Jay wrestling takes top spot at Coldwater

COLDWATER, Ohio — The Patriots have faced adversity early in the season.

Between dealing with injuries and facing strong competition, they haven’t always walked away with the top spot this season.

That wasn’t a problem this weekend as the Patriots pulled in their second win at an invitational.

The Jay County High School boys wrestling team had eight out of 12 wrestlers placed, including two individual champions, as it earned 206 points to win the Coldwater Invitational on Saturday.

The Patriots earned the top spot over 21 other teams at the meet. Benjamin Logan was the closest team to JCHS with 197 points.

Jay County had the best wrestlers in the 138-pound and 215 weight classes in Tony Wood and Bryce Wenk.

In the sixth (semifinal) round, Wood wracked up enough points on Coldwater’s Austin Hamilton to win by technical fall 15-0. All five of Wood’s other wins came via fall, including a second-period pin (2 minutes, 22 seconds) against Gavin Ridenour of Wapakoneta in the Championship round.

Wenk pinned all five of his opponents to take the 215 bracket. His final match went down to the wire, as he pinned Milan’s Zane Richardson with just six seconds remaining.

Five Patriots only lost one match. Griffin Byrum (113), Cody Rowles (126) and Juaquin Flores (190) all fell in the semifinal round, sending them to the third place game.

All three pulled off the victory in their final matches. Bryum (0:48) and Rowles (2:33) both won by fall, while Flores came out on top of Catholic Central’s Brody Adams with an 11-1 major decision.

Jacob Robinson (150) and Alan Ortiz (285) both dropped their opening matches, but won out to earn fifth-place finishes.

A.J. Heskett went 4-2 on the day to earn seventh place in the 132 weight class.