runner-up

A lot of the quality guys at New Castle wrestle with CIA. I also know that a lot have worked with Red Cobra over the years.

Totally agree. Nick and his father are both classy. Proud to say I know them. Good luck to Chastain next weekend.

If it is as cold as it is today, everyone. Keep the busses warm for the kids AFTER the finals.

I'm confused...This shouldn't happen because of the rule change.

You can see the details of the forfeit rule here:

http://www.nfhs.org/content.aspx?id=8884

106- Bailey

113- Crary

120- Red

126- Micic

132- Wilson

138- Hughes

145- LeCount

152- Macri

160- Corsaro

170- Osborn

182- Rypel

195- Kral

220- Robinson

285- Bernard

It looks like that is the case.

Some Little Giants!

Keep up the good work guys!

It is that time of the year. Wrestlers are tired, beat up and need more than that precious 2-pound allowance to keep their moral up.

When I first started wrestling, my middle school coach showed us "The Season." I recently found a YouTube link to the program.

It really fires me up and makes me want to get on the mats. Maybe its what you need to get you back in the game for the second half of the season.

Good luck coaches and wrestlers!

  Its just my perception, but do you agree that stalling is so rarely called?

I agree. Stalling isn't called enough, especially in the Indianapolis area. If they call it, it is normally too late in the third period to really matter. As far as I am concerned, call it early and call it often. Heck, I've even told a ref to hit one of my kids with stalling because he just wasn't doing anything.

We went up north to wrestle at the Al Smith and the guys up there were much better about making kids wrestle. I didn't agree with all the calls (who ever does?), but they seemed much more willing to hit a kid with stalling if they weren't looking to score.

I picked Davis in an earlier post. Wasn't there to see it, but what I hear surprised me. I'm looking forward to seeing him wrestle at Bankers Life!

Good luck the rest of the season to both wrestlers.

I'm with ya on this one but better yet the match would go faster if we used college boundary  rules...

College boundary rules would be awesome. Any chance of high school ever adopting riding time? That might encourage more kids to get up on bottom.

Atwood looked good in the first period. Would have liked to see him pull out the win. It would have been a huge win for Purdue. Too bad we couldn't see Tsirtsis in the finials.

I thought Vinny was a shoe-in before seeing Hughes wrestle this weekend. I was very impressed with him. From what I hear, he is constantly pushing himself in the room. I have a feeling that Corsaro would have his hands full if they meet. I hope they get to match up under the lights and not in the semis.

I'm not sure that reducing matches to five minutes would really reduce the stalling. I saw quite a bit of stalling during consolation matches over the weekend.

I also doubt we would really see a push in pace. Between evenly matched opponents, the first half of the first period helps them feel each other out. A lot of the real action seems to take place in the last 45 seconds of the first period. I think that if you cut it short, many wrestlers will just use the first period to feel each other out.

My biggest disagreement with this proposal is the second to last claim: it would value wrestling technique a little more over conditioning.

One of the things I've always liked about wrestling is that you can push your opponent to their breaking point. With a lot of kids, this happens late in the match when one wrestler has really pushed the pace in a match and gets his opponent so dog-tired he can't lift his head off the mat.

We shouldn't cut matches shorter just to make them more interesting just like we shouldn't turn football games into two-minute drills. There is so much that happens during that time period. I actually dislike that they make consolations 1-2-2. Six minute matches are not really that long.

 

not agreeing or disagreeing, but your math was a little off i believe. Shouldnt it be 28-18 based off your predictions. Outcome remains the same either way your point is made just thought wanted to be accurate. Sorry!

Thanks for the math correction. I somehow master calculus but still struggle with basic math.

And I gave Eldridge the major because I figured he and Petrole would get into some scrambles where someone could score major back points. Petrole is no slouch though. I could see him keeping it close and pulling out a decision win.

106 Colton Cummings (Lowell) 18-0, Fr vs 106 Paul Konrath (Mt Vernon) 19-0, Fr

I give it a close decision to Cummings. The kid is tough. 3-0

113 Jason Crary (Munster) 29-0, Fr. vs 113 D. J. Smith (Franklin Community ) 15-0, Sr

Crary looked good this weekend, but I think Smith's experience competing at the high school level gives him the edge. Crary will be one to watch for in the future though. 3-3

120 Jake Sinkovics (Mishawaka) 17-0, Sr. vs 120 Chad Red (New Palestine) 21-0, So.

Gotta give it to C.J. No disrespect to Sinkovics, but I don't think anyone can hang with Red. 3-6

126 Zack Davis (Penn) 19-1, Sr. vs 126 Nick Lee (Evansville Mater Dei) 10-0, Fr. 

This is a very tough one to call. I haven't seen Lee wrestle this year, but I've seen him throughout the years and I know he is a stud. That being said, Davis is looking really tough this year. I love seeing him go to work on top. I'll give the decision to Davis, but it could go either way. 6-6

132 Deondre Wilson (Warren Central) 12-0, Sr vs 132 Trae Blackwell (Union County) 18-3, Sr

Blackwell is a beast, but Deondre finds ways to win and is hard to get out of position. I'd take Deondre vs anyone at 126, but because he is bumping up, I give the match to Blackwell. I think Deondre makes it a close one. 6-9

138 Drew Hughes (Lowell) 18-0, So. vs 138 Brock Ervin (Union County) 19-1, Sr.

Hughes looked like a monster this past weekend. His 4-0 decision over Cash in the finals was dominate. Not sure if Cash was at his best, but either way a dominate performance. I haven't watched Ervin wrestle, but I heard he destroyed everyone at 138 down south. Too hard for me to call definitively since I haven't seen Ervin. I liked Hughes and he is my favorite to win state, but I'll give a close one to Ervin based off of what I'm hearing. 6-12

145 Tommy Forte (Mishawaka) 5-0, Jr. vs 145 Josh Pierre (Evansville Mater Dei) 11-0, Sr

Pierre is a very good wrestler, but Forte is a monster. I know he has been out recently and looked a little sluggish on Friday at the Al Smith, but if Tommy is at 90-100%, I don't see Pierre making it close. I give Forte the major. 10-12

152 Tristan Macri (Mishawaka) 17-0, Sr. vs 152 Ian Kahl (Trinity ) 12-1, Sr

This is another tough one to call because I haven't seen Kahl wrestle this year. Macri looked solid this weekend. He looks like a man on a mission. I'll give him the decision. 13-12

160 Kenny Hughes (Lowell) 18-0, Sr. vs 160 Nate Higgins (Belleville West ) 18-3, Sr.

Hughes looks unstoppable. He dominated the tournament for the second year in a row. I don't think anyone came close to him all weekend. I give him the major over Higgins 17-12

170 Chase Osborn (Penn) 17-0, Jr vs 170 Jacob Stevenson (Franklin Community ) 15-0, Jr

Osborn wrestled a very solid tournament at the Al Smith; one of my favorite wrestlers to watch because he was just nasty. Stevenson is the real deal though. I give Stevenson the decision. 17-12

182 Mike Eldridge (LaPorte) 28-0, Sr vs 182 Mike Petrole (Franklin Community ) 14-1, Sr

Eldridge is a big 182-pounder and he looked like he was throwing kids around with ease out there. This is a match that could see some crazy scrambles, but I think Eldridge gets the nod and a major. 21-12

195 Tieshawn Johnson (Elkhart Memorial) 20-0, Sr. vs 195 Brian Wagner (New Palestine) 19-2, Sr.

Tieshawn is an athlete and looks very solid this year. Two quality wins over Woods from Penn are impressive. I really like Wagner though. He is a tough kid and I think he has wrestled a tougher schedule. I give a close one to Wagner. 21-15

220 Gelen Robinson (Lake Central) 27-0, Sr. vs 220 Connor Tolley (Franklin Community ) 15-0, Sr.

Tolley is solid and would probably give Gelen his toughest math of the year. That said, you have to give the nod to the returning champion. Gelen is one heck of an athlete. 24-15

285 Shawn Streck (Merrillville) 20-0, vs So 285 Quinn York (Franklin Community ) 14-1, So

Both of these young heavyweights have a lot of potential. That said, I think York is a little-bit behind Streck. I give Streck the major.

27-15

I might be a little biased towards the Al Smith guys because I actually watched them wrestle this week. Hopefully we get to see some of these match-ups later on in February!

Colton Cummings of Lowell really impressed me all weekend at the Al Smith. I give him the nod at 106.

This Nate Jackson kid is nasty on his feet.

Go to Mat 2

Thanks a lot! I was getting frustrated.

Anyone else having a hard time viewing? I keep watching advertisement after advertisement, and then the screen goes black...

I am going to say that I think Kolat is actually a little better. I think the detail on Kolat is magnificent. That being said, Flowresting gives you a lot more variety from a number of different wrestlers and coaches around the country. In all honesty, you can't really go wrong with either site. If you are still having troubles, why not use both! ;D

While I wasn't offened in any way by his celebration, I do feel as through it might have been uncalled for. The NCAA punishes football and basketball players from celebrating in similar ways: why not wrestling as well? Personaly, I think a little celebration, such as jumping into your coach's arms or pointing your supporters in the stands, is alright. But Jenkin's celebration was much more than that.

I am wondering when they are gonna come out with a "Friday Night Lights" version of a wrestling movie. I don't feel like any of the ones I have seen do the sport justice.

From what I understand, Notre Dame and Cathedral have a pretty good history. I believe Cathedral has the most kids accepted to Notre Dame on a pretty regular basis. I had a teacher who told me that it was because they both had a rich history with "The Holy Cross."

If it is open, The Scarlett Inn located under the Sparks Center (right across from the athletic center) offers some great deals on some great food.