Three wrestlers earn titles

WOODBURN — During their inaugural season in the conference, the Patriots had one champion.
This year, they have three.
And they just missed out on sweeping the team titles.
Jay County High School’s wrestling team had three individuals crowned champions Saturday in the Allen County Athletic Conference Wrestling Tournament at Woodlan.
South Adams had one earn an ACAC title.
“For the most part, I think almost all the way around we wrestled to or above our seeds,” said JCHS coach Eric Myers, whose team, which won the dual tournament in December, had a total of 10 wrestlers compete for championships.
Jay County scored 246 points to finish second behind defending tournament champion Adams Central (255.5). The Patriots were ahead of the Jets 230-209.5 heading into the finals, but Adams Central was 6-for-7 in championship matches to overtake Jay County.
It was the 33rd title all time for the Flying Jets.
“There is so many places where we could have picked up points, maybe not giving up a pin, maybe win one of those tight matches,” Myers said. “We’ll come back and hopefully wrestle better at sectional.”
Woodlan scored 197 points for third place, and South Adams was fourth with 119.
Jay County seniors Levi Hummel and Andy Kohler as well as sophomore Gaven Hare all won their first career conference championships.
“It feels good,” said Hummel, who didn’t have much of a reaction after defeating Adams Central’s Ryan Ashley by a 7-4 decision in the final. “It’s been a long time since I’ve won a championship.”
Hummel (29-8) got ahead early in the first period 5-0 with a takedown and three-point near fall. He gave up a reverse to Ashley in the second period, and Hummel went on the defensive for the rest of the match.
“Getting that early lead was a lot better than what I was expecting,” he said. “I was expecting to be a little bit tighter, but getting that takedown with a near fall in the beginning really helped.”
Ashley took a shot a Hummel to start the third period, but the Patriot senior turned it into a takedown for a 7-3 lead. Hummel let go of Ashley to give up an escape, and didn’t allow him to score again.
“That will really help him out on (sectional) seeding,” Myers said. Jay County hosts the sectional tournament at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.
In a rematch from the ACAC dual tournament Dec. 12, Kohler faced Isaiah Baumgartner of South Adams in the 195-pound championship Saturday.
The fourth-ranked Kohler (36-0) won their earlier meeting by an 11-2 major decision, but Saturday’s match was closer.
A pair of single-leg takedowns in the second period gave Kohler an 8-2 advantage, and Baumgartner got to within 8-5 with a takedown of his own in the third. It was the only two points Baumgartner earned by himself, as the other three were escape points Kohler surrendered so they could get back to their feet.
“Kohler looked pretty good,” said Myers. The state qualifier as a junior at 182 pounds has been wrestling most of his senior campaign at 195 and on occasion at 220. “I think he’s excited to get back down to 182 and wrestle some kids his size and strength.”
While Kohler and Hummel led for most of their matches, that was not true for Hare’s 220-pound bout against Woodlan’s Jeramiah Cassel.
The Warrior senior started the second period from the down position and reversed Hare for two points. An escape later in the period cut Hare’s deficit in half, and the sophomore released himself from Cassel’s grasp in the third period as well to tie the score at 2-2.
Hare (22-7) had a takedown in the third period and fought off a late surge by Cassel to hang on for a 4-3 decision.
“He is just a competitor,” Myers said. “It is fun to watch him. He understands where he is at in the match and what he needs to do for the win.
“He has some stuff that is kind of hard to teach.”
Senior Logan Hicks earned the only title for South Adams, pinning Jay County freshman Daniel Ostrowski in 2 minutes, 31 seconds, in their 182-pound match.
Also finishing second for the Patriots were Davis Anderson (113 pounds), Kaimen Sanders (120), defending ACAC champion Dallas Dudelston (132), Colton Compton (138), Tyler Leonhard (152), Ivan Hemmelgarn (160).
Ian Liette (106), Tristan Atkins (126), and Jacob Ferguson (285) were fourth and Thomas Hemmelgarn (145) placed sixth.
Other South Adams wrestlers finishing second were Wyatt Miller (106) and Briar Goodwin (126). Brandon Wynn (120) was third and Dylan Zuercher was fourth.