A shot at eight

The Patriots had eight semi-state qualifiers a year ago.

To match that this weekend, they will need to be nearly perfect.

Jay County High School will have nine athletes competing Saturday as it hosts the regional wrestling tournament, with the top four in each weight class to clinch a semi-state berth.

Three-time defending regional champion Tony Wood leads the group of Patriots, who are coming off of a third-place sectional finish. Joining him will be sectional champion Griffin Byrum, Cody Rowles, Bryce Wenk, Juaquin Flores, Alan Ortiz, A.J. Heskett, Jacob Robinson and Jason Landers.

“We’ve got a shot,” said JCHS coach Eric Myers of the possibility of matching last season’s semi-state berth total. “I feel like on a really rough day we’d be at about five and a great day we’d be at eight to nine. …

“I thought that we had some pretty fortunate draws. We’ve got a couple tough matches, but overall I liked what it looked like.”

Semi-state berths are decided in the opening matches Saturday. First-round winners earn another week of wrestling and continue to battle for the regional title. First-round losers go home.

Wood (37-0) is three-time state qualifier — he finished seventh at 138 last season — and ranked fourth in the state as he prepares to open his regional day against Winchester’s Kayden Manning (15-17). A win would send him to the semifinal against either Jarin Frauhiger (30-9) of Southern Wells or Dalton Tuttle (2-2) of Delta. There are two ranked wrestlers — No. 9 Justin Boone (31-2) of Yorktown and No. 18 Maverick Dubach (33-5) of Adams Central — looming as potential finals opponents as Wood attempts to complete his career regional sweep.

“To be a four-time regional champion, that puts him in pretty rare company,” said Myers. (Jay County has several three-time regional champions, but no one in the history of the school has ever won four.) “The Yorktown kid is a pretty tough wrestler. Tony’s always been able to come out on top against him. … You can’t overlook anybody. You take it one match at a time. The most successful wrestlers I’ve coached have been able to do that.”

Jay County’s only other sectional champion was 20th-ranked Byrum (30-4), who will open his regional tournament at 106 pounds against Winchester’s Brennen Lanter (21-11). He could face 18th-ranked Daigan Barbosa (24-3) of Cowan in the semifinal, and top-ranked Jensen Boyd (32-0) of Delta looms in the finals.

Cody Rowles (25-9), who is ranked 18th at 126 pounds, will meet Tanner Eppard (25-12) of Yorktown in the opening round. He faces a difficult road to the final as he would likely run into top-ranked Neal Mosier (32-0), a two-time state medalist, in the semifinal.

Wenk (34-2), one of the Patriots’ returning semi-state qualifiers along with Wood and Rowles, will take on Cowan’s Peyton Keppler (15-15) in his opener at 190. He could meet Monroe Central’s Jeremiah Ullom, who is also 34-2, in the semifinal with a chance to set up a finals rematch with No. 15 Trevor Currie (34-4) of Adams Central.

Flores (26-9) and Ortiz (21-7) both will be looking to reverse their fortunes after losing by pin in the opening round of the regional last year. Flores will start against Christian Erwin (19-17) of Monroe Central in the 175-pound bracket. If he wins, he would likely meet up with sixth-ranked Braxton Russell (31-1) of Delta in the semifinal round. Ortiz gets Yorktown’s Wyatt Roach (10-18) in the opener at 215. If he advances, he would likely face Bellmont’s No. 3 Keagan Martin (38-1) in the semifinal.

    Senior Juaquin Flores (26-9) of Jay County tries to force the shoulders of Norwell’s Elijah Behning to the mat during Saturday’s sectional tournament, pinning him to advance to the 175-pound championship. He is hoping to earn his first semi-state berth when he competes in the regional Saturday at JCHS. (The Commercial Review/Ray Cooney)
  

Saturday will be the first taste of regional action for Robinson, Heskett and Landers, who were not part of the tournament roster a year ago. Robinson (28-8) will open against Zach Martin (25-4) of Monroe Central at 150 while Heskett (21-14) will take on Cole Stuffel (29-7) of Yorktown in the 132-pound bracket. Landers (15-7) faces the most difficult opening-round matchup amongst the Patriots as he will start against No. 20 Wyatt Hoppes (29-5) of Yorktown.

“In the state tournament series, you take it one match at a time,” said Myers. “You’ve really got to focus on that first one because you punch your ticket to semi-state. … You just want to make sure that you advance and give yourself another opportunity to compete next week. …

“As you keep going, the stakes get a little bit higher and higher, but at the same time you’ve got to make sure your kids are going out and just wrestling, staying loose. … We’ve just got to go out there and wrestle whose in front of us.”