gobears

It was precautionary, all testing/scans came back with good results, and he is in good spirits!  It was a scary moment, but he is doing well!

It was precautionary, all testing/scans came back with good results, and he is in good spirits!  It was a scary moment, but he is doing well!

It was precautionary, all testing/scans came back with good results, and he is in good spirits!  It was a scary moment, but he is doing well!

It was precautionary, all testing/scans came back with good results, and he is in good spirits!  It was a scary moment, but he is doing well!

It was precautionary, all testing/scans came back with good results, and he is in good spirits!  It was a scary moment, but he is doing well!

It was precautionary, all testing/scans came back with good results, and he is in good spirits!  It was a scary moment, but he is doing well!

STAND UP!

106 Boyd
113 Dickman (Two 1 point matches with Rioux so far, wouldn't be surprised if Rioux somehow upsets Dickman.)
120 Jendreas 
126 Schaefer
132 Hockaday (Expecting a 1 or 2 point match with Thrine, should they face off.)
138 Shephard (Numerous 1-2 point victories against former Champ Levell and runner-up Ison, gonna be some tight matches between these 3.)
144 Courtney (Potential rematch with Huyvaert at State, could go either way imo.)
150 Krejsa
157 Betz (I think he avenges Pellot in a rematch.)
165 Cressell (Lost 1-0 to Rinehart, you can bet he is gonna come back with a vengeance.)
175 Leech (This dude has busted his ass these last 3 years, I 100% think that he is capable of winning it all!)
190 McConnell
215 Clark
HWT Clark

If this looks familiar, it is!  It has been a couple of years since i have posted this.  A couple of folks asked for an update.  Here it is:
 
The annual Reitz/Mater Dei football game has been recognized as the greatest football rivalry among Indiana high schools.  West siders will tell you the Panthers and Wildcats also enjoy the best wrestling rivalry the Hoosier state has to offer.
 
Ask any wrestler who has donned the Red & Gold or Blue & Grey and he will tell you about his greatest glory—or nadir of agony—and how it related to the annual Reitz/Mater Dei meet.  For over three-quarters of a century, young wrestlers on the west side have grown up with the dream of wearing his school colors and having his hand raised, signifying a win over his arch-rival.
 
One-year-old Mater Dei got a head start on the Panthers, fielding its first team in 1950.  Three years later, Reitz followed suit.
 
Mater Dei hosted Reitz on January 15, 1953, in what would be the first wrestling dual of the series.
 
The Wildcats were led by volunteer coach and ex-Chicago Bear, Gus Peters.  Reitz legend Allan Horn coached the Panthers.
 
Both would later be elected to the Indiana High School Wrestling Hall of Fame.
 
“The Mater Dei and Reitz rivalry was in full swing,” said Bob Drone, Mater Dei class of 1953.  “There were about 150 fans showed up for it.  No one knew much about wrestling, but they cheered for their team.”
 
“Reitz had some big-name football players on the wrestling team,” said Tom Scheller, Mater Dei class of 1954.  “But, we were so fired up, it didn’t matter.  This was wrestling, not football.  Everyone was very determined.”
 
The Wildcats’ experience and pluck proved to be too much for the Panthers and Allan Horn’s grapplers succumbed, 51-2.
 
By the mid-1960s, wrestling had taken a firm foothold in Evansville and was spreading to neighboring counties.  Harrison, North, Bosse, Central, Reitz and Mater Dei had full, or nearly full, varsity, junior varsity and freshman rosters. 
 
Reitz and Mater Dei had established themselves as local powerhouses and players in the State wrestling scene.  Mater Dei claimed two State Champions, Fred Happe and Bill Trainer, while both schools boasted several State Placers. 
 
The rivalry entered its golden era.
 
Fan interest was sky-high for January 23, 1966 dust up.  Reitz coach Don Henry tapped Reitz’s pool of athletes to field a physical and tough team.  13 years into its program, Reitz, the owner of only two wins and a draw against the Wildcats, had made enormous strides.  The Hilltoppers felt that this could be the team to defeat the ‘Cats.  Henry put the match into perspective.
 
“If a person who doesn’t know a thing about wrestling can go out and sit through a Reitz/Mater Dei match without getting excited, he’s just not a competitor,” he said.
On the heels of pins by 95-pound Larry Barchet and 103 pound Steve Jarboe, Reitz jumped out to a 10-0 lead.  The Wildcats clawed their way back in and took a 21-16 lead when Bill Hausmann turned in a pin at 154 pounds.  Reitz’s Larry Merritt and Bill Hape claimed back-to-back decision victories to post the Panthers a one-point lead. 
 
The meet came down to the heavyweights.  Mater Dei’s Bill Pfister took the mat to face Reitz’s Dan Labhart.  To the screams of 1,100 rabid fans, Pfister wasted no time, going after Labhart and getting the fall at the 3:04 mark.
 
Big Ten referee Bill Bruce officiated the match.
 
“You know,” he said.  “I’ve never seen as big a wrestling crowd as this anywhere in Indiana.  Not even in the sectional or regional.”
 
Final score:  Mater Dei- 26, Reitz- 22.
 
The following season, Reitz and Mater Dei, both undefeated in City play, met on January 19, 1967.  Don Henry was bullish about his team’s prospects.
 
“This is one of the best teams we have had in eight or nine years,” declared Henry.
 
Reitz hit Mater Dei hard, early and often, opening the match with wins by Larry Barchet, Steve Jarboe, Tony Trammel, Randy Hahn, Bill Majors and Dick Metz.  Only Mater Dei’s Gary Martin stopped the Panthers from claiming all of the first seven bouts.
 
The Wildcats won some matches in the upper weights, but the damage was done as the Panthers turned in a dominating, 26-13 victory in front of 1,000 delirious Panther fans in Reitz’s gym. 
 
The defeat marked the first City loss for Mater Dei since 1959 and earned Reitz the City title.
 
In 1968, Harrison dominated the local wrestling scene.  Although Harrison had already clinched the City title, interest was extremely high for the Reitz/Mater Dei dual. 
On January 25, 1,500 fans filed into Mater Dei’s gym to witness a classic.
 
Reitz jumped on Mater Dei early, getting pins from Bill Steiner and Larry Barchet to grab a 10-0 lead.  Mater Dei dominated the middle weights, getting wins from Greg Kempf, Art Happe, and Tom Schapker.  Reitz answered with their own run, posting wins by Randy Hahn, Bill Bish and Dick Metz. With three bouts remaining and a 22-13 lead, one more win by the Panthers would guarantee a win. 
 
Mater Dei narrowed Reitz’s lead when Mike Forche beat Reitz’s Bill Hewig, 6-4.  At 180 pounds, the Wildcats’ Steve Pfister got a first period takedown and never trailed, holding on for a nail biting, 4-2 win.  With Reitz clinging to a 22-19 lead, the dual would be decided by the heavyweights.
 
Wildcat Frank Buerger immediately attacked Walter Carr and scored a first period fall, sending the Mater Dei Nation into hysterics.
 
Final score:  Mater Dei- 24, Reitz- 22.
 
“These guys have overcome a lot of adversity,” praised Mater Dei boss Joe Gossman.  “To come in here and win a match like this, well, it just means a lot.”
 
In 1969, 2000 fans, a new attendance record, gathered in Reitz’s gym on January 30 to witness the annual donnybrook. 
 
The Panthers came out on fire, opening with six wins in the first seven weight classes.  The strong start ignited Reitz’s fans making the Wildcats task even more desperate in hostile territory.
 
Despite winning matches in the upper weights, the deficit was too large to overcome and the Panthers prevailed, 26-16. 
 
“To those who understand wrestling,” said Don Henry, “It would be the winning in our lower weight classes, because we’re weaker in the heavier divisions.  If we hadn’t won those at first, we could have been in trouble.”
 
A frustrated Joe Gossman agreed.
 
“You can’t come out and lose like we did in the beginning and expect to win,” he said.
 
Reitz’s Gil Barchet, Larry Barchet, Bill Steiner, Craig Deig and Charlie Cook all turned in wins to maintain their unblemished records.  Mater Dei’s Art Happe and John Cartwright also kept their unbeaten seasons intact.
 
The see-saw series continued, with Reitz grabbing a 23-15, 1970 verdict.  Mater Dei returned the favor with a 34-8 victory over the Panthers in 1971.
 
The contests between 1966 and 1971 were the highest-attended wrestling meets in Indiana.  Most years, the annual dual sets the standard for Indiana wrestling attendance.
 
On December 18, 1975, the Panthers handed Mater Dei at 32-22 setback.  This defeat marked the beginning of an undefeated Mater Dei home dual meet that would last until January 14, 2010.
 
Reitz broke the 35-year hex, beating Mater Dei, 36-21, in Mater Dei’s gym.  Josh Boots opened the match, scoring a pin in the second period.  Reitz’s Jeff Fentress came back with a pin at 189, to tie the dual, followed by a Justin Van Winkle win at 215 to snatch the lead back.  Reitz got a pin at heavyweight to take their first lead. The hits kept coming as Reitz piled on wins at 103, 112 and 119 pounds. The Panthers never trailed again. 

"We always came up short in this match until this year," said Reitz senior Bryan Kuhn.  “We won the close matches and got pins like Mater Dei used to always do to us. I'm still pretty shocked, but we were ready to wrestle, everybody was prepared and we all came through tonight."
 
The win was a watershed moment for Reitz coach Scott Ferguson.  Ferguson, a Castle graduate, had never been a member of a team or coached a team that had defeated the Wildcats.
 
"I've waited for this a long time," said Ferguson, "But even when we were ahead, I wanted our kids to keep wrestling and they did."
 
Greg Schaefer did not mince words.

"We just flat got out-wrestled tonight," said Schaefer. "They took it to us."
 
This Thursday’s match marks the 86th meeting of the west side powers.  For the series, Mater Dei has claimed 75 wins, while Reitz owns eight.  Two of the matches ended in a tie.
Now in its eighth decade, the rivalry thrives.  Fans and coaches circle this date on the calendar with a red pen.  For the coaches and spectators, there are only two outcomes:  euphoria or misery. 
 
For the combatants, the evening always carries special importance.
 
While many of the boys are neighbors and friends off the mat, the conviviality ends when the grapplers toe the line.  This is the night to perform.  For many of the athletes, this will be the biggest stage on which they will ever compete.  Any wrestler, who grows up on the wrestling-mad west side, has daydreamed about delivering his team to victory in front of a packed, raucous house.
 
At stake is a lifetime of bragging rights.  This is the night for dreams to come true.

Lots of discussion on here about seedings and final placements.  Rainy day and watching football so thought “what the heck” and compiled the results below.  All seedings and results are from TrackWrestling and there were some last-minute subs that kept their teammate's seeds.  Fun couple of days of wrestling with some high-quality matchups:
106: (Place / Seed / Name / School)
1st –  (1) Boyd / Delta
2nd – (7) Malone / Monrovia
3rd – (5) Frahm / Greenwood
4th –  (3) / Burke / Munster
5th –  (4) Blessinger / Southridge
6th –  (6) Godsey / Terre Haute North
7th –  (9) Federici / Carmel
8th –  (2) Argon / Lebanon
 
113: (Place / Seed / Name / School)
1st – (1) Bollinger / Delta
2nd – (3) Leonard / Martinsville  
3rd – (2) Ash / Monrovia
4th –  (4) Dresslar / Southport
5th –  (7) Riley / Plainfield
6th –  (22) Johnson / Yorktown
7th –  (6) Schnarr / Cascade
8th – (5) Halevi / Carmel
 
120: (Place / Seed / Name / School)
1st – (1) Ash / Monrovia
2nd – (2) Dallinger / McCutcheon
3rd – (3) Owsley / Cordydon Central
4th –  (5) Jackson / Delta
5th – (8) Orman / Edgewood
6th – (7) Kirchner / Jennings County
7th – (4) Rogers / Franklin Central
8th – (11) Collier / Owen Valley
 
126: (Place / Seed / Name / School)
1st – (1) Mosier / Delta
2nd – (2) Nguyen / Guerin Catholic
3rd – (6) Anderson / Hamilton Southeastern
4th – (3) Bryan / Terre Haute South
5th – (5) Fogle / Southridge
6th –  (4) Murray / Greenwood
7th –  (7) Eppard / Yorktown
8th -  (11) Enlow / Corydon Central
 
132: (Place / Seed / Name / School)
1st – (1) Parker / Ben Davis
2nd – (2) Dedeaux / Terre Haute South
3rd – (8) Clark / Franklin Central
4th –  (4) Stuffel / Yorktown
5th –  (11) Mattingly / Carmel
6th –  (6) Foxworthy / Southport
7th –  (3) Mosier / Delta
8th –  (5) Wilson / Lebanon
 
138: (Place / Seed / Name / School)
1st – (1) Boone / Yorktown
2nd – (2) Kirchner / Jennings County
3rd – (5) Faulkenberg / Monrovia
4th – (4) McMillan / Southport
5th – (3) Billet / Hamilton Southeastern 
6th – (25) Faag / Plainfield
7th – (19) Kemp / Franklin Central
8th – (10) Bretherick / Danville
 
144: (Place / Seed / Name / School)
1st – (1) Weaver / Owen Valley
2nd – (2) Hoppes / Yorktown
3rd – (5) Casler / Hamilton Southeastern
4th – (4) Jewell / Greenwood
5th – (3) Rhonemus / Delta
6th – (6) Tranum / Lebanon
7th – (11) Sanders / Southport
8th – (13) Fuller / Martinsville
 
150: (Place / Seed / Name / School)
1st – (2) Bohn / Munster
2nd – (4) Stevenson / Franklin Central
3rd – (1) Sanders / Mooresville
4th –  (9) Hutchison / Cascade
5th –  (3) Neidigh / Edgewood
6th – (7) Schmidt / Carmel
7th – (8) Drake / Ben Davis
8th – (10) Barberis / Jennings County
 
157: (Place / Seed / Name / School)
1st – (1) Lang / Hamilton Southeastern
2nd – (15) Ojeda-Cortes / Carmel
3rd – (8) Hamblin / Martinsville
4th – (3) Hickok / Bloomington North
5th – (6) Rayman / Ben Davis
6th –  (4) Lopez / Terre Haute South
7th – (9) Gohl / Corydon Central
8th – (10) Bartusiak / Munster
 
165: (Place / Seed / Name / School)
1st – (1) Stebbins / Delta
2nd – (2) Eckels / Ben Davis
3rd – (3) Bender / Terre Haute South
4th –  (6) Casillas / Bloomington North
5th – (5) Mink / Cascade
6th – (8) Scott / Mooresville
7th – (4) Vernon / Southridge
8th – (14) Gilliam / Northview
 
175: (Place / Seed / Name / School)
1st – (3) McCloy / Terre Haute South
2nd – (1) Russell / Delta
3rd – (4) Sumner / Martinsville
4th –  (2) Hastings / Terre Haute North
5th – (10) LeClerc / Plainfield
6th – (9) Hernandez / Jennings County
7th – (12) Oliva / Ben Davis
8th – (32) Ryan / Carmel
 
190: (Place / Seed / Name / School)
1st – (2) Casad / Terre Haute South
2nd – (1) Lewis / Cascade
3rd – (3) Finney / McCutcheon
4th – (6) Hagans / Terre Haute North
5th – (5) Frederick / Martinsville
6th – (12) Navarrete / Carmel
7th – (4) Deakins / Northview
8th – (21) Key / Yorktown
 
215: (Place / Seed / Name / School)
1st – (1) Chicoine / McCutcheon
2nd – (10) Orman / Northview
3rd – (9) Lawhead / Hamilton Southeastern
4th – (5) Aguilar / Seymour
5th – (3) Adamson / Castle
6th – (6) Mercer / Martinsville
7th – (14) Finch / Ben Davis
8th – (12) Freeman / Terre Haute South
 
285: (Place / Seed / Name / School)
1st – (1) Murphy / Terre Haute South
2nd – (3) Brewer / Northview
3rd – (9) Hinton / Ben Davis
4th – (5) Moss / Delta
5th – (2) Hale / Owen Valley
6th – (7) Cambron / Mooresville
7th – (6) Spilker / Plainfield
8th – (8) Cox / Castle

Congratulations to all of these student athletes!  This is a heck of an accomplishment!

Congratulations Coach!  

Congratulations to Brenden Chew from Heritage Hills for signing with Kentucky Wesleyan. Projected to wrestle 165.
View full signing

Congratulations to all of these student athletes!  This is a heck of an accomplishment!

Castle Regional advances 10
 
Castle Sectional:  
Heritage Hills--Goldsberry, 170
Castle--Purdy, 195
Memorial--Farmer, 285
 
Evansville Central Sectional:
Mater Dei--Schaefer-106, Seng-126, May-152, Vanover-285
Evansville Central--Robards-145, Kemper-160
Evansville Reitz--Fortune, 132

Castle Regional advances 10
 
Castle Sectional:  
Heritage Hills--Goldsberry, 170
Castle--Purdy, 195
Memorial--Farmer, 285
 
Evansville Central Sectional:
Mater Dei--Schaefer-106, Seng-126, May-152, Vanover-285
Evansville Central--Robards-145, Kemper-160
Evansville Reitz--Fortune, 132

If we did this for awards we would have quit a long time ago. The IndianaMat crew is a bunch of crazy fans that somehow have a platform to promote the sport and we'll continue to hit home runs every year.

Congratulations to all of these student athletes!  This is a heck of an accomplishment!

Congratulations to all of these student athletes!  This is a heck of an accomplishment!

Congratulations to all of these student athletes!  This is a heck of an accomplishment!

MaKenzie Smith--106lbs, 2nd, Castle Sectional

Thanks Jeremy and Indiana Mat for featuring these two!  Great competitors and great young men!

Evansville Central--Brandon Robards--Lay
Evansville North--Billy Hewig--Teacher
Evansville Bosse--Stephen Mullen--Teacher
Evansville Harrision--Mark Matinson-Lay
Evansville Reitz Memorial--Larry Mattingly--Teacher
Castle--Bob Harmon--Teacher
Evansville Mater Dei--Greg Schaefer--Teacher
Evansville Reitz--Scott Ferguson--Teacher
 

Evansville Central--Brandon Robards--Lay
Evansville North--Billy Hewig--Teacher
Evansville Bosse--Stephen Mullen--Teacher
Evansville Harrision--Mark Matinson-Lay
Evansville Reitz Memorial--Larry Mattingly--Teacher
Castle--Bob Harmon--Teacher
Evansville Mater Dei--Greg Schaefer--Teacher
Evansville Reitz--Scott Ferguson--Teacher
 

Just to put it in perspective we stopped by the trainers room for ice…. Bro it really looked like a battlefield hospital. Kids laying down everywhere with arms, legs, shoulders taped up with ice, lots of coaches in there attending to injured wrestlers. Now I have a clearer understanding of why we wrestle folkstyle in high school instead of freestyle. The physicality and fast paced wrestle backs are truly the definition of a meat grinder! 
My hat is off to all these ladies, and gentleman. You all are truly warriors for just showing up👊🏼