Kenney wins, Theurer 2nd (02/09/2009)

Yorktown's Derek Bevans and Randolph Southern's Josh Martin entered Saturday's regional undefeated.

Then again, neither had ever wrestled a Patriot.

Bevans' perfect season disappeared at the hands of Jay County senior Casey Kenney while Martin narrowly escaped against Ben Theurer. The pair of Patriot seniors both advanced through the regional tournament, finishing first and second respectively, and will compete at the semi-state meet for the second straight season.

"It's great for them," said JCHS coach James Myers of his two wrestlers who will compete in the Woodlan regional at Allen County Coliseum Saturday at 9 a.m. "It's great for our program again. ... It goes to show time and effort pays off at the end of the season."

The top four individuals in each weight class moved on to the semi-state, where the top four will earn state berths.

South Adams, which had 10 wrestlers in regional competition, advanced seven to the semi-state round, including 130-pound champion Josh Ehr.

Kenney and Bevans (36-1), ranked eighth and seventh in the state respectively, squared off in one of the most exciting matches of the day.

The first period in the 119-pound championship match went scoreless, but it didn't last long in the second as Bevans started down and earned an escape in just nine seconds. Kenney responded in kind in the third period, getting his escape to tie the match at one with 1:22 remaining.

Bevans looked ready to take the match in the final five seconds, but Kenney was able to fight him off and force overtime.

"We knew it was probably going to be low-scoring," said Myers. "It wasn't going to be a 10-9 match. We knew were probably going to get tied up a little bit, but we wanted to just keep staying aggressive.

"Casey did a nice job scrambling the last 10 or 15 seconds of that third period. Bevans hit a duck-under ... and I thought once he got Casey off the match he was in trouble, but he did a nice job ... getting the match into overtime."

The extra session, a one-minute period in which the first takedown wins, did not last long. Kenney and Bevans quickly got into a scramble, and Kenney gained control and was awarded the takedown after just 16 seconds of action.

"I knew it was going to be a real close match," said Kenney, who is now 39-2. "He was undefeated. He only lost to (Camden) Eppert last year ... at the state finals. It was a real close match there. I knew it was going to be a tough match. I just pulled it out in the end."

Anderson Highland's Eppert, who is responsible for Kenney's only two losses this year, finished as the 112-pound runner-up in the state last season. He defeated Bevans, who placed fifth, on his way to the championship match.

Kenney was the 2008 runner-up at 103 pounds, losing the title match to Indian Creek's Ethan Raley, who is ranked fourth at 119 pounds this season.

On the way to Saturday's title, Kenney scored an 18-1 technical fall over Delta's Zach Sterling and defeated Bluffton's Bobby Perry by a 15-3 major decision.

Theurer (35-5) looked primed to end Martin's season-long win streak as he took control of the 140-pound championship match after a scoreless first period. Starting the second period in the down position, the JCHS senior needed just 18 seconds to get a reversal for a 2-0 lead.

He fought off Martin (34-0) late in the second period, and then pushed ahead 4-0 with a takedown 35 seconds into the third after Martin chose to open in the neutral position.

But the wrestling turned fast and furious in the final 50 seconds as Martin came up with a reversal and three-point near fall to grab the lead. Theurer reversed back to reclaim the advantage, but Martin responded with a final reversal with 18 seconds remaining to eke out a 7-6 victory.

"We got a little greedy, tried to get some near-fall in the last 50 seconds of the match," said Myers. "There we'd like to stay in good position. We've got a 4-0 lead, just kind of ride him out for the next 20 or 30 seconds and go home with a victory. But Josh wrestled well and deserved to win.

"(But) I can't fault (Ben). He kept wrestling."

Theurer cruised to the finals by pinning Muncie Southside's Jeff Pormen and Adams Central's Matt Kaehr in 1-minute, 33 seconds and 3:56 respectively.

"He had a great day," said Myers. "He's dangerous. I think he can beat anybody at our semi-state."

After finishing in third place a week earlier in the sectional, Josh Ehr came up huge for South Adams.

The sophomore won his opening-round match at 130 pounds by a 6-4 decision over Jordan Simmons of Winchester and then upset top-seeded Darin Fiechter of Southern Wells in the semifinals with a 5-4 decision. He fought off Jared Schwartz 4-2 to take the championship.

Three other Starfires reached championship matches, with Todd Batt falling in 1:15 to Muncie Central's Travis Bryant at 103 pounds, Chase Sprunger losing to No. 10 Jordan Dulaney of Yorktown in 36 seconds at 145 pounds and Jackson Werst dropping a 12-5 decision against top-ranked Billy Baker of Bellmont at 215 pounds.

Other Starfires advancing to the semi-state tournament were T.J. Burnfield (140) and Jim West (HWT) in third place and John Striker (125) in fourth place.

Matt James (215) wrestled well for Jay County in the opening round at 215 pounds, taking a 1-0 lead in the second period and going to overtime against Jimmie King of Muncie Southside. But King was able to get a takedown with 12 seconds remaining in overtime to earn a 3-1 victory.

"He was right there in overtime with a chance to win the match," said Myers. "Matt wrestled a hard match, a smart match. He worked on things we talked about all week in practice. He did exactly what we asked. I'm proud of his effort."

Jay County's other first-round matches all ended by pin.

Sha White (189), who was battling a leg injury lost by pin to Yorktown's Grant Brown in 2:52, Matt Seagraves (103) fell in 4:39 to Travis Bryant of Muncie Central, Skylar Finnerty (152) lost to No. 2 Kyle Mosier of Yorktown in 1:13 and Kyler Blowers (HWT) lost in 29 seconds to No. 1 Adam Chalfant of Winchester.

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