Kohler, Miller reach state

FORT WAYNE — Sawyer Miller and Andy Kohler are first-timers.
Miller, a South Adams High School senior, has four sectional titles, four regional titles and two state medals under his belt. But he’d never won a semi-state champion.
Kohler, a junior at Jay County High School, had never qualified for state.
Until now.
Miller cruised to his first career semi-state championship and Kohler punched his ticket to the state finals during the Fort Wayne semi-state meet Saturday at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.
The state finals begin at 6 p.m. Friday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The quarterfinals, consolations and finals will resume Saturday.
“It feels great,” said Kohler, who defeated Kokomo’s Gavin Herrera by a 9-1 decision and then beat Wyatt Clem of Homestead 7-0 to earn his first state berth. “I knew I could beat (Clem). He was gassed. He couldn’t do anything.”
Kohler had taken a couple shots against Clem early in the first period, but wasn’t able to score anything from them. He was finally able to grab Clem’s leg and wrestle him to the mat for a 2-0 lead.
Clem, who defeated Lakeland’s Austin Evans by a 10-5 decision in his tournament opener, started the second period on top against Kohler. The Patriot junior scored a quick escape for a 3-0 lead and then took the Homestead junior to the mat for another two points.
“His right leg, my left (was) just a single leg heaven all day,” Kohler said of Clem.
Starting the third period from the neutral position, Kohler used another single leg takedown and then rode Clem out for the remainder of the match for the win.
“He had a really good day,” said JCHS coach Eric Myers. He completely dominated his first round match (and) dominated his ticket-round match.
“I’ve been pretty impressed with him today.”
Kohler was responsible for all six team points for Jay County, which placed 30th out of 55 teams that had semi-state qualifiers. Miller scored all 21 points for the Starfires, who finished 11th. Yorktown won the team title with 129.5 points.
Kohler’s next two matches, however, didn’t go as well as the first two.
He lost to David Eli of Elkhart Memorial 4-3 in the semifinal, and then dropped a 6-3 decision to Hunter Heistand of Yorktown. It was the second consecutive loss to Heistand, who defeated Kohler 4-3 in the regional championship.
The loss to Eli, during which Kohler nearly scored a reversal for a 5-4 lead but was ruled out of bounds, was the more difficult of the two defeats he suffered Saturday.
“I should have won that semifinal match,” said Kohler, who enters the state finals with a 36-6 record. “I only lost by one point. That’s the hard thing. I could have gotten second instead of fourth.”
Regardless, the junior is still a state qualifier, a year after his season ended at regional.
“It’s a dream to go to state,” he added. “You’ll think about that forever. I just wish I would have placed higher.”
Miller fared even better on his way to the title at 120.
The senior, who returns to the state finals after falling short in his junior season, was not challenged through his first three matches. He won each of them by tech fall.
He beat Kyle Rothgeb of Heritage 15-0 in 2 minutes, 20 seconds, topped Lakeland’s Cole Long 17-0 in 2:51 and needed 3:57 to defeat Hunter Langeloh of Columbia City 20-4.
In 9:08, he outscored his opponents 52-4.
“He makes it look easy but it isn’t necessarily as easy as he makes it look,” SAHS coach Barry Humble said. “He just outworks everybody and has terrific technique. He just scores points at will.
“He wrestled today at a different level than the competition.”
Against Long, Miller (41-0) scored an early takedown and then notched three consecutive three-point near falls to grab an 11-0 lead after the first period. Miller toyed with Long again in the second, scoring two more three-point near falls before getting the victory.
On multiple occasions, Miller had Langeloh locked in a cradle just long enough for the near fall, then broke his grasp only to do it again. All four points Langeloh recorded in the match were because Miller let him go.
Miller’s only test of the evening was in the final against Ben Cauffman of Fort Wayne Carroll. Miller won by a 4-2 decision, and admitted afterward he was a little hesitant going into the final.
“I was a little nervous or something,” he said. “It wasn’t really my match.”
Dallas Dudelston and Tyler Leonhard also competed for Jay County at 132 and 152 respectively, but both were defeated in the opening round.
Dudelston (30-9) lost by major decision, 17-9, to eventual state qualifier Fernando Luevano of West Noble. Leonhard (30-11) lost to then-undefeated Josh Garman of Carroll, and was pinned as the buzzer sounded to end the first period.
Wyatt Miller (106), Briar Goodwin (113) and Mason Morningstar (285) also competed for South Adams.
Wyatt Miller, Sawyer’s younger brother, lost in the ticket round. After pinning North Miami’s Kasey Deardorff in 2:49 in the opening round, Tanner DeMein of Northwood pinned him in 2:51.