Big day for Jay, SA

In a tournament that included a 20-time defending champion, the Patriots and Starfires would have been hard pressed to ask for a better result.
The No. 17 South Adams High School wrestling team finished as the sectional runner up at Jay County Saturday, scoring 228.5 points to finish behind ninth-ranked Bellmont (266.5). It advanced wrestlers to the regional in 12 out of 14 weight classes — the top four in each class move on to regional action — and Josh Ehr, T.J. Burnfield, Gabe Sprunger and Todd Batt all came away with titles.
“For us to stay close with Bellmont, we had to have everything go right,” said SAHS coach Eric Myers. “To take 12 on, the most we’ve ever taken on, and tie our record for most champions is a pretty good day.
“It’s hard to get 14 guys to wrestle perfectly in one day, but I know they did their best.”
Jay County, which will play host again next week for the regional tournament, trailed only the pair of state-ranked squads in third place with 161 points. Senior Drake Meska and sophomore Kyle Garringer each picked up championships as the Patriots earned seven regional berths.
Bellmont competed in nine championship matches, winning four, and matched SAHS with 12 regional qualifiers. Adams Central was fourth in the nine-team tournament behind the Patriots with 146 points.
“It says a lot,” said JCHS coach James Myers the third-place finish for his team, which was fifth a year ago. “If you base the sectional just off of seedings, we were supposed to get sixth. … We knew Bellmont, and we knew South Adams were tough. They were going to be tough to catch. I thought if we could get third place that would be a great day.
“To have four freshmen and two sophomores advancing is a great day.”
No match throughout the course of the day was more exciting than Garringer’s championship victory.
Wrestling with an injured shoulder, the sophomore had squeaked his way into the finals with a 3-1 victory over South Adams’ Cody Conner in the semifinals. He tried to end the title match against Ben Baker of Bellmont quickly, getting a near fall in the first 30 seconds.
But Baker was able to avoid the pin, and he erased a 5-0 deficit to take a one-point lead by the end of the first period. Garringer (29-4) started the second period down and finally managed an escape with just eight seconds left to pull even at six.
However, Baker took control in the third period, built a 10-6 lead and was still up by three with just 10 seconds to go. With the championship on the line Garringer mustered what little energy he had left, threw Baker to his back with five seconds to go and picked up a two-point near fall for a stunning 11-10 victory.
“That’s Kyle,” said James Myers. “He had this injury last year he had to push through. … He had to take several injury timeouts during the day. ...
“Kyle’s got his mom’s personality. He’s a go-getter. He had his mind set on winning a sectional championship and that’s what he did today.”
Garringer said the shoulder bothered him all day and he was exhausted, but taking an injury default to save himself for next week never crossed his mind.
“No, not at all, because I wanted it,” he said of that possibility. “It’s all heart and guts. If you want it, you can get it. … It feels really good.”
Meska’s victory was a bit more conventional, but still came down to the closing moments.
He grabbed the lead against Bellmont’s top-seeded Brooks Faurote, who was wrestling with a cast on his left hand and forearm, with a takedown 1:30 into the first period. He pushed the advantage to 4-0 with a reversal early in the third.
Faurote came on strong late as he pulled to with 4-2 with a reversal with about a minute left, but Meska (38-2) was able to fight him off for the victory.
“I got the takedown in the first period … and then I was just playing defense a little bit more than he was,” said Meska, noting that the victory was the first in his career against a Bellmont opponent. “I’m excited. I didn’t even make it out (of the sectional) until last year. Winning one is awesome.”
South Adams won its four championships in a run of six weight classes from 125 to 152 pounds.
Todd Batt (36-1), who entered the tournament ranked 13th in the state, got the Starfires rolling with an 8-4 victory over Bluffton’s Phillip Gerber at 125. Gabe Sprunger (32-5) dominated Jon Raugh, also of Bluffton, taking an 11-1 lead into the final period and recording a 16-4 major decision for his championship at 135 pounds.
T.J. Burnfield (17-1) fell behind 4-0 in the 145-pound finale, but shut out Union City’s Kyle Walters the rest of the way. The key points came late in the second period as he got a reversal and near fall to tie the score. He grabbed the lead with another near fall early in the third period and dominated the remainder of the match for an 11-4 win.
And Josh Ehr (37-0), a two-time state qualifier who is ranked second in the state, controlled Bellmont’s Will Busse in the 152-pound title match for a 4-0 victory.
“Todd Batt beating a good kid for the fourth time, I think that’s pretty impressive for him,” said Eric Myers. “He just keeps chugging along.
“Gabe Sprunger, that’s the first high school tournament title that he’s had. …
“T.J., it looked a little ugly there for a little bit, and then he came back and ended up winning by seven.
“Josh Ehr, he just did what he had to do. I think he wants to pin … but (he had) a good, solid, takedown, ride-them-out win.”
The two local schools competed in three other championship matches, with Jay County freshman Eric Hemmelgarn (30-9) making the finals at 215 pounds. He pinned South Adams’ Nathan Wynn in 1:14 in the opening round and beat Ethan Potter of Southern Wells 14-8 in the semifinals before falling 18-6 to Bellmont’s Travis Thatcher in the finals.
South Adams’ two championship losses both came by pin against Bellmont opponents. Freshman Maverick Morningstar (26-10) of the Starfires lost in 51 seconds to Daniel Meyer (34-0) in the heavyweight division, and Isaac Werst (32-6) fell in 1 minute, 15 seconds to Ryley Hankenson (34-1).
Others advancing to the regional round for Jay County were freshmen Conner Ray (third – 103), Jesse Finnerty (third – 130) and Zach Metcalf (fourth – 171) and sophomore Dustin Tighe (fourth – 125).
“We had a lot of matches where we were paired against Bellmont wrestlers and I thought we showed up, especially those young guys. Finnerty getting two pins against the same kid from Bellmont was a big confidence booster. Hopefully that serves us well for next week.”
Also qualifying for the regional from South Adams were Eric Pimental (third – 119), Charlie Hirschy (third – 140), Keegan Puterbaugh (fourth – 103), L.J. Moser (fourth – 112), Jordan Landers (fourth – 160) and Cody Conner (fourth – 189).[[In-content Ad]]