Sanders, Kohler win titles

During his first two matches Saturday at the East Central Indiana Classic, all Jay County’s Andy Kohler could think about was a potential match-up with Scottie Evans of Delta.
The Patriot junior had never beaten Evans and lost to him three times as a sophomore.
As they met in the ECIC semifinals at Jay County High School, Kohler wouldn’t let the Delta junior get the best of him again.
Kohler came from behind four times — twice in the third period — to defeat Evans by a 12-9 decision, and went on to beat previously undefeated Charlie Baron of Union City to win the 182-pound weight division title.
Freshman Kaimen Sanders (113) also picked up a tournament title for Jay County, which finished third while hosting the 16-team tournament.
Delta scored 202 points to win the crown for the second consecutive year. Churubusco was second with 184, and Jay County had 178.
“I’ve been waiting since sixth grade to beat that Scottie Evans kid,” said Kohler, who improved to 20-2 on the season. “He’s beaten me every year since middle school.”
Starting the third period from the down position, Evans reversed Kohler to take a 6-4 lead. Kohler answered with an escape and a takedown, grabbing a 7-6 advantage, but it was short lived as Evans got another two points on a reversal.
With 10 seconds remaining in the match, Kohler picked Evans’ right leg off the mat and wrestled him to the ground for a 10-8 lead. Kohler let go to give Evans a one-point escape, and then took the Eagle wrestler to the mat once more as time expired for two additional points and the 12-9 decision.
Kohler, who notched his first career tournament title, said he didn’t panic during the match when he found himself trailing Evans.
“With him I’m used to being behind,” Kohler said. “He’s beaten me a lot. There’s always a chance you can come back and overcome it, and that’s what I did. He was gassed in the third.”
Getting to the semifinals and the match against Evans wasn’t easy for Kohler. With Evans looming in the back of his mind, Kohler escaped with 5-2 and 3-2 decisions in the first two rounds. The top-seeded Evans, meanwhile, notched back-to-back wins by pin to set up the semifinal showdown.
“I started out slow. I was thinking about facing Evans,” Kohler said of his first two matches against Matt Gibson of Heritage and Winchester’s Dillon Williams. “He’s beaten me every single time. I was a little intimidated by him. I was thinking about it all day.”
But Saturday was all about Kohler, as his stamina outlasted a visibly exhausted Evans late in their match. Evans finished fourth, losing in the second period of the third-place match to Churubusco’s Nick Helbert.
After a first-round bye, Sanders pinned Steven Jones of Southern Wells 30 seconds into the second period. In the semifinal round, he disposed of Wes-Del’s Mason Meiring in 1 minute, 43 seconds, before defeating Luke Fillers of Norwell by a 9-4 decision.
“He’s struggled a little bit to adjust to a high school match until today,” JCHS coach Eric Myers said of Sanders (10-5). “He wrestled awesome all day. It helped him too for seeding purposes at sectional. It was a great win for a freshman there.”
Tyler Leonhard was the third of three Patriots who competed for the tournament title at 152. The sophomore earned consecutive 7-4 decisions over Austin Conrad of Heritage in the quarterfinals and Lucas Gibbons of Frankton in the semifinals.
In the finals against Churubusco’s Lyle McParlan, Leonhard rallied form a 5-2 deficit to tie the match at six with a minute left. McParlan escaped Leonhard’s reversal for a 7-6 lead, and neither wrestler was able to score again.
Despite the loss in the finals, Myers said he was pleased with Leonhard’s performance on the mat.
“He’ll get over the hump,” Myers said. “He had a losing record at 145 (pounds) last year as a freshman. He’s 19-4 (this year). He’s already eclipsed the win total he had last year.”
The Patriots had seven wrestlers in the semifinals. Dallas Dudleston (132) and Chris Pfeifer (285) both finished in third place, and Tristan Atkins (120) and Colton Compton (126) were fourth.
Freshmen Seth Fugiett (106) and Gaven Hare (195) placed fifth, and Ivan Hemmelgarn (145) finished sixth.
Also competing for Jay County were Mitchell Frasher (138), Ben Antrim (160), Levi Hummel (170) and Jon Blankenship (220).