February 13, 2015 at 6:09 p.m.

Trios to make debut

Three Patriots and Starfires are first-time qualifiers
Trios to make debut
Trios to make debut

Seeing Jay County and South Adams wrestlers at the semi-state meet is nothing new.
But six local athletes will be competing in Saturday’s meet at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne for the first time.
Jay County’s Andy Kohler, Tyler Leonhard and Dallas Dudleston were the only three to qualify for semi-state after the Patriots sent five last season.
Briar Goodwin, Wyatt Miller and Mason Morningstar of South Adams are also making their Coliseum debut.
Starfire senior Sawyer Miller is returning to the semi-state for the fourth consecutive season, and will be seeking to avenge his early exit during his junior season.
For the rookies, Jay County coach Eric Myers is hoping they won’t get caught up in the fanfare that is the semi-state tournament.
“They are working their tails off,” said Myers, adding that the last week of practice has gone exceptionally well. “They practice as well as any group I’ve had going into semi-state. It gets harder and harder to practice the fewer people you get in the (wrestling) room.
“I’m just hoping that when we get there we focus on wrestling and the lights aren’t too bright.”
Myers said Kohler, who was a 182-pound sectional champion, got the best draw out of the three Patriots thanks to his second-place regional finish. The junior will face Kokomo’s Gavin Herrera (31-16), who is one of six Fort Wayne semi-state wrestlers with 16 or more losses. Should Kohler (34-4) win his opening round match, he’ll face either Homestead’s Wyatt Clem (32-6) or Lakeland’s Austin Evans (28-13) in the “ticket round.”
A win in the first two matches guarantees a top-four finish, and those wrestlers who place in the top four qualify for state. A loss in either of the first two rounds marks an end of the wrestling season.
Junior Dallas Dudleston squares off against West Noble freshman Fernando Luevano (25-7) in the opening round. Luevano beat Dudelston earlier this season, but the Patriot is confident he can get the best of him this time around.
“I’m looking to go and show him that I can beat him,” said Dudelston, Jay County’s only Allen County Athletic Conference champion this season. “I kind of have an idea of what he’s going to do.”
Western’s Caleb Maddox (37-3) or Chase Hissong (25-12) of Leo will await Dudleston should he win his opener, and Dudelston won’t change much about his approach to either opponent.
“I’m just going to wrestle like I always do,” he said.
Leonhard, a sophomore, will be tasked with wrestling the third-ranked and undefeated Josh Garman of Carroll.

“He’s pretty tough. I’ll try to do the best I can,” said Leonhard, who has a 30-10 record at 152. Should Leonhard upset Garman, he’ll face Manchester’s Quentin Moore (19-3) or Garrett Griffin (32-7) of Northwood in the ticket round.
“He’s tough, but he’s not real flashy,” Myers said of Garman. “It is someone I think Tyler can wrestle with. Hopefully he can keep it close and give himself a chance to win in the end.”
Briar Goodwin (28-12) of South Adams couldn’t have gotten a more difficult opponent than his opening round match. The Starfire sophomore meets East Noble’s Garrett Pepple, who is 38-0, ranked No. 1 at 113 and is a two-time state runner-up.
“David thought the same thing when he was going against Goliath,” SAHS coach Barry Humble said. “One thing about Briar, he’s not intimidated. He wrestled (Pepple) at Garrett and didn’t make it to the second period so we know how good he is.
“I haven’t had to pump him up at all this week. I like that approach. He’s excited.”
Mason Morningstar (25-7) faces 2014 state qualifier Matt Swartz (31-3) of Snider. With the graduation of two-time semi-state champion Eric Hemmelgarn of Jay County, Morningstar and Swartz will be competing in a wide open heavyweight division. Hemmelgarn defeated Swartz in the championship match a year ago, and Humble said he’s confident of Morningstar’s chances against the senior from Snider.
“I feel good about leaving it in his hands,” Humble said. “He knows how to do it.”
South Adams freshman Wyatt Miller (34-2) faces another tough freshman in Kasey Deardorff (25-7) of North Miami.
“He’s been a competitor and we should respect him,” Humble said of Deardorff. “I seriously doubt if he has a better practice partner than Wyatt does.
“I’m counting on that kind of preparation enabling us to be successful.”
Miller’s practice partner happens to be his older brother, Sawyer. The elder Miller is a three-time semi-state qualifier and medaled at state as a freshman and sophomore. He was upset in the ticket round his junior year, which was the only loss of the season.
Sawyer, who is ranked second in the state at 120, tech-falled his way to a regional championship last weekend. He meets ACAC foe Kyle Rothgeb (27-6) of Heritage in the opening round, with either Aren Turner (21-12) of Greentown or Lakeland’s Cole Long (34-7) looming in the ticket round.
“I think he’s going to do OK through his first two matches,” Humble said of Miller, adding he thinks the senior has a chip on his shoulder for failing to reach the state finals last season. “I like guys that are a little chippy. It makes them edgy (and) not overconfident.”
While the Jay County and South Adams trios face a difficult path to the state finals this weekend, Dudelston summed it up best the approach he, as well as everyone else, will take this weekend.
“Go out there and wrestle as hard as you can,” he said. “It could possibly be your last match, so why not just leave it all out there?”
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