Sophomore to semi-state (02/07/07)

At least when Cameron Pfeifer steps on the mat Saturday he won't be looking at an unfamiliar face.

Pfeifer, the lone Jay County wrestler competing in Saturday's Woodlan semi-state tournament at Allen County Coliseum, will open against Justin Clark of Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger. They met each other once during the regular season this year at the Adams Central Invitational.

Colt Gentis (119) and Josh Kimberlin (189) of South Adams will also wrestle at the coliseum Saturday beginning at 9 a.m.

The top four from each weight class will move to the state finals.

This time Pfeifer just hopes for a different outcome against Clark.

"I didn't wrestle very well and I got beat really bad," said Pfeifer of that January 6 match. "I think it was a tech fall.

"He was just a really strong kid. I felt like I couldn't do anything."

But just days later Pfeifer, who said he wrestled well early on before struggling at mid-season, found his groove.

He scored a 12-2 major decision Jan. 10 over Khiry Henderson of Marion in a dual meet and was on his way. He went on to a second-place finish at the Olympic Athletic Conference meet, then really picked up the pace in the sectional tournament.

Wrestling in his home gym, Pfeifer made it to the championship match where he avenged an earlier loss at the East Central Indiana Classic with a 9-2 victory over Bruce Murray of Bluffton. Murray (32-7) will also wrestle in the semi-state Saturday after finishing third behind Pfeifer in the regional at Jay County.

Pfeifer, the Patriots' lone sectional champion, added two more wins to reach the finals of the regional tournament at Jay County before taking an injury default in the finals because of an illness.

"It's probably confidence more than anything," said JCHS coach James Myers, of Pfeifer, who had not won a tournament this season before taking the sectional crown. "Even now you hear him talk and it's just a different mindset for him. He caught a stretch there in late December where we just ran into some tough kids.

"But he seems to have regained it. After we wrestled Marion he seems to be wrestling a whole lot better."

Myers said in the first match Clark (17-4) used his strength to control Pfeifer (32-10), who is a lankier 112-pounder. This time around the Patriot sophomore will focus on staying out of tie-up situations against the third-place finisher from the Carroll regional.

"(When Cameron is successful), he's just aggressive on his feet," said Myers. "I noticed when he was going through some tough times in December he wasn't attacking, he was letting the guy come at him. That really caused some problems, especially against some of the stronger 112-pounders ... Clark is a strong kid."

"I'm going to try to take more shots and just wrestle better," added Pfeifer of the rematch. "(I'm working on) being more aggressive ..."

The winner of the Pfeifer/Clark match will take on Zach Leffel (41-6), a regional champion from Peru.

The other three 112-pound regional champions who earned first-round byes for the semi-state are Homestead's No. 2 Justin Wight (27-0), Yorktown's No. 10 Derek Bevans (32-10) and Elkhart Memorial's Ryan Stahl (33-6). Also in the bracket at Woodlan are Joey Surack (44-5) of Kokomo, Deyon Cardenas (34-5) of Mississinewa, Tony Lovejoy (29-8) of Bishop Luers, Ted Johnson (31-8) of Angola and Zakkary Howell (27-11) of Goshen.

Pfeifer's move to the semi-state ends a one-year absence as no one from Jay County surpassed the regional level in 2006. Both Kurt Hess and Bill Spahr, then juniors, reached the semi-state in 2005 with Hess advancing to the state finals.

"It's huge. It's good for the program, especially for such a young kid," said Myers of the accomplishment. "It's nice to have Jay County represented again.

"Hopefully this group of sophomores and juniors this year can produce multiple semi-state qualifiers and state qualifiers next year."[[In-content Ad]]