Two Patriots win sectional

For the third time in as many years, Jay County had a pair of sectional champions.
But this time, it’s new territory for both of them.
Juniors Dallas Dudelston and Andy Kohler won their first career sectional titles Saturday, helping the Jay County wrestling team to a third-place finish at the tournament it hosted.
Bellmont scored 248 points to win its 24th team title in 25 years. Adams Central was second with 225.5 points, and Jay County was third with a score of 172.5.
South Adams, which had two champions of its own, finished fifth with 132 points.
“They both wrestled really well,” said JCHS coach Eric Myers, whose team had eight wrestlers in all qualify for the regional meet the Patriots will host at 9 a.m. Saturday.
“The highlight of the day is we had … all 14 guys place in the top six. We’d like to get them all through to regional, but at the very least we got them all to place.”
Dudelston, who also won the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament in the 132-pound weight class Jan. 24, needed only 1 minute, 15 seconds, to pin Mason Stevens of Southern Wells in the quarterfinal round after receiving a bye in the opener.
Then, he beat Zach Mounsey of Bluffton by a major decision, 16-2, setting up a championship match with Gavin Siefring of Bellmont.
After a scoreless first period, the top-seeded Dudelston (28-7) started the second in the down position and scored an early escape. He turned it into a takedown moments later for a 3-0 lead, then added a two-point near fall to go up 5-0. Dudelston recorded the pin with 40 seconds remaining in the period, and he immediately jumped up, pumped his fists and let out a roar following his victory.
“He looked really sharp against (Siefring),” Myers said of Dudleston. “We’ll see what next week brings. Hopefully he can win a match or two there and get him set up for semi-state.”
Kohler, a 2014 regional qualifier who also won the East Central Indiana Classic and the Garrett Invitational this season, didn’t feel like he was on top of his game despite also winning his first sectional crown.
“The whole day I felt like I wasn’t really wrestling my best,” the 182-pound Patriot said. “I’m not sure what was off, but something definitely was.”
The junior defeated Jeremy Davis of Norwell by a 6-1 decision in the quarterfinals and beat Caleb Hankenson 5-1 in the semifinals.
In the championship match Union City’s Charlie Baron, who Kohler beat 7-0 to win the ECIC title, Kohler controlled the match from the start, scoring a takedown in the first period, and then letting go of Baron to concede the one-point escape. After starting the second period on the mat, he tallied an escape to push his lead to 3-1, and then got another takedown as the buzzer sounded to end the period.
At the end of the match, there wasn’t much celebration or fanfare marking his first postseason title. Asked if he was saving his excitement for later in the tournament, Kohler was quick to respond.
“Yes,” he said. “If I win the ticket round to go to state, I’m going to flip out.”
Jay County’s Tyler Leonhard also wrestled for a sectional championship, but came up short in the 152-pound final. After pinning defending sectional and regional champion Boaz Marbach of South Adams in the semifinal, Leonhard fell to Tony Busse of Bellmont in the championship by a 5-1 decision.
The win against Marbach, who finished sixth and missed out on a return trip to regional, was a defining victory for the Patriot sophomore.
“We had talked quite a bit about getting that first big match, that first big win where you beat a kid nobody expects you to beat,” Myers said of Leonhard. “He got his there. That really sets himself up well for regional.
“He really helped himself out with that big win.”
Brothers Wyatt and Sawyer Miller of South Adams claimed tournament titles at 106 and 120 respectively. Sawyer (34-0) won his third straight sectional championship, continuing his unbeaten senior season. Wyatt, a freshman, moved to 32-1. He recorded a semifinal pin against Seth Fugiett of Jay County and then defeated Adams Central’s Nick Liter by a 10-6 decision in the final.
“He likes to control the tempo of the match,” South Adams coach Barry Humble said of Wyatt. “That’s exactly what he got into — controlling the tempo, maintaining what he wanted to get done and not let the other guy have chances to make him a target.”
After pinning Wesley Moore of Southern Wells in the second period of the quarterfinals, Sawyer needed just 37 seconds to deposit Norwell’s Trevor Wilson in the semifinals. Then, the senior beat Bellmont’s Jon Becker in the final by a major decision, 11-2.
“We try not to make this a brother contest,” Humble said of the Millers. “Having Sawyer as a brother has been a plus (for Wyatt).
“Sawyer is watching him and coaching him. I think there’s been a big advantage for Wyatt.”
Like Jay County, South Adams had a third wrestler competing for a title, but he fell short. Mason Morningstar finished runner-up to Isaiah Bollenbacher of Adams Central for the second consecutive week. Bollenbacher pinned Morningstar in the second period Saturday, and did the same in the ACAC title match Jan. 24.
Saturday’s loss was one that left Humble disappointed.
“This one was harder because I thought we were better prepared,” he said. “We didn’t get anything accomplished. You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Isaiah. He wrestled really well.”
Also placing in the top four and advancing to regional for Jay County were Seth Fugiett (fourth – 106), Tristan Atkins (fourth – 120), Colton Compton (third – 126), Levi Hummel (third – 160) and Gaven Hare (fourth – 195).
For South Adams, Briar Goodwin (third – 113) and Isaiah Baumgartner (third – 195) also advanced to regional.