Medal control

INDIANAPOLIS — In control.

All season long, Tony Wood has been in control.

That did not change on the state’s biggest stage.

Wood, a Jay County High School junior, scored early Friday night during the IHSAA Wrestling State Finals at Gainbridge Fieldhouse and kept control against Cathedral’s Max McGinley for two-plus periods before recording a pin that guarantees his first career state medal.

Wood gave a big clap as he stood following the pin and got a pat on the head from dad and JCHS assistant coach Bruce Wood as they walked off the floor. After going 0-2 in his state finals appearances as a freshman and sophomore, Wood went into the evening wanting to prove himself.

“So much. Especially losing Friday night last year,” he said. “It was so awful. I just remember thinking, ‘I have to wait a whole year to get back here.’ So, feels great right now.”

While Wood advances and will wrestle out to see where he places in the top eight in the 138-pound bracket beginning at 9 a.m. today — his quarterfinal match will be against No. 9 Reese Courtney of Center Grove — the season came to an end with first-round state finals losses for Cody Rowles, Cameron Clark and Christian Wittkamp.

The fourth-ranked Wood extended his perfect record to 42-0 Friday as he was able to get behind McGinley for control just 25 seconds into the match to get the early lead.

“This tournament, first takedown is huge in all these matches,” said Wood. “I knew I could grind him out. He’s a pretty good mat wrestler, but I knew I could ride him out.”

He did just that in the second period after McGinley chose the bottom position.

Wood then got an escape early in the third for a 3-0 lead. And when McGinley tried for a snap down, Wood slipped behind and locked in a cradle that resulted in a pin moments later for a victory in 5 minutes even.

He said he felt his frame of mind was key.

“You know, it’s just another wrestling match,” said Wood. “It’s not, like, huge. I mean, it kind of is big, but you put it in your brain that it’s just another match. And I think that really helps.”

His victory gave Jay County wrestling a state medalist for the seventh time in the last eight years.

“It feels great,” said Myers. “He works really hard. You always felt like he deserves that state medal. … I’m so happy that he was able to get the win.”

Courtney (34-8) advanced through Friday’s opening round with a 10-7 win over No. 11 Lucas Clement of Merrillville. His two losses during the state tournament series thus far have both come against second-ranked Cheaney Schoeff of Avon.

With a win over Courtney, Wood could face either No. 5 Jeffrey Huyvaert (48-1) of New Prairie or No. 6 Michael Major (25-0) of Carmel in the semifinals.

The top two ranked wrestlers in the class — No. 1 Cole Solomey (44-1) of Kankakee Valley and No. 2 Cheaney Schoeff (40-0) of Avon — are on the opposite side of the bracket.

“We know that he’s going to have a tough match tomorrow morning,” said Myers. “They’re all tough from here on.

“(Courtney) is pretty offensive, so Tony will have to make sure he can stop (his) single leg and get to his offense.”

The 11th-ranked Clark (36-3), a state medalist last season as he finished seventh at 138 pounds, was never able to find his offense Friday against No. 5 Wesley Smith (46-2) of Plymouth in the 145-pound bracket. He gave up a takedown during a scramble with 32 seconds left in the first period and trailed throughout. Smith needed just two seconds for a second-period escape, then added a takedown off of a Clark single-leg shot attempt late in the period.

A reversal with 38 seconds left — Clark slipped between Smith’s legs and took control — closed the gap to 5-2, but the JCHS junior was unable to work his way to any additional points in the waning moments.

“He just couldn’t get to his takedowns,” said Myers. “We’re better on our leg attacks, and if we’re not getting to those, then we’re in our secondary offense.”

A pair of third-ranked Mater Dei wrestlers proved too much for the other Patriots who competed Friday.

No. 8 Rowles (37-4), who was ranked eighth in the state at 126 pounds, gave up a takedown as Evan Seng (35-3) got behind him at the 1:19 mark of the opening period. He escaped, but gave up another takedown with about 30 seconds remaining to trail 4-1 at the first break. The only other point in the match was a Seng escape in the third period for a 5-1 final margin.

“We gave up a couple takedowns early and … he tied up our hands and just let time run off that clock,” Myers said. “Cody just kept coming at him. He kept trying to give himself a shot, but wasn’t quite able to get there.”

Wittkamp (34-9), a sophomore making his first state finals appearance after wrestling junior varsity in Illinois last season, couldn’t keep up with Hunter May (37-1) as he fell behind 4-0 in the opening period. He had a chance to get a throw in the second but couldn’t finish it and then gave up a series of near falls on the way to a loss by a 15-0 technical fall in 3:43.

“We were a little overmatched,” said Myers. “In Christian’s matches … we’ve had times when he’s gotten down seven, eight, 10 even, and he’s come back … gotten a throw and a pin. We were just trying to get to a good position where he had a shot. And he did get there once. … (May) was a pretty good wrestler in there. … We weren’t able to capitalize.”