ECIC victory

Gaven Hare wanted the challenge.

Tied 4-4 in sudden death overtime, the Jay County High School junior chose to be on the bottom, knowing all he had to do was escape from Churubusco’s J.T. Kilgore for the win.

If you blinked, you might have missed it.

Hare needed just six seconds to escape in earning a 5-4 victory over the previously undefeated Kilgore, as he was one of five JCHS wrestlers to earn East Central Indiana Classic championships in helping the Patriots to the team title of the tournament it hosted.

“Just fight, man,” Hare said after his victory, complete with a bloody mouth. “Coach said I had choice in the tiebreaker. I knew I could cut (loose of) him.”

“We haven’t wrestled in two weeks so I am pretty happy with the way we wrestled,” said JCHS coach Eric Myers, whose team totaled 257 points. Frankton was the runner-up with 150 points, and Marion finished third at 145.5 points. “These guys said they wanted to come into the tournament and win it. They came to wrestle today.”

Neither Hare nor Kilgore scored in the opening period of their 220-pound match, and Hare earned an escape early in the second period before a single-leg takedown gave him a 3-0 lead. Kilgore, who is the top-ranked wrestler in the Fort Wayne semi-state, cut into the deficit with an escape of his own, and Hare deferred another point to start the third period in the neutral position.

Hare (13-2), a semi-state qualifier as a sophomore, was penalized for stalling to tie the score in the third period, and escaped during the first overtime period for a 4-3 advantage. Starting the second OT on bottom, Kilgore (17-1) escaped easily to tie the score.

At that point, Hare knew he had the match in the bag, that he just had to wait out the remaining seconds to force the sudden death period.

“I’m not going to say I’m good at stalling, but I’ve done it once or twice,” he joked.

Hare’s win put an exclamation point on the team win for the Patriots, who had six wrestle in the finals.

Seth Fugiett, Hare’s classmate, was the first to claim an ECIC championship by turning a reversal into a pin in his 120-pound title match against Max Harris of Union City. Harris had just scored a three-point near fall for a 5-2 lead late in the third period, but Fugiett caught him in a roll and bridged his back for the pin with seven seconds remaining.

“I was exhausted,” Fugiett said. “Coach looked at me after we went out of bounds and said ‘Dig deep.’ I did a quick stand up, got his leg and he cross-faced me and we fell down. He was under me and I just kept bridging.”

Fugiett moved to 12-3 on the year.

“He’s still raw but he’s getting better every time he steps out on the mat,” Myers said.

At 152 pounds, JCHS senior Tyler Leonhard also needed overtime for his win over Dylan Torbush of Wes-Del. Tied 1-1 after three periods, Leonhard (15-1) nabbed a takedown and a three-point near fall in the first overtime for a 6-1 decision.