Jay Co. wins first dual (11/29/07)

It only takes a few seconds.

John Thompson proved that point Wednesday night, rallying with four points in the final three seconds of his 152-pound match for a one-point victory. His win followed a big pin from Aaron Miller and was part of a stretch of four straight for the Jay County High School wrestling team in a 41-31 victory over the visiting Muncie Southside Rebels.

"I was impressed," said Patriot coach James Myers after his team won its opening dual match of the season. "We're still not where we need to be as a team, but it's still early in the season. Overall, it was a good performance.

"I thought Muncie South wrestled great. They were ahead in a couple matches and we got a couple reversals and got the better of the situations. Hopefully we can carry that over into the conference (tournament) at the end of the season."

What seemed headed to be a nail-biter until the final match turned into a comfortable Jay County victory thanks to comebacks from Miller and Thompson.

With the Patriots leading just 20-19, Southside's Casey Bigtree grabbed control early against Miller in the 145-pound match. He scored a quick takedown, added another after a Miller escape and went up 6-1 with a third late in the opening period.

However, as Bigtree tried for yet another takedown to build his lead, Miller rolled through for a takedown of his own 20 seconds into the second period. Bigtree never got off his back again as Miller turned the five-point deficit into a six-point match for JCHS with a pin in 2-minutes, 52 seconds.

Southside coach Tony Abbott called it the turning point for the night.

"We were winning that match 6-1 and gave up a fall," he said. "That's a nine-point swing.

"Then we're losing by seven and at '52 our kid wrestled great for 5:50 ..."

But it was that final 10 seconds in which Thompson caught Herbert Norvell.

Like Bigtree, Norvell was in control. He scored a takedown 30 seconds into the match, then allowed Thompson to escape before dropping him back to the mat with a double-leg takedown. Norvell had a 6-2 lead after the opening period, but Thompson refused to go away.

Instead, he chose the bottom position to start the second period, and scored the only point of the two-minute stretch with an escape to make it 6-3. He pulled within 6-5 with a quick takedown to start the third period, but Norvell almost immediately got one back as he pushed his advantage to 9-5 and seemingly claimed the match.

Thompson still wasn't done. After getting a point for an illegal hold, the match was stopped for blood time and Thompson gathered himself. When the action resumed he rolled Norvell to his back for a takedown with just three seconds left on the clock. He earned two more points for a near fall as time expired, and pumped his fist in the air as his rally for a 10-9 victory put Jay County in control with a 29-19 lead.

"I looked at the clock ... and I knew I had to turn him or something," said Thompson.

"Coach told me to try to work the Peterson as much as possible, so I tried it and got it over ...

"I knew I was down so I had to work hard. I pushed through the whole thing and tried to make sure it was close. (The win) felt wonderful. It was great."

The consecutive comebacks from Miller and Thompson gave the Patriots some breathing room, and then Brad Tipton and Sha White put the match away. Tipton finished off Southside's Chris Daugherty with 10 seconds left in the opening period of the 160-pound match, and White needed just 1:40 to pin Brock Warmer at 171.

The Rebels won each of the final two matches by pin, but it was too little, too late after the 21-point run by Jay County.

"He wrestled so well, got right back in the match and then gave up that reversal late," said Myers of Thompson. "He's this way in practice. He was that way on our first weekend. He just doesn't give up. ... I was excited for him. That's why we wrestle."

The four-match win streak powered the Patriots, who had just one other set of back-to-back wins on the night.

That effort came from Caleb Culy and Ben Theurer and 130 and 135 pounds respectively. Culy pushed to a 6-0 lead thanks to a second-period near fall, then survived a series of late takedowns by Zach Douthitt for an 11-10 victory. There dominated Ricky Lamb for one of Jay County's five pins, winning his match in 1:20.

Kyler Blowers started the evening with a pin, the fastest of the night, as he needed just 17 seconds to defeat John Toomey.

Casey Kenney was also outstanding as he shut out Jordan Armantrout at 112 pounds. Kenney, a junior up from 103 pounds a year ago, cruised out to a 6-0 lead after the opening period and buried Armantrout in the second to score a 17-0 technical fall in four minutes.

"Casey has worked all summer," said Myers. "He looked great. He had a slow start, but after he got on top he (was in control)."

Southside had three pins on the evening, two of which came after the Patriots had already clinched the match.

The other came from Garth McCreery in 1:24 over Jordan Moser at 119 pounds. Also, Mason McCormick (189) topped Micah Boyer in 1:38, and Jimmie King (215) defeated Zach Ainsworth in 3:37.

In the 103-pound match Jacob Armantrout, ranked 12th in the state, earned a 19-4 technical fall in 5:30 over Drake Meska. Tanner Armantrout (125) picked up a second-period takedown to defeat Josh Lochtefeld 2-0.

"We didn't wrestle as well as we could have," said Abbott, who has no seniors on his team. "I've got to give it to Jay County, they came out ready to wrestle."

Junior varsity

Jay County took two of the three junior varsity matches over the Rebels for a 12-6 victory.

The opening match of the night was a quick one, with Charles Burress pinning Southside's Daniel Lewis in just 29 seconds. Mason Murphy followed with another first-period pin, finishing off Jeff Perman in just one minute.

Ty Fullenkamp lost to Dakota Moses by pin in 3:22.

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