Theurer, Kenney win (02/02/2009)

Casey Kenney and Ben Theurer have been there and done that. And their experience showed.

The pair of seniors reprised their 2008 sectional performances, each winning championships Saturday. Their efforts led Jay County to 177 points and a fourth-place finish in the nine-team field.

Perennial power Bellmont, ranked seventh in the state, advance wrestlers to championship matches in 10 of 14 weight classes, winning five, and taking another team sectional title with 299 points. South Adams matched the Patriots' two individual champions and finished second with 215 points and 10 wrestlers advancing to regional competition. Adams Central was third with 182.

The top four wrestlers advance to the regional round, which will be contested Saturday at Jay County. Bellmont advances in the team tournament and will wrestle No. 12 Yorktown Wednesday at Adams Central.

Kenney, the 103-pound state runner-up a year ago, said the day for JCHS was OK, but not as good as it should have been. Coach James Myers echoed those thoughts.

"That about sums it up," said Myers, who had seven wrestlers advance to the regional round. "We came out flat in that first round and it set the tone for the rest of the day. The boys got frustrated, especially the ones who lost early, and lost some close matches. They just didn't wrestle to their ability or potential the rest of the rounds ...

"However, we got three in the finals and two champions again. That was the bright spot of the day."

Kenney continued another outstanding season, dominating his way to the 119-pound championship.

The senior opened with a pin of Southern Wells' Austin Schortgen in just 40 seconds, and then he defeated Zeke Schultz of Adams Central in just 2-minutes, 53 seconds.

Bellmont freshman Brooks Faurote gave Kenney a battle for a while as the JCHS senior led just 4-1 after the opening period. But he dominated the rest of the match, building his lead to 10-2 in the second period and scoring a near fall in the third on the way to a 15-2 major decision.

"I just dominated on my feet and took him down and turned him a couple times," said Kenney. "I think I wrestled pretty well."

Kenney is now 33-2 and ranked eighth in the state in his weight class. He has lost just three times in the last two seasons.

"Casey just dominated from the get-go," said Myers. "We knew he wanted to put a lot of pressure on Brooks. He's a quality wrestler, (Kenney) just had his number today.

"Ben (Theurer) got down early, which is not uncommon with Ben. But he tends to wrestle back and wrestle well."

Theurer (140) went head-to-head with T.J. Burnfield of the Starfires and gave up a takedown to trail 2-0 in the first period. He bounced back with a reversal with just 16 seconds left in the opening period, needed just seven seconds to get an escape to open the second period and pinned Burnfield 29 seconds later.

"He took me down," said Theurer, who fell just one win short of qualifying for the state tournament last season, of the early deficit. "I was a little angry that I gave that up. I was wrestling stupid. I just hurried up and got the reversal ...

"I wrestled pretty well (after that)."

Theurer pinned Kyle Jones of Southern Wells in 2:57 and beat Adams Central's Matt Kaehr 7-2 to reach the title match.

Sha White (189) also reached the finals for the Patriots, but chose not to compete. He had injured his ankle in practice during the week and decided to take an injury default.

In the first two rounds White pinned Adams Central's Davis Stoops in 24 seconds and got a 10-2 major decision over Harley Felton of Blackford. He improved his record to 24-6.

"The plan was to see how many rounds we could get from him," said Myers of White. "If we could get to the finals, that would be great. Looking ahead to the regional, it was important for us to save the ankle and try to be close to 100 percent next week."

South Adams earned its best finish in the nine-team format led by senior Chase Sprunger. The runner-up in both the East Central Indiana Classic and the Allen County Athletic Conference defeated Bellmont's Ryan Hankerson 6-2 for the 145-pound title.

Freshman Todd Batt (103) earned the other Starfire crown, topping Blake Adams of Bellmont 5-2.

Burnfield (140), Jackson Werst (215) and Jim West (285) all finished as runners-up.

"It was real nice to see him get a sectional title," said SAHS coach Eric Myers of Sprunger. "I was happy with the way we wrestled. I thought they wrestled really well."

Jay County, which competed without senior Cameron Pfeifer because of a skin infection, won half of its four third-place matches. Skylar Finnerty (160) crushed Dustin Hunt of South Adams with a 13-0 major decision, and Matt James (215) held off Adams Central's Aden Feasel 9-7.

Kyler Blowers (HWT) and Matt Seagraves (103) each finished in fourth place.

"I think our big guys, Matt James and Kyler Blowers, wrestled well," said Myers. "We lost close matches in the semis.

"(Seagraves) came through and qualified ... He wrestled pretty strong all day."

Despite some of the disappointments, the fourth-place finish is the best for the Patriots under the current tournament format. And the seven regional qualifiers matches the high number accomplished in both 2007 and 2008.

Gabe Sprunger (112), John Striker (125), Josh Ehr (130) placed third for South Adams, and Hunt (152) and Nick Taylor (160) finished fourth.[[In-content Ad]]