Hemmelgarn third for Jay

INDIANAPOLIS — It seemed only fitting that Eric Hemmelgarn’s reaction after his final match was another jump into the arms of assistant coach Andy Pfeifer.
His career had made quite a leap.
In less than 24 hours, the Jay County High School sophomore went from being a fourth-place finisher at semi-state who was expected to bow out quietly in the opening round of the state finals to the odds on favorite to win the 2013 state title.
Hemmelgarn followed his Friday-night upset of Perry Meridian’s Donte Winfield with two more victories Saturday in the IHSAA Wrestling State Finals at Banker’s Life Fieldhouse, including a 4-3 win over top-ranked Kaden Suter of Martinsville, to finish third in the heavyweight division.
“I feel really great,” said Hemmelgarn after defeating Sutter, who entered the weekend unbeaten. “I got third in the state as a sophomore.
“It’s neat. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
After pinning the fifth-ranked Winfield, who had just one loss, in the second period on Friday, Hemmelgarn (43-6) reached the semifinals with a 3-0 victory over Mater Dei’s Nathan Wright.
He dropped his only match of the state finals in the semifinal round 5-2 to Elkhart Central’s Dominique Stauffer, who he had lost to by pin just a week earlier.
That put him in the third-place match against Suter, who entered the weekend perfect and ranked No. 1 in the state before falling 3-1 in overtime to No. 2 eventual state champion Abraham Hall (50-0) of Bremen in the semifinals.
The first period of the third-place match went scoreless, and Hemmelgarn chose the down position to start the second. He quickly got to his feet and ripped Suter’s hands apart to score the first point with an escape just 11 seconds into the period.
Suter came back with a takedown at the 1:04 mark, but Hemmelgarn again got an escape to even the score and then came up with the biggest points of the match. He grabbed Suter’s ankle and was able to spin behind just before the buzzer sounded.
After a short discussion, the referees awarded Hemmelgarn the two-point takedown for a 4-2 lead and he stayed in control the rest of the way. He rode out Suter for the entire third period, giving up a stalling call late as he earned a 4-3 victory.
“Besides the takedown, (Suter) didn’t really put us in any danger,” said JCHS coach James Myers. “We got a takedown and got off bottom. It was just a well-wrestled match by Eric.
“(Sutter) was undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the state, and we just beat him. I mean, it was a great match, a great weekend. I’m excited for him. This is excellent.”
Hemmelgarn was never in much danger against Wright (40-5) either.
After wrestling through a scoreless first period, Wright chose the bottom position to start the second only to have Hemmelgarn ride him out. Wright chose to give up the escape point to start the third period rather than risk giving up a reversal, but Hemmelgarn made that one-point lead stand up.
The sophomore stood strong throughout the final period and then scored a takedown in the final 10 seconds en route to his 3-1 win.
Although Hemmelgarn went on to fall to Stauffer in the semifinals, he wrestled a much stronger match than he had at the semi-state when he lost by pin in 4:44.
He fought Stauffer to a scoreless tie through the first two periods before giving up an escape, takedown and two-point near fall in the third. He came up with a reversal to close the gap, but couldn’t continue the comeback as he dropped a 5-2 decision.
Hemmelgarn bounced back to defeat Suter, completing a weekend in which his three victories came against wrestlers who entered the state finals with a combined three losses. Each of the other top six placers in the heavyweight class were seniors.
“Not too many people outside of our circle here believed that he could win,” said Myers. “He comes in after finishing fourth at the semi-state last week and knocks off a semi-state champion and knocks off the kid from Mater Dei. We lose a close match to the Stauffer kid, who only had one loss on the season, and we beat the No. 1 kid in the state … That’s an unbelievable weekend. Not many kids do that in a career. He just did it in one weekend.”
The effort made Hemmelgarn the youngest wrestler in Jay County history to place among the top three, and only the seventh to do so in school history. He was just the third sophomore in Patriot history to even compete at the state finals.
And although he said the weekend was a once-in-a-lifetime, he plans on proving his own statement wrong.
“All I’ve got to say,” Hemmelgarn said, “is Banker’s Life Fieldhouse, I’ll be back the next two years.”[[In-content Ad]]