hook and half

2010 represented a white-knuckled sectional for the Wildcats. Reitz beat MD in the dual 36-21. It marked the first time Reitz had beaten MD in 35 years, while serving up MD's first home loss in 32 years. "I've waited for this a long time," said Reitz coach Scott Ferguson, "But even when we were ahead, I wanted our kids to keep wrestling and they did. But they also understand this is not our goal; this is only the next step. We have bigger things and bigger matches ahead of us." Greg Schaefer did not mince words. "We just flat got out-wrestled tonight," said Schaefer. "They took it to us." The Panthers continued their beat-down on Mater Dei, besting them at the SIAC tournament. "The SIAC is a nice win," said Ferguson. "But it's even more important how it sets us up for the sectional." On paper, the sectional was another horse race; Reitz had five top-seeds and three number-two seeds, while Mater Dei had five top-seeds and two second seeds. The week leading up to the sectional, Mater Dei had no concern of their 34-year winning streak. The talk was all about Reitz. More importantly, beating Reitz. “It was no secret they were the team to beat, so that’s where our focus was,” recalled Schaefer. The focus paid dividends. The ‘Cats built up steam in the semis while Reitz sputtered. The Wildcats continued their march through the consolation and final to pull away and capture the 35th consecutive sectional. “In a tournament like this, you can’t take anything for granted,” said Schaefer. “We had so many good wins, but you can’t stop. You just have to follow it with another.” Scott Ferguson was clearly disappointed. “We thought it was ours to lose,” he said. “Our goal was to set ourselves up for the semi state by winning everything we could here. We lost some close matches, some we were banking on, and didn’t get some bonus points in places we expected. “We knew it wasn’t going our way when that disqualification gave them some points.” The disqualification was a bizarre, 189 pound match between Harrison’s Cameron Satterfield and Mater Dei freshman Nathan Wright. Satterfield had a lead and control of the match when he was charged with a penalty point for shoving Wright after they were out of bounds. The Mater Dei fans booed the errant behavior. The crowd reaction incensed Satterfield. He proceeded to have an animated discussion with the referee. Although his coaches pleaded with him to countenance his words and actions, it fell upon deaf ears. Satterfield eventually said the wrong thing to the referee and was disqualified. Wright placed fourth. Zach Henderson and Quinn Schroeder were the first titlists for the Wildcats, followed by John Sims. “Being the first team to lose to Reitz in 35 years hurt,” said Sims. “Our main concern today was just to win. We’d been losing close matches, which just isn’t like Mater Dei. We really stressed being more aggressive, really trying to pile up extra points. This was our little payback.”

A great day of wrestling on First Avenue! Let us look at how it shook out. 106- In one of the day’s key matchups, North Posey’s Blake Zirkelbach and Mater Dei’s Evan Seng served up a good one, with Seng collecting a 5-1 win. It is entirely possible that you will see this championship match the next two weeks. 113 & 120- Mater Dei’s Reed Egli and Cole Ross coasted, pinning the field. 126- Do not get into a chess match with MD’s Jacob Pierre. Pierre got the big end of 3-1 stick against a game Zach Traylor of Reitz. 132 & 138- Mater Dei practice partners, Alec Freeman and Blake Boarman took different paths to dominance, with Freeman pinning the field and Boarman teching the field. 145- In the other highly anticipated final, Mater Dei’s Ashton Hayhurst was impressive against Mt. Vernon’s Chris Newman. From the opening whistle, Hayhurst wrestled as if anything less than a pin would be underachievement. Hayhurst delivered, scoring the fall against a quality opponent. 152 & 160- Mater Dei’s Scott Fitts mounted the top of the podium, followed by a championship run offered by Brody Baumann. 170- Mt. Vernon’s Brady Hook broke the string of MD champs with a 5-2 win over MD’s Blake Weidner. Hook was composed and wrestled with a purpose. We may see these two go at again in a week. 182- MD’s Gabe Sollars continued his reign of terror, collecting three pins and extending his perfect season. 195- NP’s Wyatt Willman followed with a compelling case, eventually pinning Mt. Vernon’s Blake Ritzert and rolling his record up to 25-0. 220- MD’s Nick Boots pushed the pace against Reitz’s Logan Huggins and closed the gap. At the end of the day, Huggins claimed an 8-4 victory. Huggins is slick and heady. He is a solid 27-0. 285- Did you see MD’s James Ralph lift North’s Gage Sales head-high with an inside single leg? Wow! That was a lot of force hitting the mat. Do not get into a strength contest with Ralph. North Posey had a good day and will advance nine to the regional, most of whom have a good chance of wrestling in Jasper the following weekend. NP is a solid team. Could North Posey have nudged Boonville for the Castle Sectional title? Mt. Vernon’s day was mixed; they advance six to the North Regional. In a sport filled with thrilling wins and bitter disappointments, Saturday could not have been much better for Mater Dei as the ‘Cats put up a gaudy 331.5 points. The Wildcats wrestled to their top seeds, while winning at 106 and 145, where they were two-seeds. Unseeded sophomore Clay Martin put an exclamation mark on the day, finishing third at 195. Spoiler alert: push on him and you will receive a nasty surprise.

i'm sure track is getting unprecedented traffic on their servers. time to order more bandwidth

Shocker! What happened?

It's a love fest! Trip- maybe in 2021, we can raise a pre-semi state glass?

What happened? Both of these guys are contenders.

I agree; the northern part of the 195 bracket is nasty.

Corrected!

The Evansville Central Sectional—long considered as one of the toughest in the State—seems to be a bit down in 2021. That being said, do not forget it is populated by the 4A team champions, Mater Dei, and soon-to-be-perennial powerhouse, North Posey. Following one of the weirdest years in Grandmother’s history, wrestling follows suit. Consider that North Posey declined to complete for a PAC championship, while Mater Dei won the SIAC title—with 13 JV wrestlers. At any rate, the Central sectional still promises much excitement, fireworks…and some upsets. Mater Dei has not lost a sectional title since Jimmy Carter was in the White House. Google it for the date. Can Mater Dei shake off three weeks of rust and win the team title? Does a deep North Posey team have the horsepower to take the title? Is there an upstart? Well…let us take a look! 106- The little guys promise a high stakes finale in state-ranked Blake Zirkelbach of North Posey and MD’s Evan Seng. Both are high-flying, wide-open wrestlers. Adding to the intrigue is that Zirkelbach’s father, Gabe, is a former State Champ from MD. Who do you like? It likely depends upon the color of your jersey. How about the 11-1 Gabrielle Polen from Gibson Southern, not receiving a seed. Are you kidding? Look for Reitz’s Caleb Reed to meet Zirkelbach in the semi-final. 113- MD Junior Reed Egli sports a state ranking, 14-2 record and plenty of big match experience. Princeton’s Jared Dunn is a solid 18-2 and will attempt to top Egli on the medals stand. 120- Centrals Aydan Amento is solid and has put together an impressive, 23-3 season. Unfortunately, MD’s Cole Ross is on the other side of the bracket. Ross is in the hunt for a state title and his fourth sectional title. 126- First year starter, senior Jacob Pierre, received the nod for the top seed. Rival alert! Look for Pierre to meet Reitz’s Zach Traylor in the final. 132- Mater Dei senior Alec Freeman brings a perfect record and top-state ranking to the party. Freeman is going for his third sectional title. North Kris Sutton and North Posey’s Camden Lupfer compete for the second-highest podium spot. 138- Blake Boarman is fresh off his fourth SIAC title and looks to notch a fourth sectional title on Saturday. North’s Peyton Bell completed a brilliant freshman campaign and looks to square off with Boarman in the finals. 145- This should be a good one! Mt. Vernon coach Nick Alcorn successfully lobbied the number one seed for his 21-3 Chris Newman. At the southern end of the bracket lurks Mater Dei’s wildcard, Ashton Hayhurst. Wildcat fans (Mt. Vernon, not Mater Dei) do not look past North’s Matt Lehman! You will see him in the semifinal. 152- Mater Dei senior Scott Fitts earned the top seed. Centrals’ Luke Robards and Gibson Southern’s Christian Polen battle in the southern half of the bracket for the right to wrestle Fitts in the final. 160- Mater Dei’s Brody Baumann sports a perfect, 16-0 record and has yet to be tested this season. He is the prohibitive favorite and will face the winner of Central’s Ian Madden and Gibson Southern’s Owen Bryant. 170- North Posey captures its second top seed in the form of senior Clay Will. Will has been stellar and only has one blemish on his record. Will has no cakewalk to the final; in the semis, he will face North’s Cale Johnson. The bottom half of the bracket is equally tough! Mt. Vernon’s Brady Hook should face Mater Dei’s Blake Weidner for the right to vie for the top spot. This is a deep and balanced weight class. 182- Like his teammate, Mater Dei’s Gabe Sollars has yet to be touched in 20/21. Central is the first stop on his quest for a state title. In his way, will be the winner of Mt. Vernon’s Dalton Schmidt and North’s Mitchell Happe. 195- North Posey junior Wyatt Willman brings a spotless, 22-0 record to First Avenue. In one of the few intriguing quarterfinal matches, MD’s 9-0 Clay Martin faces North’s TJ Hankins for the right to face Willman in the semis. Do either have enough mustard for Willman? The bottom of the bracket is no less interesting as Reitz’s Reid Brickey will face Mt. Vernon’s Blake Ritzert. Hook prediction- There will be at least one upset in this bracket. 220- Who, in this sectional, has 24 wins? Answer: Reitz’s Logan Huggins. The senior is on a tear and secured the top seed. Looking to avenge an earlier loss is Mater Dei’s Nick Boots. Expect for 70 years of Reitz/Mater Dei hostilities to continue in the final. 285- Mater Dei’s big boy, James Ralph, gets the top slot. He will face a worthy challenger in the final in the form of Gibson Southern’s Alex Breivogel or North’s Gage Sales. All nine of the schools have competitive grapplers with opportunities to advance. Regardless of your affiliation, Central sectional wrestling fans have cause for excitement. Vincennes Lincoln, Princeton, North and Central will battle to finish in the top half of the team race. Expect for North Posey and Mt. Vernon to pile up points and compete for the runner-up slot. Whether you are a “Lover” or “Hater”, the outcome will be the same: Late Saturday afternoon, the crew from 1300 Harmony Way will raise the championship trophy for the 45th consecutive time. The Wildcats’ are too strong and too deep for the string to be broken in 2021. Hook’s Picks: Do not miss these semifinal matches: 113- Bulkley vs. Dunn, 132- Sutton vs. Lupfer. 152- Robards vs. Polen. 160- Madden vs. Bryant, 170- Weidner vs. Hook. 195- Ritzert vs. Brickey. 285- Breivogel vs. Sales Best finals matches: 106- Zirkelbach vs. Seng. 145- Hayhurst vs. Newman. 170- Weidner/Hook vs. Will. Hookemendations: *Get up early and have breakfast at the Pie Pan. After your omelet, (Hookticia prefers pancakes) have a piece of pumpkin or pecan pie...you don’t have to make weight! *If home takes you north or east, ask any Central or Mater Dei fan for directions to the Hornville Tavern. They have a family room and a smoked pork chop that is to D-I-E for. At the corner of 41 and I-64, you will find Stoll’s County Inn. This is the best buffet you will find and has an Amish influence. Tell ‘em Yoder sent you! If you like sushi or hibachi, Fujiyama offers the best value for Japanese cuisine in the city. It is Mrs. Hook's favorite place to eat. Banzai! *Founded in 1854, Evansville Central It is the oldest high school in continuous operation west of the Allegheny Mountains. Revel in the history!

Your right. That's why I have +510 and you are +72. Its called a dominate performance.

I meant their depth of intellect and emotion.

Great day for Memorial. They were without three weight classes and still cracked the top five, right behind Castle. To top it off, their heavyweight beats Jasper, depriving them of the SIAC crown. I look for the Tigers to make some noise in the post season.

Castle is too deep to be upset. MD makes a strong bid for second.

"full team"

if you own a farm, bet it that MD will be at the SIAC

Matt, no malice intended. This is a gut wrenching chapter for MD fans and CP fans. Three years earlier, freshman John Sims' father passed on the eve of the sectional. MD fans had real empathy for the Shrewsbury family. I never liked the fact the outcome of the match may had been affected by a coaching mistake. The CP win was followed with misery by the loss to Lawrence North. MD gave up four pins--the most ever in the State series. Hard to imagine that MD and CP took punishing losses in the same day. It was a long drive back to Evansville. The group I was with was emotionally exhausted. Constructing this post, brought back the details of that day. I am now sorry that I did it!

February 26, 2011 Mater Dei vs. Crown Point For the fans, it was the worst-possible draw. Top-ranked Crown Point and second-ranked Mater Dei were paired for the first round of Team State. For the first-ever meeting between the schools, Crown Point brought a star-studded lineup. Headliner Jason Tsirtsis was fresh off his third State Title. Tsirtsis’ practice partner, Eric Roach, had just won his second State Championship. Tyler Kral had finished third, while Josh Flamme was sixth. Jake Fuqua and Dusty Schurg qualified for the State Meet. Crown Point won the Team State title in 2009 and was eager to return to the winner’s circle. Mater Dei countered with State Runner-up John Sims. Josh Boots and Jake Lannert finished third, while Sam Goebel and Josh Pierre were State Qualifiers. In a storyline all too familiar to Mater Dei fans, Crown Point’s Kyle Shrewsbury’s life was rocked by tragedy. The previous Wednesday, Kyle’s third-grade sister, Brianna, complained of abdominal pain. She was taken to a local hospital where she died of an aneurism. The Shrewsbury family decided that Crown Point, the community and Kyle would best be served by Kyle’s appearance in Crown Point’s line-up. The match opened at 189 pounds, where Josh Boots lit up the Red and Gold with a first period pin of Matt Langbehn. Nathan Wright minimized the damage at 215, losing to the Bulldogs’ Tyler Kral, 9-1. Justin Van Winkle put the ‘Cats back in the driver’s seat with his second period pin of Josh Swope. The Bulldogs got back on track when Josh Fuqua and Colton Saroff beat Wyatt Seng and Sam Goebel to make it 12-10. Freshman Josh Pierre delivered for the ‘Cats, winning a nerve-wracking, 2-1 decision over Trevor Burlison. Zach Henderson got out early and built a 3-0 lead over Matt Harvey. Harvey, however, mounted a comeback and beat Henderson, 6-3. Max Mangold punched back, decisioning Cameron Halsted, 5-1. Crown Point had its opportunity to put the match away when Jake Fuqua had a 2-0, third period advantage over Quinn Schroeder. Schroeder escaped early in the third to cut the deficit to one. Fuqua was exhausted; he took no shots, backed up and countered. With a stall warning already issued, Fuqua backed off the mat and was assessed a penalty with one second remaining on the clock. The Crown Point coaches meekly went to the scorer’s table to protest. Quinn Schroeder heard the conversation. “The referee told them ‘We are going to overtime, if your boy backs up again, I’m going to ring him up,’” said Schroeder. “I had nothing left, so I kept my elbows in and pushed as hard as I could.” The plan worked. A few seconds into overtime, Fuqua backed up, referee Frankie Medvescek raised his fist and Schroeder was a 3-2 winner. The Red and Gold exploded while Crown Point’s coaches meekly protested. Leading 21-13, the Wildcats faced the heart of the Crown Point line-up. Hurricane Jason Tsirtsis took the mat against Jake Lannert and scored a technical fall, followed by an 8-1 decision by Josh Flamme over Sam Riggs. Senior Evan Weinzapfel attacked Dusty Schurg off the whistle, taking him to his back and nearly pinning him. Weinzapfel took an 8-0 lead before an injury robbed the wind from his sails. Sporadically burning nearly all of his injury time during the match, Weinzapfel struggled to complete the match, losing in overtime, 11-9. This set the stage for one of the greatest coaching blunders in Indiana wrestling history. Crown Point head coach Scott Vlink sent his State Champ, Eric Roach to wrestle John Sims. Evidently, Vlink did not realize that Roach was not certified to wrestle at 160. Assistant Coach John Dewig immediately caught the mistake and called the officials to the table. After a brief conference, the ruling was issued. Roach would not be allowed to wrestle. Substitute Hunter Moore was no match for Sims and succumbed to a first period pin. With a 27-25 lead over the Bulldogs, the bout between Dalton Brandenstein and Crown Point’s Kyle Shrewsbury would decide the dual. Shrewsbury scored the opening takedown and the match devolved into a cat and mouse game. Brandenstein managed an escape early in the third period to make it 2-1. With time winding down and the two hand fighting, it appeared that Shrewsbury would end the match with both wrestlers on their feet. With less than ten ticks on the clock, Brandenstein took a shot and scored the takedown, touching off a wild celebration. Final Score: Mater Dei- 30, Crown Point- 25. The aftermath of the substitution debacle left Crown Point’s coaching staff embarrassed and their team enraged. The Bulldogs believed that rules or not, Roach should have been allowed to wrestle. “Why? “asked an enraged Josh Flamme. “You’re going to lose your entire State Tournament. What’s the point? They said what we did was illegal. They won on something we didn’t expect.” “I understand what their coach (Greg Schaefer) did,” said Eric Roach. “Obviously it was a smart move for them. But all the people are saying ‘What are you doing?’ I would take him (Sims) on. What are you scared of? He’s got 20 pounds on me. Let’s see who has the better team. Our team worked their butts of all year. It’s hard to end like this.” The joy of one Mater Dei’s greatest victories on a big stage was short-lived. The next round, Mater Dei gave up four pins to Lawrence North and lost the match on criteria. Many in attendance believed it to be the toughest loss Mater Dei Wrestling ever endured. The next season, Jason Tsirtsis won his fourth State Title. Tsirtsis was regarded as the nation’s top high school prospect in 2012. The Olympic aspirant accepted a scholarship to Northwestern. Eric Roach joined Indiana University’s wrestling team, while Tyler Kral became a grappler for the Purdue Boilermakers.

The Wildcats traveled to Columbus, Ohio on January 18 to compete in the National College Duals. Mater Dei rolled over, Lisbon, 56-12 in the first round, and Cincinnati Lakota East, 58-13, in the second round. Their last opponent, St. Paris Graham, was much more formidable. The national polls had Mater Dei at 11th, while St. Paris Graham was ranked second. St. Paris Graham was a buzz saw and defeated the ‘Cats, 39-15. The loss broke Mater Dei’s 116-match winning streak and handed Mater Dei its second dual loss in 253 matches. "If our streak mattered, we wouldn't have accepted this challenge,” said Mike Goebel. “We never talk about that. We just saw this as a chance to wrestle a quality opponent, somebody who will make us better in the long run.” St. Paris Graham was the real deal. Standard-bearer Blake Maurer lost only the second match of his career, a 3-1 decision to Joe Dennis. "It was a great match," said Goebel. “He (Dennis) got a takedown with two seconds left. We didn't question it when we were there, but when we watched the tape, Blake was clearly out of bounds and Dennis' foot was on the line. The match should've gone overtime, I guess. But that doesn't necessarily change the outcome. The guy was a bear. Blake will learn from it, go on and get better." "The guys came back to the room and decided they needed to work harder, and that's what they've done," said Goebel. "We didn't lose anything that really mattered, we just lost a match. But even at that, if we win all four of our close matches, it's a tie. And if we get those and Craig Weinzapfel gets the pin at 145, which we thought he had, well, we could conceivably win." Maurer faced an unfamiliar foe in his match with Dennis: Nerves. “To be totally honest, I was very nervous,” said Maurer. “The match was at Ohio State. I really wanted to go to Ohio State. After my warm-up, I look in the stands and there is Russ Hellickson (Ohio State’s wrestling coach) setting next to my dad. I’m like, ‘Holy crap, I need to get it done out here.’” Mater Dei tallied wins from Matt Coughlin, Craig Weinzapfel, Sam Wildeman and Chaz Schwartz. Schwartz won with an eight-second pin at heavyweight. The Wildcats were disappointed with their performance. “The whole dual was about ‘What ifs?’” said Craig Weinzapfel. “We had a bunch of one-point matches that went the wrong way. To not do our best was a real let-down.” In Paris St. Graham, Mater Dei found themselves sampling their own medicine. “Everywhere we wrestled, people always talked about what good shape we were in,” said Craig Weinzapfel. “That team (St. Paris Graham) was in incredible shape; incredibly strong. It seemed like they had the mentality that they were going to go as hard as they could no matter what.” “We were at the weigh-in,” said Wildeman. “I’m looking at this guy, and he is around my size (160 pounds). One of the guys on the team, said ‘No, that’s who Macke (125 pounds) has. The guy was huge. He was a man.” “Graham won all of the close matches,” said Maurer. “Their conditioning was better than ours. We had our opportunities; we just didn’t get it done.”

There is an even bigger difference in the big ten programs. The bottom teams are not competitive with the top teams.

In the 2000 team semi-state, Mater Dei faced the Plainfield Quakers for the title. Mike Goebel's gamesmanship was on full display when he inserted reserve freshman Sam Wildeman into the lineup against Plainfield's undefeated Derek Donelson. Assistant coach Randy Helfrich had a plan for Wildeman.... Donelson had his hands full. Wildeman scored a reversal in the third period to make it 5-3. in a wild "pick 'em" scramble at the end of the match, Donelson came out on top and won by six. Plainfield's coach, Paul Nicodemus, was impressed, telling Wildeman "he was going to have a great career."

In 1981, Mater Dei's Chris Wildeman was a one-trip wonder. Not only that, he won the state title... Trailing. In overtime. With a defensive pin. Twenty-two years later, his son, Sam, became a one-trip state champ. Sam beat a very tough Marc Bennett from Martinsville, albeit in less dramatic fashion.

While I appreciate The data and logic, I think you overlooking the simple fact that people tend to dislike Boonville. I get it. How long are they going to ride the “young Abe Lincoln studied the law here” train? It’s exhausting. Pioneer this.

Bold picks- cathedral, emd, browns burg,and pm will do very well

How well do you think memorial’s team would stack up against union county’s A?

What happened?