Three Patriots win titles

Mason Winner dominated, Tyler Leonhard put his studying to good use and Gaven Hare didn’t need any heroics in avenging a loss.

No matter the route, they are all the same.

Champions.

The host Jay County High School wrestling team had three individual winners who led a group of 10 total advancing one more week from Saturday's sectional tournament.

“We’re happy with the guys that made it,” said JCHS coach Eric Myers, whose team also hosts the regional on Feb. 4. “We didn’t wrestle bad. We had some guys that had some pretty good days. We just needed to wrestle a little better if we were going to be right there to push Bellmont.”

Bellmont won its fourth straight team championship, totaling 248.5 points. Jay County placed second with 208 points, finishing ahead of Adams Central (205).

South Adams, which had two individual champions and six more regional qualifiers, was fourth with 178 points.

The top four athletes in each weight class advance to regional.

Winner, a 145-pound freshman who is ranked eighth in the state, never wrestled into the third period. He beat Norwell’s Sam Walker by pin in 1 minute, 44 seconds, to reach the semifinal, during which he pinned Southern Wells’ Mason Stevens in 47 seconds. In the championship match, Zach Mounsey notched a takedown, but Winner reversed it. The Tiger junior took a 3-2 lead with an escape, but once they got to their feet, Winner, who moved to 30-1, recorded a takedown before his pin with five seconds remaining.

“He looked great,” Myers said. “It will be fun to watch him as the competition increases each week. He is prepared. He is pretty controlled in all positions. For him, he’s put so much time and effort and work into this, it’s just great to watch as he progresses.”

Leonhard, a 152-pound senior and returning semi-state qualifier, spent time reviewing video from last year’s regional match against Bellmont’s Matt Laughlin. Leonhard beat Laughlin in sudden victory overtime a year ago and turned to that video in preparation for the final on Saturday.

Knowing Laughlin wasn’t too quick on his feet, Leonhard used an ankle pick for a takedown, escaped during the second period and gave up an escape in the third period. He won by a 3-1 decision.

“Feels really, really good,” said Leonhard, who is 32-4.

“He’s developed more offense,” Myers said. “He is such a controlled wrestler that if he can get that takedown, he is good on top.”

Leonhard also pinned Peyton Smith of Blackford and Xavier Walden of Southern Wells.

Hare, a 200-pound sophomore, admitted he didn’t wrestle very smartly against Adams Central’s Nash Brunner in last year’s sectional final.

“I’ve been reminded of that by coaches almost every day now for about a year,” he said, smiling.

In Saturday’s rematch, Brunner escaped in the second period for a 1-0 lead, but Hare turned a headlock into a takedown for a 2-1 advantage. The move surprised even him, as he had been trying for a high single-leg all match. Brunner escaped with 21.4 seconds left to tie the score.

Starting the third period on bottom, Hare escaped with 52 seconds remaining and won by a 3-2 decision.

Jay County had three others compete in the finals but they all finished second. Kaimen Sanders (120) lost in overtime 8-6 to William Fiechter of Southern Wells, Ivan Hemmelgarn (160) dropped a 4-2 decision to Tony Busse of Bellmont and Chandler Chapman fell by pin to Caden Freidt of Belmont with 10 seconds remaining in their 182-pound match.

South Adams freshman Michael Rupp and junior Wyatt Miller were champions at 106 and 113 pounds respectively. Rupp (26-5) beat Bellmont’s DeAundre James by a 7-1 decision. He earned byes and a forfeit to the semifinal, during which he pinned Jay County’s Dylan Racster in 34 seconds. Miller defeated Adams Central’s Logan Mosser by an 8-4 decision, a rematch of the ACAC title bout a week ago that Miller also won.

Although Miller continued his edge against Mosser, SAHS coach Jesse Gaskill said the junior can start his matches better.

“Today was a little out of sorts,” he said. “We didn’t control the match the way we needed from the beginning. Got to be a lot more aggressive in that first period.”

Also advancing to regional from Jay County are Zakk Atkins (third – 113), Thomas Hemmelgarn (170 – third), Max Schmit (195 – third) and Racster (106 – fourth). From South Adams are Tayler Cuellar (285 – third), Brandon Wynn (120 – fourth), Keegon Boxell (138 – fourth) and Collin Shaffer (160 – fourth)