Seven Patriots advance

The Patriots were once again without a regional champion.
But they will have their largest group at semi-state in recent memory.
Jay County High School’s wrestling team had seven members finish in the top four Saturday of the IHSAA wrestling regional tournament it hosted.
The Patriots scored 83 points to finish fifth out of 17 teams represented. Bellmont knocked off three-time defending regional champion Yorktown to earn the team title.
The Braves scored 196 points to win its first regional in four years. Yorktown was second with 155 points, and Delta’s 111 points were third.
South Adams, which had two reach semi-state, scored 26 points for seventh place.
“I thought we wrestled pretty well all the way through,” said JCHS coach Eric Myers, whose team had two wrestlers who were runner up, three earn third and two finish in fourth place. “We had a couple I thought we could get, but we wrestled pretty well today.
“Hopefully those matches that we won set us up for a better draw than if we would have lost.”
The top four placers in each weight division advance to the semi-state meet, which begins at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne.
Jay County seniors Dallas Dudelston and Andy Kohler were the lone Patriots who competed for regional championships.
Kohler, who is ranked fifth in the state at 182 pounds, pinned both Nick Lopez of Wes-Del and Muncie Central’s Lorenzo Reyes during the second period in the quarterfinal and semifinal matches respectively.
Once in the championship bout, Kohler met Bellmont’s Caleb Hankenson, a rematch of the sectional championship which Kohler won 6-5.
Tied 3-3 entering the third period, Kohler escaped Hankenson 17 seconds in for a 4-3 lead. He had a couple opportunities to build on the advantage but couldn’t complete his takedown attempts.
Then with time running out, Hankenson grabbed Kohler’s left leg, lifted it in the air and took the previously undefeated Patriot to the mat at the buzzer for a takedown.
Myers approached the scorer’s table to double-check with the head official, who conferred with the second official and determined Hankenson got the takedown before the buzzer for the upset victory.
It was the first loss of the season for Kohler (41-1).
“To start the match we wrestled a little bit more conservative,” Myers said. “In hindsight maybe we should have been a little more aggressive. With that much time left … probably could have tried to hold him off a little bit but he’s got a really nice shot, got in deep and finished it and did it with time on the clock.”
“We don’t know how it will turn out for (Kohler) but hopefully it is something he can still learn from here in his senior year and it helps him in the next two weeks.”
Dudelston defeated Yorktown’s Alara Boyd by a 3-1 decision in the quarterfinal round to reach semi-state, and won by injury default against Noah Richardson of Delta in the semifinal to reach the 132-pound title bout.
He lost a 4-1 decision to Bellmont’s Daniel Gunsett, who defeated Dudelston by a 4-0 decision a week earlier for the sectional title.
“We may take a different approach if we wrestle him again,” Myers said.
Gunsett, a 2015 state qualifier at 126 pounds, got a takedown at the buzzer of the opening period, and notched a two-point nearfall during the second for a 4-0 lead. Dudelston’s only point came on an escape earlier in the second, and the JCHS senior wasn’t able to score from the top position in the third period.
“I thought he wrestled pretty tough today,” Myers said of Dudleston, who is 30-12. “He had three tough opponents … and right there with a state qualifier again.”
South Adams sophomore and two-time sectional champion Wyatt Miller was the only Starfire to compete for a regional championship, but dropped a 5-1 decision to Yorktown freshman Brayden Curtis in the 106-pound title match.
“Curtis is great on his feet,” SAHS coach Jesse Gaskill said. “I thought Wyatt looked decent on his feet. He countered a lot of what Curtis brought towards him. That kid is all-around good for a freshman.”
After losing their semifinal matches, Jay County senior Levi Hummel, along with juniors Ivan Hemmelgarn and Tyler Leonhard bounced back to finish third. Hummel (33-10) defeated Adams Central’s Ryan Ashley 3-1 at 170 pounds. Hemmelgarn (34-11) pinned Seth Fox of Delta in the first period at 160, and Leonhard (34-8) beat Bellmont’s Matt Laughlin of 3-2 in an ultimate tiebreaker at 152.
Sophomore Kaimen Sanders (17-10), who missed time with a concussion, was fourth at 120, and Hare (25-10) placed fourth at 220 as they are both first time semi-state qualifiers.
“To get seven this year we are pretty excited,” Myers said. “Seven guys instead of three will give (returning semi-state qualifiers) Kohler, Dudelston and Leonhard some company.
“They won’t feel so lonely up there at the Coliseum.”
South Adams sophomore Isaiah Baumgartner (27-3) also reached semi-state, finishing third at 195 pounds.
Jay County seniors Tristan Akins (126) and Colton Compton (138), sophomore Jacob Ferguson (19020) and freshmen Thomas Hemmelgarn (145) and Daniel Ostrowski (195) all lost their opening round matches, putting an end to their season.
Missing semi-state for South Adams were sophomore Brandon Wynn (120), Briar Goodwin (126) and Logan Hicks (182).