 
1A:
Adams Central
Bluffton
Centerville
Cowan
Manchester
North Posey
Prairie Heights
Rensselaer Central
Tell City
Wabash

I'm surprised more people aren't talking about this, but it's the south and the Pony Express still is active there!
 
Jennings County broke ground on a new wrestling facility and it looks....amazing. I believe it's a stand alone facility.
Here is an article about it
https://www.insideindianabusiness.com/story/41854194/work-to-begin-on-jennings-county-wrestling-facility

TeamGarcia StoneCold Award : 
 
Best Scrambles goes to .... Boe vs. Hall match .... maybe I should call this Best Oil & Water don’t mix Award idk ? 
Here’s how the 1st, 2nd, 3rd period went 
 
Takedown, scramble, reversal, scramble, two, reversal, scramble ect... ect.... ect... it’s Was like watching your clothes being dried, round and round . Awesome to watch though . Very entertaining! 
 

 
 
 

On behalf of Silas, myself and the rest of our family....we want to bring awareness to how accommodating the IHSAA was for us this weekend.  All of us (including myself) at times get so caught up in what we feel they do wrong as it pertains to wrestling, we can easily become blinded to the multitude of right they do. Mr. Faulkens seen to it we had All-Access passes, and we’re allowed in our regular seats at our convenience.  That type of gesture deserves a lot of credit.  Because in what is always an extremely exhausting weekend.....factoring my health, my wife having to carry my breathing machine and our youngest daughter, without their philanthropic gesture, this weekend would not have been possible for me.
 
I also want to commend Jacob Laplace and the Mishawaka Coaching staff.  They had a tremendous gameplan of counter wrestling by the edge of mat to slow Silas’ relentless pace.  We have been friends and thought a lot of Jacob and family going all the way back to 6th grade.  He and Silas were always summer teammates with the Outlaws and forged a bond that continues to this day.  Wrestling Family can be an equal bond as blood at times, because there’s such an understanding of the sacrifice involved for wrestlers, coaches and parents.  We have a lot of genuine love for many of the Caveman faithful.  Specifically the Sandefur’s, Fogarty’s, Walker’s and of course the Laplace family.  
I’m extremely proud of Jacob’s effort.  He wrestled Silas as well as ANYONE has the last 2 yrs.  But more importantly....I’m proud of Jacob as a young man of faith. Indiana Tech stole a diamond in the ruff recruit!  But Coach Pompei will undoubtedly help grow his solid foundation to achieve tremendous things at the next level.
 
-The Allred’s

All GREAT picks but they all take runner up to the White Sox of North Posey High School!!!

Congratulations to Brendon Mark from Mishawaka for signing with Indiana Tech. He is projected to wrestle 125, 133.

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170 @ NC Marcus Malson of rushville punches his ticket then loses at the buzzer 6-5 to #7 Wagner then lost a tough 4-2 decision to #9 Davin..Was really impressed with him today.

Looks good but I Got wolf over Cottey..Allred pins the field.. Beatty at 32.. and Hall beats Coleman by pin in a wild 1

Dalton/Alstott EV 126
Goodwin/Wilson NC 132
Bailey/Ross NC 138
Hall/Freije NC 152
Dickens/Fuqua EV 160
Ruhlman/Carrington EV 170
Deters/Sego EV 170
Farrell/Brooks NC 195
Webster/Guhl NC 220
 
Wow... These are brutal.

Cottey better bring his A game. Wolf is no joke

Here you go, if there are discrepancies between the TrackWrestling brackets tell me as the formula was done by hand.
 
East Chicago
 
Fort Wayne
 
New Castle
 
Evansville

Here's the 3A leaderboard through sectional. Remember that these scores in the big school divisions aren't very meaningful at this point because they're mostly a reflection of who has a lot of underclassmen. The number of kids left matters much more than the scores. You'll need 160 or 175 points to qualify and many of those won't come until semi-state.
 
 
 

You're exactly right about 220! Some lesser known Brutes that all can scrap!  138 Walsh of Ktown is a sleeper and 2x SSQ that lost in ticket round last year to stud Wilkerson 6-3.. good athlete that could be a tough test for guys trying get to The Bank...@195 undefeated Krummen who could be a placer has a a very tall order vs the Reigning, defending Undefeated undisputed 195 Pound State Champion! Imho Silas pins the field...120 Could have a solid finals if the seeds play out that way with 36-1 #19 Freshman Thrine vs a Very tough 31-5 Scneider of the Undefeated undeerrated East Central Trojans!  
170 We have #15 Ragle wth a potential rematch vs NCSS RANKED Malson whos having a solid season himself at 35-4..Ragle won 8-2 their first match.. be 1 to keep an eye on if they both advance to finals!

In a Regional that traditionally lacks depth in regards to numbers of highly ranked wrestlers.....there is always a handful of young men that represent on the big stage.  I think it’s fair to say that despite numbers, this Regional is consistently a “sleeper” regarding man for man talent.  However....this particular comment of mine has nothing to do with Silas, former elites like Parris......or even current studs like Bryer Hall & Gabe Phillips.
 
I’m most intrigued about the 220lbs class. Not just this weekend, but moving forward.  I’ve not seen 2-4th place of the opposing Sectional enough to adequately dissect them fairly.  However, Champ Evan Schaffer, and 1-4 of Tri Sectional I can.  Cullen Browning was the only 220lbs wrestler who fished the season in the rankings.  He subsequently finished 3rd.  Losing to a very inexperienced, but very strong, athletic, and just green enough to “rather throw you than know” at unsuspecting times....Jack Taylor of New Castle.  Blaine Pierce of Richmond (Spartan Champ), spent some time in the rankings and is fairly well rounded with a lot of grit.  His leg attacks could prove tough for larger, less agile 220’s.  And finally Schaffer of Connersville, probably being the physically strongest and most athletic of all the competitors in this class at Richmond. Tall, lean, very heavy hips and strong as an ox.
 
Case and point....these young men are legitimate sleepers outside the rankings, that can create problems in first round and ticket round match-ups at semi state.  I’m not going to make any bold predictions, other than opposing regionals better strap their boots on when facing 1-4 from Richmond at 220.  It would not at all shock me to see 2 of these young men punch a ticket, depending on their draw.