Trio propels Patriots

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They let it be known the goal is to go undefeated in dual matches.

A flawless record is impossible without getting the first one out of the way.

Thomas Hemmelgarn won by decision to tie the overall score before Mason Winner and Chandler Chapman got consecutive pins, propelling the Jay County High School wrestling team to a season-opening 38-32 victory Tuesday over the Centerville Bulldogs.

“We wrestled fairly well with the guys that went out there,” said JCHS coach Eric Myers, whose team travels to Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday for the Franklin Invitational. “I felt like they gave a good effort. We just have to improve some stuff in the room technique-wise.

“We just have to be more aggressive than we were tonight.”

Hemmelgarn, a junior who qualified for semi-state last season at 170 pounds, competed at his more natural weight in squaring off against Danny Clark at 152. Hemmelgarn got a takedown early, but was called for a full nelson and surrendered a point.

He began the second period on bottom and escaped 32 seconds in for a 3-1 lead, and rode Clark out in the third period to get the victory and tie the match at 26-apiece.

Then a pair of experienced kids — sophomore Winner and junior Chapman — put the Patriots over the top.

Winner, who was seventh in the state last year at 145 pounds to become the program’s first freshman medalist, handled Centerville’s Nigel France with relative ease. The Patriot, who bumped up to 160 pounds this year, was ahead 14-4 before getting a pin just 91 seconds into the bout.

The only points he allowed were when he let go of Vance four times just to notch another takedown.

“He looks great,” Myers said. Winner’s victory broke a 26-all tie to put JCHS atop of Centerville, 32-26. “He was pretty excited to get out there and get his first varsity action of the year in.”

At 170 pounds, Chapman had little difficulty with Alec Runyon, pinning the Centerville sophomore in 3:06. Chapman was ahead 10-3 before getting the pin.

“He’s excellent on his feet,” Myers said. “He’s constantly improving.”

Centerville closed the evening by winning the next two matches by decision.

The Patriots jumped out to an early 12-0 lead to start the night as Nathanael Lykins and Gaven Hare got pins in less than a minute at 220 and 285 pounds respectively.

Lykins needed just 44 seconds to dispose of Jaeden Loring, and Hare — a state qualifier as a junior — took two seconds to defeat Noah Knorpp.

Zakk Atkins and Mitchell Ferguson accounted for the other two Patriot victories. Atkins notched an 18-3 tech fall over Andrew Wilmot at 120 pounds with 12 seconds left in the match, and Ferguson pinned Brayden Wicks at 126 pounds in 1:16.

“He usually wrestles up,” Myers said of Ferguson. “He went down a little bit to get to (126) this year. “Wrestling more his natural weight helped him out. He’s got some funky hips that gives people some trouble.”

Jay County struggled at the low weights as freshman Lita Chowning and sophomore Dylan Racster lost by pin at 106 and 113 respectively. At 138, junior Ian Liette dropped a major decision to Elijah Phillips 11-2, and freshman Ryan Herring lost by tech fall to Noah Westover 15-0 at 145.

“We’re going to work to get better, get some more experience in there,” Myers said.



Junior varsity

Jay County and Centerville squared off in four junior varsity contests and the host Patriots had victories in three of them.

At 126 pounds, Rylee Huftel pinned Brent Cones in 1 minute, 19 seconds. Chandler Bush pinned Alex Tanish in 4:54 at 170 pounds, and heavyweight Connor Davis won by pinfall over Jalen Johnson in 47 seconds.