JC's Meska wins title

FORT WAYNE — Drake Meska fell to his back, raising both arms toward the ceiling, fists clenched in triumph.
He had reached the career-long goal of earning a trip to the state finals. And he was just getting started.
After eking out a victory in the quarterfinals Saturday to guarantee himself a top-four finish and a trip to state, the Jay County High School senior went on to dominate in the semifinal round. And then he got a bit of revenge, defeating Yorktown’s Cole VanHorn 9-6 in a rematch of the previous week’s regional championship to win the 140-pound semi-state championship at the tournament hosted by Woodlan at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.
“It’s awesome,” said Meska. “I love it.
“I avenged a loss. That’s big, especially in the finals. It meant a lot to me.”
South Adams advanced a pair of wrestlers to the state tournament, with Todd Batt (125) and T.J. Burnfield (145) each finishing in fourth place Saturday.
They will join Meska at the IHSAA Wrestling State Finals at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis Friday at 6 p.m.
“It was definitely not the best that we could do,” said SAHS coach Eric Myers, who had seven wrestlers at in the tournament. “I’m not really sure why we didn’t wrestle as well as we could. … A few of those guys ran into some buzz saws, but there’s a few matches there I definitely thought we could have won.”
Meska had faced each of his final two opponents previously in the tournament, fighting off Bellmont’s Brooks Faurote for a 4-2 win in the sectional title match and falling to VanHorn in the regional championship. But on Saturday, he was in firm control of both matches.
Meeting up with Faurote (25-5) in the semifinals, Meska scored a quick takedown in the first period. He added an escape and a takedown in the second and then another takedown in the third as he scored a 7-0 shutout.
It took Meska just 12 seconds to score his first takedown against VanHorn (14-3), and he never trailed. He was up 4-3 after the opening period, used a throw for a takedown in the second and then got an escape and takedown within the first 17 seconds of the third period for a 9-5 advantage.
VanHorn managed an escape with 32 seconds left, but never threatened on the offensive attack as Meska took the three-point victory.
“Those last two matches are the best I’ve seen him wrestle in his entire career,” said JCHS coach James Myers. “It was all that we’ve known he’s had, it just finally came out. I think that finally qualifying for state let something off his shoulders. He was just great the last two rounds today.
“I’m excited for him. … He finally opened up and became the Drake that he could be.”
Meska said he was confident against each of his final two opponents.
“Against Faurote at sectional finals I just didn’t wrestle to win by a lot,” said Meska. “(Today) I just took it to him. I just knew I could beat him, so I didn’t have any hesitation.
“It was the same thing with VanHorn. He had beat me once, but I had seen Faurote beat him at the team regional. That just gave me all the confidence I needed.”
Meska’s closest call came in the quarterfinals — the ticket round — despite taking a 2-0 lead with a reversal in the second period.
He led most of the way, but gave up a takedown to Woodlan’s Cody Zink (32-2) with just 36 seconds to go in the third to fall behind by a point.
However, with just 11 seconds left he came up with a reversal for a 5-4 win and state berth.
“He took me down and I thought I was just done,” Meska said. “I had 30 seconds left. And then I just threw my hips over and luckily I got on top.”
Batt (39-1) dominated his 125-pound ticket-round, scoring eight straight points in the second and third periods on the way to a 12-5 victory over Huntington North’s Rob Newsome (26-9). The junior fell 10-3 to Jimtown’s Nick Crume (43-1) in the semifinal round, and then lost to Bluffton’s Phillip Gerber for the first time in six meetings this season 1-0 in overtime.
No. 18 Burnfield (19-2) knocked off Carroll’s Jon Timmerman (35-1), ranked 17th in the state, 5-2 in the quarterfinals to earn his state berth after beating Zach Beebe (32-9) of Prairie Heights in the opening round. He dropped a 4-2 decision to Jesse Goodnight (44-2) of Kokomo in the semifinals, and then fell 15-4 against Cam Matteson (36-1) in the third-place match.
“Todd Batt did what he had to do to get through,” said Myers. “He won two pretty good matches, and then ran into a tough Crume kid. He lives to see another day.
“T.J. beat two really tough kids, and then lost two kids I felt like he could beat.
“Hopefully they can regroup and pull off some upsets on Friday.”
Kyle Garringer (31-5) narrowly missed joining Meska at the state finals, losing by just a single point in the ticket round in the 189-pound bracket. The JCHS sophomore scored the only takedown in his match against Goshen’s Brandon Dillenbeck (37-3), but gave up two escapes and was called for stalling in the 3-2 defeat.
Garringer had won his opening-round match by pinning Mancheter’s Aaron Snep (25-11) in 1:48.
“He had a great season,” said James Myers. “It was sad to see it end the way it did, with a stall call. We scored the only takedown of the match, but yet we lose. … But it was a great season.”
Gabe Sprunger (34-6) was the only Starfire to win in the opening round and not punch his ticket to state in the quarterfinals. After beating Corey Botts (28-4) of Leo to open his day, the senior fell 9-2 to Huntington North’s Colin Downey (39-2) to end his career.
One of, if not the, biggest upsets of the tournament came in the 152-pound weight class. South Adams’ Josh Ehr, a two-time state qualifier who was undefeated and ranked second in the state, got caught in a cradle to start the second period of opening round match against Bishop Dwenger’s Carter Delaney and was pinned in 2:14.
Other first-round losses for the Starfires were: 119 — Eric Pimentel (23-13) by a 19-9 major decision to Homestead’s Kody George (37-1); 140 — Charlie Hirschy (26-15) by a 4-3 decision to West Noble’s Kevin Marsh (43-3); HWT — Maverick Morningstar (28-11) by a pin in 5:13 to Tyler Maine (18-8) of Marion.[[In-content Ad]]