INDIANAPOLIS — New Palestine’s boys wrestling team has come a long way in a short time.
A year ago, the Dragons needed a criteria tie-breaker to defeat Franklin Central in dual competition at New Palestine High School.
On Thursday at FC, New Palestine won 11 of 14 matches, got bonus points in eight wins and won the two tightest contested matches of the night in a 49-13 victory over the Flashes.
“I thought we wrestled really well. Last year we won on criteria as a team,” New Palestine head coach Andrew Frey said. “To show the growth again that we’ve been showing all year and winning the way we did, that’s just a good internal victory for us to show we’re wrestling well. Hopefully that continues.”
Along with getting a win by forfeit in the 106-pound match, New Palestine (13-4) picked up three wins by fall, and four by major decision.
At 157, New Palestine’s Jaedyn Jeffries won 6-4 with an early overtime takedown against Jeremiah Tindal. In the final seconds of the third period, at 190, Brandon Brees recorded a takedown to defeat Raymond Hunter 6-4.
Jeffries’ win clinched the team victory in the dual that opened with the 285-pound match.
It was also a nice victory heading into a big Saturday at Franklin Community High School.
In another great sign of how far the program has come, New Palestine is the No. 6 seed in the 12-team Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association Class 3A Team duals.
“Franklin Central is a tough team,” Frey added. “You never know what to expect. The theme this week was just to use this as a regroup from [the Connersville Spartan Classic] and get back into the dual state-of-mind, fighting for bonus points everywhere we could get them, and going back into the team aspect of, ‘your match is you, but we’ve got a team thing here, too.’”
Pins from William Glesing (285) and Landon Stranger (113) to go with a forfeit victory for Blake Doss (106) got the Dragons out to an 18-0 lead.
Franklin Central’s top-rated wrestler, 120-pounder Richard Rogers defeated Wes Harbert by fall in the third period.
The Dragons ran off the next four wins, coming from the strongest section of their lineup.
With a pair of bookend 2023 state-placers in Gunner Butt (126) and Bryce Doss (144) and a couple of high-ranked wrestlers in Cole Vandygriff (132) and Peyton Hornsby (138) the Dragons had two major decisions and a pin to take a 35-6 lead.
Butt was a 10-2 winner over Demario Ezell. Vandygriff beat one of FC’s top wrestlers in Gauge Clark, 10-4. Freshman Hornsby won 13-5 over Nate Kemp and Bryce Doss picked up a quick pin in 1:46 over Tim Ruley.
“Cole wrestled one of their better kids if not their best kid and fought an injury halfway through and still found a way to keep scoring points at the end,” Frey said. “That was big.”
At 150, Franklin Central’s Moses Stevenson, another state-ranked wrestler for the Flashes, followed with a win over New Pal’s Elijah Alonso, 16-8. It kept the Flashes, mathematically, in the match, but Jeffries ended that with his overtime win to give New Palestine a 38-10 lead.
At 165, the Dragons claimed another major decision with Gabe Flick knocking off Hunter Marlow 13-5.
“[Flick] lost to that kid twice last year and managed to get a bonus-point victory on him,” Frey said. “I’m happy for him showing his growth.”
Franklin Central’s third and final win of the night came in the 175 match with Bryce Danzer downing Gavin Wilcher 9-3.
Brees followed with an exciting win over Hunter. Tied 4-4 late, Brees, with just his toes in the circle, got his takedown as time ran out.
Another Dragon that has been in the individual rankings, 215-pounder Shaun Glass, closed out the match with an impressive 14-6 win over Demetrius Dillard.
“In the dual, overall, it was good for our sectional seeds,” Frey added on the head-to-head matchup with one of the nine teams they’ll compete with at the Shelbyville Sectional. “We won 11 out of 14 matches so 11 guys got seeds over Franklin Central, that’s good, real good.”
New Palestine opens dual action 9 a.m. Saturday against No. 11 East Noble. The Dragons beat their first-round opponent by one point, to finish second, at last week’s Connersville Spartan Classic.
