Doubling down

Perhaps it was fitting that the Patriots went from beating 2A No. 9 to No. 5, because nearly everything they did was working.

The Jay County High School boys wrestling team picked up a 53-22 win over the IHSAA Class 2A No. 9 Yorktown Tigers and then downed the Class 2A No. 5 Delta Eagles 43-27 in a double dual at home on Tuesday night.

“It played out really well,” said Jay County coach Tyler Leonhard. “I know both teams, they didn’t have their full lineup. They were both missing some guys, but I mean, both the teams are top 10 in 2A. So that’s definitely a solid win, regardless.”

In total, the Patriots racked up 15 non-forfeit match wins in the pair of dominant victories. Throughout the night, the team gleaned energy from its home crowd and a chaotic atmosphere with two duals happening simultaneously in Jay County’s auxiliary gym.

“I love it,” Leonhard said. “The atmosphere, the louder, the better kind of thing. I just feel like our team especially thrives off of that when we start getting in a loud gym, I feel like our team just gets louder and gets behind each other.”

Though that mentality likely held true for the majority of the Patriots, not all of Jay County’s wrestlers harnessed the chaos to fuel their performances. Bryan Fields, the Patriots’ 175-pounder, employed a different method.

“Most of the time, I will just put music on and try to just stay in my own thoughts,” Fields said. “I’ll normally stay close to my team, but also distance myself enough to where I’m not distracted going into my matches.”

Fields certainly didn’t show any signs of distraction during his two bouts on Tuesday. He started his night by gutting out a hard-fought 11-5 decision over Yorktown’s Brody Whiteman before nabbing his second win of the night, a 15-0 technical fall against Lincoln Mann of Delta.

“My neutral was pretty good,” Fields said. “Was able to take people down, wasn’t able to get taken down. That’s about it.”

The Patriots got a similarly strong performance in the 165-pound division, where Caleb Sibray ensured that the slight decrease in weight came with no decrease in performance. The sophomore also turned in a 2-0 record, starting with a 17-1 technical fall against Yorktown’s Clayton Reed and ending his night by shutting out Delta’s Drayton Swanson by a 7-0 decision.

“I really did good on my sprawls today,” Sibray said. “That’s probably what kept me in for the most part in my last match. And I have to thank Tyler (Leonhard) for all the conditioning we do, because that definitely kept me in the fight too.”

In addition to the sparkling records of Fields and Sibray, Jay County boasted four more wrestlers with a pair of non-forfeit wins on the day. Sylas Wenk (120 pounds), Freddy Lingo (215) and Alan Ortiz (285) each earned two victories in the same weight class. Jason Landers took a different path to his undefeated day, winning at 138 pounds against Yorktown before bumping up to 144 and taking down Delta’s Jackson Teal in an 8-3 decision.

The bevy of solid outings gave the Patriots plenty of confidence as they prepare for an intense stretch that kicks off with the Allen County Athletic Conference duals on Saturday.

“We’re going to go right back to practice like nothing’s ever changed, going to keep working hard,” Leonhard said. “Our guys, we always say, we may not be the most technical guys, but we’re going to be the most conditioned and the most aggressive guys out on the mat. And I feel like, especially in high school wrestling, that carries a lot of weight.”