Patriots fall to Spartans on senior night

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The Patriots were a little rusty on Tuesday, 17 days after their last match.

Two days later, they’re still trying to shake some of the cobwebs.

Jay County High School’s wrestling team got the first three wins of the night but managed just three more in the final 11 on Thursday in a 45-31 loss to the Homestead Spartans on senior night.

“Tuesday and today, I don’t think we wrestled as well as we can,” said JCHS coach Eric Myers, whose team had not competed prior to this week since it hosted the East Central Indiana Classic on Dec. 22. “I had an idea we’d be rusty coming off a long layoff … I’m hoping we can work ourselves out of this funk.”

Mason Winner, a junior who is ranked seventh in the state at 182 pounds, began the night by disposing of Homestead’s Matt Mills in 58 seconds. At 195 pounds, senior Dawson Frasher pinned Jason Prall with two seconds left in the first period to give Jay County a 12-0 lead.

“Dawson made the lineup on senior night, gave up the first takedown, came back and got a big pin for us,” said Myers, whose team travels to Coldwater, Ohio, for the Cavalier Duals on Saturday. “I felt like we were in good shape there.”

In his 220-pound match, Lucas Schmit, another senior, was in command against Bryce Raber throughout. Raber tied the score at two apiece in the second period, but didn’t score again as Schmit earned a 9-2 decision to put his squad ahead, 15-0.

“I thought we’d be able to get a pin out of him but he held on and got a win for us,” Myers said of Schmit.

Following a defeat by pin at 285 pounds, Dyllan Garringer dominated his way to a 14-1 major decision over Brian Waltz in their 106-pound bout. He was ahead 5-0 after the first period and went into the third leading 7-1. Waltz didn’t earn his point, as Garringer was called for an illegal hold.

“He’s been great for us at 106,” Myers said. “I enjoy watching him wrestle because he just goes. He doesn’t seem to have — he has something a lot of kids I’ve been coaching I would like for them to have — he doesn’t have fear. He just wrestles hard and continuously wrestles hard no matter where he’s at.”

Trailing 19-6, Homestead began to creep back into the match. Jay County’s Dylan Racster and Zakk Atkins both got pinned as the Spartans got within one, 19-18.

Blayne Daniels prevented Homestead from grabbing the lead as the Jay County sophomore pinned Thomas Herman in 1:29 seconds.

But three more Homestead pins at 132, 138 and 145 pounds respectively put the visitors out front.

“We got beat in a couple matches I didn’t think we’d lose in and we gave up pin points,” Myers said. All but one of the Spartans’ eight victories were pins. In the final match of the night and the team result already decided, Tyler Burris held off Jay County’s Nathaniel Lykins for a 5-4 decision at 170 pounds.

Patriot senior Thomas Hemmelgarn earned the final victory for his team as he dropped down to 152 pounds and pinned Brandon Sawyer in 1:11.

“He wrestled really well,” Myers said. “He’s a powerful kid, especially at 152. He’s able to drive through a little better. He just kind of manhandled (Sawyer).”

Overall, though, Myers is confident his team can get back in the groove despite being disappointed after Thursday’s match.

After Saturday’s Coldwater Invitational, Jay County returns home Jan. 19 to host the Allen County Athletic Conference championships. They also host the sectional (Jan. 26) and regional (Feb. 2) tournaments.

“It’s not fun to be frustrated,” he said. “It’s not fun to rip these guys after the meets. Usually in my experience — I’ve went through this before — this is what has to happen sometimes.”