Falcons smash Jay Co. (12/12/03)

WINCHESTER — The Jay County wrestling roster sports 15 sophomores, nine of whom were in the starting lineup Thursday night. It’s still a work in progress.

There were some good spots and some bad spots for the Patriots, but the result was a 49-19 loss to the Winchester Golden Falcons.

“Some guys like (Derek) Bogenschutz wrestled well,” said Jay County coach James Myers. “(Kurtis) Hess wrestled well. Even (Bill) Spahr who lost wrestled well.”

Myers said its the close matches like Spahr’s 5-3 loss to John Walser at 160 pounds and Trent Bash’s 6-4 defeat to Chase Hoover at 145 he hopes his team can turn around as the season progresses. Spahr and Bash may have a chance to do it against those same opponents.

Winchester (6-0) is a team Jay County will continue to see this year, both at the East Central Indiana Classic Saturday, Dec. 27 and at the sectional tournament. The Patriots’ next action will be Saturday at the Delta Super Six at 9 a.m.

“I did get to see Jay County at Anderson Highland (Saturday), and I was impressed because they came out aggressive,” said Winchester coach Ron Anderson. “We won some close ones (tonight), but their kids never quit.”

Jay County, which dropped to 6-6 with the loss, found itself in a 19-0 hole against the Golden Falcons before picking up its first victory. That win came from heavyweight Tyler Bash, who took control midway through his contest against Matt Nunez.

Bash, a senior, broke a 3-3 tie with an escape and a takedown late in the second period. Starting the third from the neutral position, he wasted little time in throwing Nunez to the ground and worked for a pin in 4 minutes, 49 seconds.

Jared Myers (112), filling in for Josh Thornburg, gave the Patriots a second victory. He pinned Keith Lee 1:18 into the second period, cutting the Winchester lead to 25-12, but a quick pin by the Golden Falcons’ Tilmon Clark (119) on Jay County freshman Cade Poore put the margin back to 19 points.

But the deficit didn’t stop Bogenschutz from turning in the match of the night.

Bogenschutz looked to be in trouble against Zeb Doss, trailing 4-0 in the second period.

Doss seemed content to ride out the period, but the Winchester coaches were yelling for him to try for more points.

He did, and it backfired.

As Doss tried to work Bogenschutz to his back, the Jay County sophomore instead scored a reversal with just 12 seconds to go in the period.

“That was the turning point of the match,” said Bogenschutz. “Once he starting riding me with those moves, I knew the counter to them. I just flipped him and got him on his back.”

Although Bogenschutz fell behind 6-2 early in the third period, the momentum had clearly shifted. He scored a reversal with just over a minute to go, and tossed Doss to his back with a cradle with :58 on the clock.

With the match tied at 6-6 Bogenschutz scored a near-fall in the closing moments to take the victory.

“I found a couple moves he wasn’t real good with,” said Bogenschutz, who said his season goal is to have a winning record and finish among the team’s leading scorers. “I started cranking up those moves and it started to get me some points.”

Myers said he was happy with the way Bogenschutz closed out the 9-6 win, but would like to see him come alive a bit earlier.

“I need to get him to wrestle three periods,” Myers said, crediting the win in part to good conditioning. “I usually get about one and a half good periods out of him. It seems like once he gets something going he gets some confidence.”

Jay County’s other victory came from Kurtis Hess at 140. He clobbered Matt Terhaar for a 14-4 major decision.

Anderson said one of the biggest wins for his team came in the second match of the night, the 171-pound contest.

Jordan Winkle scored an 11-2 major decision for the Golden Falcons over Robert Ralston, who he lost to last season.

The match was scoreless after the first period, and Winkle led 4-1 after the second before running wild to score seven third-period points.

“That was a nice win,” said Anderson. “I was really pleased with that match.

“We’ve really got a combination of experience and inexperience. I think the thing I really like about this team is that they may not be the most talented group, but my gosh are they willing to work.”

In other Winchester victories Jeffery Jessup (189) pinned Nathan Conatser in 2:21, Ron Harris (215) pinned Tom Smith in 1:15, Jordan Jones pinned Cody Robison in :08 and Devon Cox (152) pinned Justin Gilbert in 2:38.

Caleb Hedden (130) picked up a 13-1 major decision over Dustin Yohner, and Shay Sells (135) earned a 22-6 technical fall against Micah Enyart six seconds into the third period.

Myers said he is simply looking for his Jay County squad to improve and be ready for the important season-ending tournaments.

“Our mat wrestling needs to improve,” he said. “I don’t think we’re capitalizing on opportunities.

“We just keep working. The goal is at the end of the season to be our best. I think we’re improving every week.”[[In-content Ad]]