By Brady Extin | Daily Reporter
NEW CASTLE – Off season training, in-season adjustments, and new faces.
All three played a big role in Hancock County’s performance at the New Castle Boys Wrestling Semi-State Saturday.
Seeking a top four finish to qualify for this weekend’s IHSAA Boys Wrestling State Finals, Six area wrestlers advanced to the main event to be held at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis.
Mt. Vernon led the way with three state qualifiers, New Palestine had two — and the lone semi-state champion — and Eastern Hancock had one.
The 120-pound championship match saw two county foes go at it. New Palestine’s Bryce Doss defeated Mt. Vernon’s Eli Broady by decision, 7-5.
“It feels good. I’ve worked for this the whole week and whole year,” Doss said. “Just the summer workouts and getting to all the practices I could get to.”
Last season at 113 pounds, the now sophomore just missed qualifying, losing by fall in the ticket round.
“This past year, it’s just been his focus, and that’s what we talked about before he got on the podium,” New Palestine head coach Scot Dawson said. “You could see him in the practice room, he hasn’t been too high, hasn’t been too low, just very focused on what he wanted to get done, and he was very impressive.”
For the freshman, Broady, getting to the championship match, was a battle.
In his ticket round match against Fishers’ Chayce Yant, a reversal near the end of round two erased a 6-3 deficit and put him ahead 7-6, and another escape at the end of round three sent things to overtime tied 8-8. A takedown and control almost immediately into the overtime round punched Broady’s ticket to the state finals.
“One of the most gutsy matches I’ve seen in a long time. That was probably the match of the day right there. Both those two went at it, and the level of their scrambles was just really high level stuff with the leg passes,” Mt. Vernon head coach Randal Hayes said. “We’ve talked about our schedule, and that’s why our schedule is what it is. It’s so we can come back and win those kinds of matches. Three years ago, we couldn’t win those because our schedule just didn’t get our guys ready.”
A bloody nose before the match even began, and multiple blood timeouts, did little to stand in Broady’s way.
“It was just gritting it out.” Hayes said. “He just battled in one of the best matches I’ve seen all year.”
At 106 pounds, both the Marauders and Dragons sent wrestlers through to Indianapolis.
This time, the two schools met in the semifinals and New Palestine once again got the upper hand. Gunner Butt defeated Conner Bayliss by decision 7-0. Butt would go on to finish runner-up, and Bayliss would drop the consolation match to place fourth.
“Gunner is quite the competitor. He likes the high stakes, and he came out tough and closed the gap against the Perry Meridian kid (in the final),” Dawson said. “He wrestled tough for six minutes and had a heck of a tournament.”
Bayliss was another county wrestler to fall in last year’s ticket round, but some in-season tweaks and a change in weight class made all the difference this time around.
“He’s just much stronger. The past month since we’ve moved him down from 113 to 106, it’s been his confidence level,” Hayes said. “He just feels so much bigger and stronger than the 106 pounders he’s wrestling.”
For Eastern Hancock’s Brayden Tincher, off season adjustments have been the key to his success.
After a ticket round loss last year, he spent the summer changing the way he wrestles. A defensive wrestler before, he began focusing on becoming the offensive guy, and it has paid off.
“Last year Brayden would wait for matches to come to him, and he was able to make things happen from there,” Eastern Hancock head coach Sam Pfaff said. “This year, we really focused on being the offensive wrestler and setting up things to benefit him. There was just a lot of growth in the off season.”
Tincher (182) pinned Western Boone’s Ethan Williams in 3:23 and Brebeuf’s Nolan Buckman in 3:09 to earn his spot in the state finals.
“It feels a lot better than it did last year. Just a totally different outcome, and I didn’t expect it to go as well as it has. I thought I’d have a tougher match in my ticket round, but I got in there, was super nervous, just started to wrestle and got more comfortable and was able to work my way to a pin,” Tincher said. “We’ve just turned all of my wrestling around, I’m a completely different wrestler this year.”
The lone returning state qualifier, Mt. Vernon’s Devin Kendrex (220), advanced once again, but didn’t go out the way that he or his coach, Hayes, expected.
A 5-3 overtime loss by decision in the championship match ended Kendrex’s run at a semi-state championship.
“I think it’s probably a good loss for him. I think it will humble him a little bit. He just ran out of gas, and no question that’s why he lost that match. Hayes said. “I think it’s going to motivate him this week, and he’ll be better off for it.”
Greenfield-Central entered the day with the most participants, eight, but failed to advance anyone through.
Six competitors fell in the opening round, and both JJ Harlow (132) and Clay Guenin (170) lost in the quarterfinal round.
Outside the three qualifiers, Mt. Vernon had four wrestlers lose their opening round match. New Palestine had two lose the first round, and Shaun Glass (195) fell in the ticket round, and Eastern Hancock had two drop the first round and Cameron Volz lost in the quarterfinals.
The IHSAA State Finals will begin with first-round matches Friday.
