IndianaGrappler

I haven't really been following wrestling that much this past year. But I always enjoy this time of year when the tournaments begin. The excitement in the air, fans screaming (thanks IHSAA for taking that away), and wrestlers stepping up and battling for the illustrious prize of a State Championship. Living down here in the southwestern part of the state we always know Mater Dei is going to win the Central Sectional. I believe this was their 45th straight title. But the Castle Sectional is known to fluctuate more between its winner. Castle has won it for the last several years, but Boonville has been giving them a hell of a run for the last 2-3 years. I was there last year when Boonville was winning all day, only to watch it slip away in the final matches of the championship rounds. But this year Boonville pulled it off. They again were leading all day and were able to hold off Castle as they made a last chance effort in the finals. Boonville had 8 kids in finals and qualified 13 wrestlers for the North Regionals. I saw where Mater Dei had all 14 of their wrestlers going, but besides Boonville with 13, Heritage Hills was the next closest with 12, then Castle with 10, and North Posey with 9. Boonville's program has been battling it out for years now down here in the Dirty South and I for one am glad to see them pull off this championship run. Congratulations to all the Pioneer wrestlers and fans (they're an energetic bunch). And congratulations to the co-head coaches, Coach Wilke and Coach Marchand on capturing their first Sectional title. Our community has been watching you guys develop that program for years now. Job well done!

California, Virginia, and New Mexico have moved their wrestling season to the spring of 2021. https://www.desertsun.com/story/sports/high-school/prepsports/2020/07/20/its-official-cif-move-football-all-fall-sports-early-2021/5471897002/ "All the rest of the sports will be considered "spring" sports with seasons beginning in March and ending in May or June. That will also be a big change for certain winter sports like basketball, wrestling and soccer which traditionally begin in November and now won't start their seasons until March." With the uncertainties of whether or not we will even have a season this year, I wish IHSAA would follow suit. It definitely looks as if some athletes would have to make a decision on which sport to give up, i.e. wrestling/track, but it would give us the most likely chance of having a season. Because lets be real...this isn't going away by November/December. And even with we get somewhat of a handle on the situation, one hot spot in the state could shut down the whole state. At least a "spring" season could give us more time to find more and better treatment options. Thoughts???

That's what I was saying after the quarterfinals. EVV Semi-State at 152 was legit! Can't say for sure, but I'm not aware of any other weight/Semi-State producing 3 of the top 4 this year! Not to mention Walker placing 7th. If Fulks, Walker, Law, and Fitts end up at the same weight next year....look out Indiana!

I get it. People get emotional on here. It's an emotional sport. Most likely some moms/dads...and probably some teenage kids just saying stupid things to stoke the flames and get old men riled up. Anyhow, I think all those teams in that list are solid programs who have had there ups and downs over the years...but what program hasn't. Strength of schedule is an important factor, but so is the fight and training of the individual athlete. Good numbers SWSpectator! That looks about how I think we would all envision it over the years.

Semi-State Qualifiers: Evansville Central - 33 Castle - 23 Mater Dei - 11 Mt. Vernon - 6 Boonville - 5 Castle - 5 Memorial - 5 Gibson South - 4 Heritage Hills - 4 North Posey - 4 Central - 3 Reitz - 3 Harrison - 2 S. Spencer - 2 Princeton - 1 Vincennes - 1 On a different note, I guess I don't understand the beef on here with Boonville. Am I missing something? Am I not in the know? I'm just a casual onlooker on here, but it seems when discussing Regionals, people on this site dog Boonville do to their schedule. I mean, I’m a former wrestler and totally agree with the strength of schedule argument. But, I’m also not blind to results and what good coaching and talent can achieve regardless of the strength of ones schedule. I'm sure anyone of us on here could bust out a high school, college, or professional team in any given sport and show teams that are talented and win without having the toughest schedule out there. Now...I don't think Boonville wrestles an extremely tough schedule like some schools do, but I don't think they wrestle a weak schedule either. I'd say they're somewhere in the middle. They haven't had a lot of kids make it to State, but most of the programs in our area, except for Mater Dei, don't make it to State. And the ones who do, usually only send 1, maybe 2-3. I mean, I'm a numbers guy and when I look at the numbers over the last couple of years....I don't get the rub. Last Years Semi- State Qualifiers: Mater Dei - 13 Gibson Southern - 8 Boonville - 6 Castle - 5 North Poesy - 5 Central - 4 Heritage Hills, Memorial, Mt. Vernon, and Reitz - 3 Harrison - 2 South Spencer - 1 Semi-State Qualifiers Over the Last 2 Years: Mater Dei - 24 Gibson Southern - 12 Boonville - 11 Castle - 10 Mt. Vernon - 9 North Posey - 9 Central - 7 Heritage Hills - 7 It would seem to me, and I would presume any reasonable onlooker, that over the last couple of years Boonville is a top program in the region, regardless of the strength of their schedule. But by all means...check my numbers and tell me why my perception is faulted.

Indeed, a great list of kids! I have no doubt they will do Indiana proud.

That generated some strong animosity. He's probably trash talking some 15yr old kid. This has to be Purdy's dad/relative. He seemed to take that one personal. Keyboard Warriors.....meh

Lets not jump the gun here. I for one am all for realigning when it becomes necessary, but the IHSAA has made some less then stellar realignments throughout the state over the years. When talking about realigning the Central and Castle Sectionals you are talking about putting them up against each other head to head. Central is going to win this year hands down. And lets be honest, they win every year due to Mater Dei being in the Central Sectional. Remove Mater Dei from the conversation and the 2 sectionals have been evenly matched over the years. Top 4 teams at the Castle/North Regionals over the last 3 years: 18-19 1.) Mater Dei, 2.) Gibson Southern, 3.) Castle, 4.) Boonville 17-18 1.) Mater Dei, 2.) Castle, 3.) Central, 4) Reitz 16-17 1.) Mater Dei, 2.) Castle, 3.) Memorial, 4.) Mt. Vernon Last year Central Sectional had 36 SS qualifiers and Castle had 20 and Central had 10 State qualifiers and Castle had 4. Now, take Mater Dei out of the figures and Central only has 1 State qualifier to Castle's 4. From where I sit, nothing stands out that says these 2 need to be realigned. So, lets not open Pandora's Box.

Any word on how this match went down? Which team won? Individual results?

Ah...the good ol' days when MD fans stretched from the floor to the nose bleed section. I too am not a MD alumni, but I always appreciate someone coming up out of the South and wreaking havoc. You never know in this sport...we'll see how they do come February, but their line-up is definitely legit.

I was surprised to see that Union County was not at the meet. Don't know if anybody has any information on what happened there. They have been at this meet for as long as I can remember. Also, Gibson Southern was not there as well this year, so the layout of the meet was a little different, but everybody still got there 5 matches. Big takeaways from the meet: -Boonville wins the meet and takes out Castle. I have to say that Boonville fans are very enthusiastic and supportive. They come in packs and cheer all day. Boonville has some solid kids again this year. Fulks is an impressive wrestler! I like his style and he stays moving the whole match. Mayes and Heuring looked solid all day. Whitsell at 132 also looked liked he improved from last year. - Central was runner up. They look to have a really young team. Kemper was solid all day. And the young Kemper at 152 looked good. - Castle was 3rd. Sutton (a Boonville transfer) looked good. Freshman Purdy looked solid and Senior Deters was impressive as always. We'll see if he can make another run this year and improve on his 6th place finish at state from last year. - Heritage Hills was 4th. HH just came off a State run for there football program, so a lot of there boys only had got into the room this week. Not a lot their Coach could do about that, but I would expect them to be getting better as the year goes on. Scott was impressive! You've just got to like that kid. He's an in your face wrestler. Rogers and Heeke also looked good. Other notable competitors at the meet were 182 Moore and 220 Stewart from South Spencer. These are two solid wrestlers, but don't have the numbers on the team to allow them to compete as a team for championships. Nevertheless, they are solid competitors.

Breakdown by Sectionals: Mater Dei - 13 wrestlers advance Gibson Southern - 8 wrestlers advance Boonville - 6 wrestlers advance Castle and North Poesy - 5 wrestlers advance Central - 4 wrestlers advance Heritage Hills, Memorial, Mt. Vernon, and Reitz - 3 wrestlers advance Harrison - 2 wrestlers advance South Spencer - 1 wrestlers advance Observations: Mater Dei was awesome! SIAC Champions, Sectional Champions, Regional Champions, nothing new here! Gibson Southern had a good day! Robinson and Breivogel lost tough matches in finals. PAC Champions, Sectional Runner Up and Regional Runner Up. Lots of underclassmen still. I don't believe I've ever seen GS take this many to semi-state. Great job GS. Boonville also had a good day! They took some lumps in the semi-finals but their guys battled back in the consolation round. Fulks looked tough. I don't think I've ever seen Boonville take this many to semi-state either. 3rd in Big 8, Sectional Runner Up. I did hear in the stands that they should have won their conference but had some injuries the week of conference. Great Job Boonville. One of the glaring images out of the Castle Sectionals is that Boonville sends more to the Ford Center then Castle, the Sectional Champions. It's no secret that Castle had a rough day but Deters and Nunn looked ready to battle! North Poesy's kids looked tough also. We'll see if they can make some noise this Saturday. Mt. Vernon, (the Big 8 Champions) and Reitz were down from previous years. And Sam Scott looked great! He's got a tough drawl next weekend...but I'm not betting against him. GOOD LUCK EVERYONE AT SEMI-STATE!!

I don't think anyone on here thinks Boonville is in the same league (team wise) as Mater Dei. However, Tecumseh and Wood Memorial are in the Castle Sectionals and Boonville would need to compete against them for seed purposes. If you look at opponents outside of their conference and sectional seeding purposes...they compete against Reitz, Union County, Southridge, and Gibson Southern...not to mention Castle (sectional seed). Those teams aren't Mater Dei quality either...but who is in SW Indiana. I see it more through the lens of UCF and Bosie State in NCAA Football. When smaller schools start building up a program and competing well...its difficult for them to get quality meets with bigger, more traditional power house schools. Nobody wants to pick them up or their schedules are already set. Anyway, they've got some tough kids this year...we'll see how they preform.