Winner, Winner, Winner

FORT WAYNE — Jake Lone tried, but he couldn't get Mason Winner to the mat.

Winner stayed on his feet, and when the buzzer sounded he pointed toward his dad, Jon, and screamed.

He turned to the opposite corner where the Patriot fans were bursting with joy.

Blood covering his face, Winner put up three fingers and yelled the same number he was signaling.

Three in a row.

Winner, a Jay County High School junior, hung on for a 3-2 victory over sixth-ranked Lone of NorthWood to win his third straight semi-state championship on Saturday at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.

“I made a promise to my grandpa before he passed that I was going to become a state champ and this is part of the journey there,” the 182-pounder said. Winner becomes the program's first three-time semi-state champion. “So it's a pretty special one because it's for him and I know he's watching down on me.”

JCHS senior Chandler Chapman will join Winner at the state finals at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis as he was fourth at 195 pounds.

The top four in each weight class advance to the state tournament, which begins with the opening round on Friday night. Quarterfinals, consolations and finals resume on Saturday.

South Adams, which sent two to state last year, was without a qualifier after having five reach semi-state.

In the championship against Lone, the seventh-ranked Winner (40-2) scored an escape to start the second period for the first points of the match. Lone nearly took him to the mat with 26 seconds remaining, but like he did later the Patriot junior didn't let him do so. Lone evened the score with an escape early in the third, but Winner nabbed a 3-1 advantage with a single leg takedown with 63 seconds to go. Lone managed to break free with 12 seconds left and failed to score again.

“He was pretty focused,” JCHS coach Eric Myers said. Winner pinned Cass junior Cayl Garland 1 minute, 58 seconds into their opening match, and earned his third consecutive berth in the state finals with an 11-1 major decision over Wayne senior Justin McDonald.

Winner dominated Oak Hill senior Bradley Rossman in the semifinal en route to a 7-0 victory.

“He comes into semi-state focused, wrestles hard and has a game plan,” Myers added. “I do think that it helped to wrestle (Lone) early in the season. He had a little bit better feel for him, little bit better feel of his offense.

“Other matches were solid all the way through.”

Chapman, who was undefeated at 14-0 entering the day, won his opening-round match against Garrett junior Cole Bergman easily by a 10-1 major decision, then rallied to beat Northfield senior Jasper Donaldson 6-5 in the ticket round to secure his state berth. The Patriot was trailing 4-2 before an escape and a stalling call evened the match. He fell behind again 5-4 in the third period before scoring a takedown with 46 seconds left for the win.

“Pretty happy,” said Chapman, who got pinned the semifinal to eventual semi-state champion Charlie Agnew of Huntington North. “I felt like I was a little sluggish today.”

In the third-place match against Cale Gray — Champman beat Gray to win the sectional and regional titles — he wasn't able to make it a perfect three-for-three this season versus the Norwell junior.

“Gray's match, I knew it was tough and I knew he was going to have a different game plan this time than the last two times so I was just trying to be ready for that,” said Chapman, admitting he was a little gassed by the end of the day.

Despite suffering his first two losses of the season, back-to-back nonetheless, the first-time state qualifier is keeping his focus on what's ahead.

“I'll try to look forward and not (at) this,” he said. “Today is over. I'll try to look forward to state. Whoever I'm wrestling doesn't matter. I'm just going to go out there and give it my all.”

South Adams sophomore Christian Summersett was one match away from qualifying for the state final but he came up short. The 170-pounder knocked off Carroll sophomore Matt Lepper in the first round with a fall in 2:22. Summersett then got pinned in 5:06 by Rochester senior Zane Gilbreath, who finished runner-up.

Saturday was the culmination of the wrestling careers for four local kids. Jordan Schricker (145 pounds), Thomas Hemmelgarn (152) and Dawson Frasher (220), all of Jay County, bowed out of the semi-state tournament with losses in the opening round.

“All three of them had really close matches, kind of heart breakers,” Myers said. Hemmelgarn was one win shy of reaching the milestone of 100 career victories. “It's sad to see careers end like this but it happens every year here. Not every kid gets to end their career with a state finals berth.

“I'm still really proud of what they've done.”

First-year wrestler Spenser Clark of South Adams, a 220-pounder, also had his dream season end with a loss in his first match to eventual champion Levi Leffers of Central Noble.

Starfire freshmen Logan Bauman (106) and AJ Dull (138) also failed to get out of the ticket round.

South Adams senior semi-state qualifier Andre Hughes of South Adams did not participate Saturday for undisclosed reasons.