Season ends at semi

FORT WAYNE - The Patriot who didn't even expect to get to wrestle came closest to earning a state berth. But the season still ended Saturday for the Jay County High School wrestling team.

Kyler Blowers, who got the call to compete Friday because of an injury, suffered a one-point loss in the "ticket" round of the semi-state tournament hosted by Woodlan Saturday at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. Each of JCHS's four other competitors also fell short of the top-four finish needed to earn a state berth.

South Adams senior Jim West, ranked fourth in the state, finished second to earn the lone state berth from a group of five Starfire semi-state qualifiers.

The top four wrestlers in each weight class earned trips to the state finals.

Blowers was knocked out in the first round of the regional meet at JCHS on Feb. 6, but was the alternate because that defeat came at the hands of eventual champion Ross Janney of Yorktown. He got the word Friday that he would make the trip to semi-state because Blackford's Elijah Justice could not wrestle because of an injury.

In his first match in the heavyweight division, Blowers (24-9) knocked off Justin Hersberger of Winchester in one of the pigtail matches that accommodated the Randolph County wrestlers who were unable to participate in the Jay County regional. He followed up that victory by edging 11th-ranked Jacob Clark (34-7) of Goshen by a 4-2 score in overtime.

Blowers' chance at a state berth came against Huntington North's Nick Cooper in the quarterfinal round. He came up just short, dropping a 3-2 decision to Cooper, who went on to finish fourth.

Drake Meska (40-4) was the only other Patriot to reach the ticket round as he advanced by an injury default over Elkhart Memorial's Dantrell Goodman in the opening round at 130 pounds. But he lost by a 14-2 major decision to Tucker Smith (36-7) of Homestead in the quarterfinals to end his season.

Kurtis Hess and two-time state medalist Casey Kenney are the only JCHS wrestlers to have qualified for the state meet in the last decade.

West (40-3), who needed overtime to avoid being eliminated in the sectional, turned in a strong effort to earn his second straight state berth for South Adams. He went all the way to the championship match before losing to Janney (48-0) for the second straight week.

In his opening match in the heavyweight bracket, West pinned Elkhart Central sophomore Dominque Stauffer in 2 minutes, 33 seconds. He went on to post victories of 5-1 against Western's Trevor Buckalew (19-8) and 5-3 over Bellmont's Daniel Meyer (35-7) before falling to Janney (48-0).

Eighth-ranked Josh Ehr of the Starfires missed a second consecutive trip to the state finals when he was knocked out in the quarterfinal round in the 145-pound bracket. After winning his opening match by a pin in just one minute to improve to 40-0, Ehr dropped a 4-2 decision to No. 13 Bryce Schendel (34-7) of Garrett for his first loss of the season.

Kyle Garringer of Jay County and T.J. Burnfield and Nick Taylor, both of South Adams, all won their pigtail matches, but went on to suffer losses in the next round.

Garringer (27-16), the only freshman in the 189-pound division, fell 5-0 to No. 20 Taylor Scott (40-2) of Heritage. Burnfield (36-8) dropped an 11-3 major decision to Leo's seventh-ranked Justin Beck (33-2), and Taylor (27-11) suffered a pin in 4:10 against No. 13 Austin Struggle (36-6) of Whitko.

Jay County sophomore Nick Leonhard (19-15) dropped his opening-round match at 145 pounds 8-1 to Huntington North senior Brant Hiple (35-5), and senior Matt James (36-7) lost his 215-pound pigtail match to Winchester's Andrew Chalfant (34-5).

South Adams' John Striker (33-9) dropped his opening match at 125 pounds by a 12-1 decision to Whitko's Dylan LeTourneau (37-6)

[[In-content Ad]]