Freshmen phenoms

FORT WAYNE — Patriot freshmen have been setting the tone for the team all season.

A trio of them set the tone for the program's future Saturday.

Three Jay County High School freshmen qualified for the state finals based on their performance during the IHSAA wrestling semi-state championships at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.

“You take three guys to state it's pretty special, but on top of that to take three freshmen to state it's really sweet,” said JCHS coach Eric Myers, whose team has three state qualifiers during the same season for the first time since 1987 and at least two for the fifth straight season. “It's a testament to how hard they work. It's a testament to how solid our (practice) room is. They get pushed by people that maybe aren't out here qualifying for state but they have competition in the room and guys pushing them in the room every day.

“That attributes to a lot of their success.”

The top four places in each weight class advance to the state finals, which are slated for Friday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

In 1987, Geoff Glogas, David Ferguson and Eric LeMaster all represented Jay County at the state finals. Glogas and Ferguson ended their seasons as champions.

And for three youngsters who have been supporting one another their entire careers, they get to chase championships together.

“It's awesome,” said Cody Rowles, who placed third in the semi-state at 106 pounds. “We've all been wrestling with each other for a long time since elementary school.

“It's just awesome to have us three moving on.”

Tony Wood had matched his father, assistant coach Bruce Wood, by becoming both a sectional and regional champion last week. With a chance to one-up his dad, a 1989 JCHS graduate, the younger Wood fell just a bit short of claiming the semi-state championship.

Trailing sixth-ranked Aidan Sprague of East Noble 6-2 heading into the third period, Wood, who is ranked ninth at 120 pounds, got a reversal to pull within two. Wood let go of Sprague, who was battling cramps in both of his legs and his hands, in hopes of scoring more takedowns to grab the lead.

Wood got a takedown with 58 seconds remaining, and after failing to get a near fall he let Sprague go again 12 seconds later.

Wood was never able to score again and lost the semi-state championship by an 8-6 decision. The difference turned out to be a near fall in the second period.

“I think he wrestled well there,” Myers said. Wood won his first-round match against Aidan Sanderson of Columbia City by pin in the second period after leading 10-0, then topped Mikey Kallimani of Jimtown by 5-0 decision in the (quarterfinal) ticket round.

“Just gave up a couple near fall (points) in the final he couldn't recover from,” Myers continued. “He's right there. Great experience for him. Hard work paying off.”

Cameron Clark, a 132-pounder, and Rowles were the only other Patriots of the five who competed to punch their tickets to state. And Rowles was able to rebound from a loss in the semifinal to place third while Clark had a knee injury flare up and he finished fourth.

Rowles pinned his way to a state berth with falls against senior Ryan Keller of Fairfield and No. 18 freshman Jalen May of Peru in the second period of his first two matches.

In the semifinal match against Goshen senior Vicente Eckman, Rowles wasn't able to get much of his offense going until the third period and he lost a 9-5 decision.

With a self-described chip on his shoulder, Rowles pinned No. 16 Keegan Malott of East Noble in 57 seconds to take third.

“I was mad,” he said. “I did not like the results of that semifinal match. It should have been different. It should have been completely switched around.”

Clark, a 132-pounder, found ways to win in each of his first two matches to become just the program's fifth freshman state qualifier.

In his opening-round match against Garrett junior Brayden Baker, Clark won by sudden victory in overtime, 7-5. Then in the ticket round, he got a reversal with 45 seconds remaining for a 4-3 decision against DeKalb sophomore Braxton Miller.

Clark lost to Manchester junior Dylan Stroud in the semifinal 10-6 before a nagging knee injury flared up in the third-place match. His knee locked up on him against Bellmont's Dominic Litchfield from the get-go and he got pinned in 16 seconds.

“His first two matches he won close matches against really good kids,” Myers said. “Semifinal match he was wrestling a returning semi-state champion. Man, I thought he wrestled him pretty tough.”

Freshman Taye Curtis and senior Blake Pruett each had their respective seasons end with first-round losses. At 113, Curtis was trailing No. 19 Bishop Dwenger junior Elliott Cornewell 4-1 in the first period before getting pinned in 1:44. He finished the season with a 28-7 record.

At 160, Pruett gave up a single-leg takedown to Landon Buchanan of Jimtown, and the 10th-ranked Jimmie junior turned it into a pin with 12 seconds remaining in the opening period. Pruett’s senior campaign ended 24-11.