Jay defeats Falcons

James Myers said his Jay County High School wrestling wasn’t at its strongest. Winchester’s Brian Feltis was happy with the way his team performed.
But it was the Patriots who came away with the win.
Jay County pulled away late Thursday, winning four of the final five matches to take a 42-30 victory over the visiting Golden Falcons.
“We’re a little banged up right now,” said Myers, whose team dropped its first dual match Nov. 29 to Muncie Southside but bounced back to win the Spencer Haworth Invitational at South Adams two days later. “We had to forfeit a weight class. We’ve got a senior out of the lineup. We had to move guys around tonight to cover weight classes.
“It maybe wasn’t our best effort, but I’m not taking anything away from Winchester. They came out and wrestled hard.”
The Patriots jumped out to an early lead before falling behind 27-22 after Winchester put together three straight victories. But Jesse Finnerty’s win at 145 pounds turned the tide back toward Jay County.
Finnerty seemed ready to dominate when he got a quick takedown in the opening period and added a couple of three-point near falls for an 8-0 lead. But Thomas Underwood caught him out of position in the second period, tossing Finnerty to his back at the 1:27 mark and closing the gap to 8-5.
However, Finnerty came up with an escape, reclaimed control and finished off Underwood with a pin in 3 minutes, 40 seconds.
“Give credit to him. He fought through,” said Myers. “He gave up those points but then he came around and got a pin.”
Jay County extended its lead to 39-27 and then split the last two matches for the final margin.
Feltis said he thought his team could come back, even when the Golden Falcons needed pins in each of the final two matches just to forge a tie.
“I thought we were in it all the way to the 170 match,” said Feltis. “We could have at least come back and tied it. We were down 12 with two solid wrestlers left to go. … I was still pretty confident about coming back.
“I thought we wrestled really well, especially compared to last year. (The Patriots) really are a solid team. They’re fundamentally solid. And we’re getting there.”
Senior Corey Bellis (152) followed Finnerty’s win with a 17-2 technical fall over Dylan Williams, and then freshman Levi Hummel (160) turned in the fastest win of the evening when he pinned Avery Walker in 1 minute, 14 seconds.
Hummel wrestled in place of senior Dylan Harris, who missed the match because of an illness.
“He did a great job and got a pin for us,” said Myers of Hummel. “Last Saturday against South Adams we inserted him at 152 and he came away with a fall in a match where we really needed one. And tonight he got a fall. … One match tonight and it could swing either way and it’s a loss instead of a W. That was big for Levi.”
Eric Hemmelgarn (HWT) pinned Logan Williams in 1:41. Kyle Garringer (220) won by a 19-3 technical fall over Jacob Sofronko, and Alex Abbott (113) also picked up a technical fall 18-3 over Sabastian Thompson. Hunter Gillette (182) defeated Derek Jessup 10-3, and Conner Ray (120) picked up a forfeit victory.[[In-content Ad]]