HANCOCK COUNTY — Two more wins, that is all it takes.
Seems simple, but it is quite difficult.
Twenty-four Hancock County wrestlers have that two-victory goal.
They all need just two wins at today’s New Castle Semi-State to advance to next week’s IHSAA Boys Wrestling State Finals at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Feb. 17-18.
“There are a lot of highs and lows (at the semi-state). You can have your heart broken or you could go home really happy,” New Palestine head coach Scot Dawson said.
There are 16 wrestlers in each of the 14 weight classes. An opening round win gets you to the quarterfinals, known as the “ticket round.” A win in the quarters guarantees a top four placing and spot in the state finals.
“In most states, you get to the ticket round you probably place at state,” Mt. Vernon head coach Randal Hayes said. “Here, the ticket round is just a semi-state match. At New Castle, it’s just so loaded, you are going to have to beat someone really good to get through. It may be the first round. It may be the second round, but if you get through you’ve beaten someone really good.”
Of the 24 county wrestlers, five go in as regional champions. They’ll open with a match against a fourth-place regional wrestler. Both Mt. Vernon and Eastern Hancock have two regional champions. New Palestine has one. Greenfield-Central has the most qualifiers, eight, with three regional runners-up and five third-place finishers. Mt. Vernon advanced seven to today’s tournament. New Palestine will have five wrestlers and Eastern Hancock four.
Connor Bayliss, at 106, and Devin Kendrex, at 220, are the Marauders two champions from the Pendleton Heights Regional. Kendrex, a sophomore, is the lone returning county wrestler that qualified for last year’s state meet.
“He set himself up by winning the regional last week to get a really good draw,” Hayes said of Kendrex. “I think we’re in a great spot of getting him back to the finals (today) and that would really set himself up (for state). Something would have to go pretty wrong for him not to get through, but we expect him to be in the finals and possibly bring home a semi-state title.”
Eastern Hancock is led by two Richmond Regional tournament champions, Cameron Volz (132) and Brayden Tincher (182). New Palestine’s Bryce Doss (120) won his title at the Perry Meridian Regional.
“They’ve all got tough first-round matches and in the second round it only gets tougher,” Eastern Hancock coach Sam Pfaff said of his wrestlers. “You’ve got to show up and wrestle. There are no easy draws any more. Everybody has earned their spot, tough matches all around.”
Volz, with his victory last week, set a school record for wins in a single season with 42.
Greenfield-Central’s Clay Guenin, was a runner-up in last week’s 170-pound division at Perry Meridian, but is the top-ranked wrestler in his class, according to the IndianaMat.com rankings of wrestlers feeding into the New Castle Semi-State. Kendrex is rated No. 2, though the No. 1 wrestler, Jackson Weingart of Cathedral, was injured last week and did not participate in the regional.
Doss (No. 3), Mt. Vernon’s Eli Broady (No. 4 at 120) and Greenfield-Central’s Isaiah Holden (No. 4 at 152) are county wrestlers ranked in the Top 4 in the wrestling website’s ratings.
With the four county schools taking three different routes to get to semi-state, all four school’s 120-pounders qualified for the semi-state tournament. Along with Doss and Broady, Eastern Hancock’s Logan Gilman and Greenfield-Central’s Cade Zuber make up one-fourth of the competition in their division.
“I think (New Castle) is the deepest (of the semi-states),” Hayes added on the challenge ahead for today’s tournament. “The one down in Evansville is really tough, too, but depth-wise, New Castle has to be the toughest to get through. It’s a tougher environment with the smaller floor … It’s a different atmosphere. It’s high pressure, it’s packed in there. It’s a hard environment to go in as a high school kid and deal with.”
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New Castle Wrestling Semi-State
Time: 8 a.m., Saturday
Site: New Castle Fieldhouse
Admission: $12 per person. Children age 5 and younger admitted free.
Advancement: The top four place winners in each weight class advance to the state finals.
Local participants (24): Eastern Hancock (4) — Logan Gilman (120), Zayne Badgley (126), Cameron Volz (132), Brayden Tincher (182); Greenfield-Central (8) — Lincoln Parsons (113), Cade Zuber (120), JJ Harlow (132), Kannon Zuber (138), Cohen Hager (145), Isaiah Holden (152), Clay Guenin (170), Silas Frye (182); Mt. Vernon (7) —Connor Bayliss (106), Elijah Broady (120), Tristan Trevino (138), Aiden Kiner (145), Elijah Kiner (152), Russell Weaver (195), Devin Kendrex (220); New Palestine (5) — Gunner Butt (106), Cole Vandygriff (113), Bryce Doss (120), Tyler Lavin (126), Shaun Glass (195)
