Champs again

The Patriots weathered the storm Friday night in winning their first two duals.

They passed the test Saturday morning, then only lost five total matches the rest of the tournament.

Jay County High School’s wrestling team went undefeated Saturday, capping a perfect Friday night to sweep the Allen County Athletic Conference team dual tournament it hosted.

“It’s pretty big,” said JCHS coach Eric Myers, whose team won last year’s tournament at Adams Central. “The guys put a lot of stock into and take a lot of pride in winning the ACAC duals. Some guys are moving up (weight classes) and some are taking a seat during some of those matches because of match-ups.

“Nobody is selfish. They just want to do what’s best for the team.”

Jay County began Saturday’s action against Adams Central, another team that was 2-0 after the first two rounds Friday. In the dual match that was anticipated to decide the eventual champion, the Patriots and Jets were tied 9-9 after the first four matches.

Conner Specht, a Jay County sophomore who was wrestling Zac Wurm at 285 pounds, was down 4-0 in the second period. Specht was on bottom in the second period, but reversed Wurm and pinned the Jet heavyweight with 13 seconds remaining in the period.

It kicked off a stretch of four consecutive wins — another pin, a tech fall and a forfeit — that helped Jay County take a 32-9 lead over Adams Central that the Jets couldn’t recover from.

“That match was huge,” Myers said of Specht, who ended 3-0 on the day. “One, for the team score. Two, Conner was in trouble looking like he might get turned a couple times, but he fought out of it and got a pin. That’s a 12-point swing there possibly. …

“The other thing with Conner is he’s been working a long time battling on bottom. He showed grit and determination down there. I was glad to finally see it pay off.”

A Jet win at 126 made it 32-15 before Ethan Reiley and Tony Wood started their dominant days with pins, bringing the score to 44-15 and guaranteeing a JCHS dual victory over Adams Central.

“Mindset was to finish it,” Myers, whose team had a bye in the fourth round, said of the focus coming off the high of beating the Jets. “We knew we’re definitely the favorite in the other matches.” 

The remaining opponents — Jay County beat South Adams and Bluffton on Friday — put up little fight. The Patriots dominated Woodlan (84-0), Heritage (64-18) and Southern Wells (72-12) for the sweep.

Cody Rowles, Ethan Reiley, Tony Wood, A.J. Myers and Bryce Wenk all went undefeated on the day, with Wood posting a team-high three pins. Wood also had the team’s fastest pin of the tournament, defeating Colton Bollenbacher of South Adams in 32 seconds Friday.

Daniel Moore joined Specht in going 3-0 Saturday. Landon Garringer (2-0) and Landon Mills-Blowers (1-0) were undefeated as well. 

Taye Curtis and Ramon Bravo were each 3-1, while Cameron Gage and Kaleb Meadows were 2-1. Daidrick Retz and Nate Paxson were both 2-2.

“I felt like we wrestled really well,” Myers said. “ We had to get up right away and wrestle Adams Central … Our guys just went out and performed.”

Bluffton was 5-1 for the tournament to finish second. The Tigers defeated the Jets 37-36 in the fifth round, edging Adams Central by the fifth tiebreaker criteria for most number of falls.

Adams Central (4-2) was third, South Adams (3-3) placed fourth, Heritage (2-4) was fifth, Woodlan (1-5) sixth and Southern Wells (0-6) seventh.