4-time champ

Tony Wood was chasing an accomplishment that had never been achieved in 49 seasons of Patriot wrestling.

It only took him 3 minutes, 49 seconds, to attain it.

Wood made his career sweep of regional championships seem almost easy Saturday and classmate Cody Rowles rediscovered his spark as they led a group of seven semi-state qualifiers for host Jay County High School.

“It feels really good,” said Wood. “It just feels good to win four. It’s always a good thing to win.”

“It’s really cool to be a Jay County Patriot. I love it,” added the four-time sectional champion and four-time Allen County Athletic Conference champion. “I think it’s cool to be a part of history. My name’s going to be on the wall forever.”

Bryce Wenk and Griffin Byrum finished as regional runners-up, Alan Ortiz placed third and Juaquin Flores and Jacob Robinson each took fourth as the Class 2A No. 4 Patriots were third with 107 points. (The top four wrestlers in each weight class advance to the semi-state tournament.)

Class 2A No. 1 Delta (No. 5 overall) claimed the regional title with 143.5 points ahead of Class 2A No. 2 Bellmont (No. 14 overall). The loaded regional field also included Class 1A No. 2 Adams Central (105) in fourth ahead of Class 1A No. 4 Cowan (60.5) and Class 1A No. 6 South Adams (43) amongst a field of 17 teams.

“Not bad,” said Myers, whose team won the regional and had eight semi-state qualifiers a year ago. “Seven out of nine. We wrestled pretty well.

“You kind of get on a role there and you want everything to go right for you. We’ve got some places where we want to improve, but solid really for our guys.”

Wood, who is undefeated at 40-0 and ranked fourth in the state, was never challenged in his quest for school history. All three of his matches ended in the first period as he pinned Kayden Manning (15-18) of Winchester in 1 minute, 17 seconds, in the opening round and Jarin Frauhiger (31-11) of Southern Wells in 39 seconds in the semifinal. He caught ninth-ranked Justin Boone (33-3) of Yorktown with a single-leg takedown 19 seconds into the championship match and finished him off at the 1:29 mark.

“I knew I just had to go straight on him and attack him,” said Wood, a three-time state qualifier who was seventh in the state at 138 last season. “Usually guys want to keep the match close, so I’m just going to score. And if I end up pinning somebody, you take it.”

The regional was a revelation for Rowles. 

The senior is a two-time state qualifier and a three-time sectional champion, and had been a combined 94-2 through the sectional tournament in each of his first three seasons — 31-1 as a freshman, 30-1 as a sophomore and a perfect 33-0 last year. This season had been rough by his standards as he entered the regional at 25-9.

Struggle turned to celebration Saturday as Rowles got an early takedown against fifth-ranked and undefeated Neal Mosier in the semifinal. After Mosier got an escape early in the second period, Rowles caught him in his patented headlock, pinned him and turned to the Jay County fan base with both arms raised in victory.

He got Bradin Daniels, who he had lost to in the sectional championship match, in a headlock as well, but the Union City junior slipped out of it for a reversal and a 2-2 tie in the regional championship match. Daniels rode out Rowles in the second period, but the Patriot senior was able to throw Daniels to the mat 20 seconds into the third period en route to a pin in 4:43.

“That was pretty awesome,” said Rowles. “I’ve been dying to get that all week. …

“I mentally prepared myself this time. Last time, I just wasn’t in it mentally. This time I just made sure no matter what I was going to keep wrestling. And I did. And I just didn’t give up. …

“It feels great. I’m so happy. I knew all week I could do it.”

He said he’s had a tough time adjusting to his asthma — he developed the chronic lung disease this year — and related illnesses. He also admitted to not being fully focused.

“This year I kind of mentally checked out for most of it, ready for baseball season,” said Rowles. “That loss at sectionals woke me up. And I decided I’m not done yet.”

Byrum (32-5) earned his first career semi-state berth at 106 pounds as he pinned his way to the finals with wins over Brennen Lanter (21-12) of Winchester in 48 seconds and Myles Kaehr (31-9) of Adams Central in 56 seconds. In the championship match, top-ranked Jensen Boyd (35-0) of Delta put Byrum to his back in 49 seconds and ended the match 16 seconds later.

Wenk (36-3) earned his third trip to the semi-state by pinning Cowan’s Peyton Keppler (15-16) in 1:10 in the opening round at 190. He pinned Monroe Central’s Jerimiah Ullom (36-3) with nine seconds remaining in the first period of the semifinal before falling to Adams Central’s No. 15 Trevor Currie (37-4) in the championship match for the second straight week, 8-4.

Ortiz (23-8) fought off Yorktown’s Wyatt Roach (10-9) for a 4-2 decision in the opening period. He lost to No. 3 Keagan Martin (41-1) of Bellmont, the eventual champion, by a second-period pin in the semifinal round before bouncing back to beat Norwell’s Ethan Michael (20-17) by an 8-6 score in overtime to secure third place.

Jacob Robinson (29-10) and Juaquin Flores (27-11) each won their opening-round match before dropping their next two to finish in fourth place. Flores advanced thanks to a pin of Monroe Central’s Christian Erwin (19-18) in the 175-pound bracket. Robinson’s victory at 150 was a buzzer beater, as trailing 3-1 he threw Zac Martin (25-5) of Monroe Central to the mat in the final seconds and was awarded not only the two points for a takedown but also a two-point near fall for a 5-3 win.

“Pretty fortunate there,” said Myers. “I thought Jacob could have wrestled a little bit better in that match. He was a little conservative I think, but he was able to go out and get a nice over-under attempt and got it plus the near fall to get that win and stay alive another week. So huge match for him.”

Dropping out of the tournament series for the Patriots with opening-round losses to Yorktown wrestlers were A.J. Heskett (21-15) and Jason Landers (15-8). Heskett lost by a 9-0 major decision to Cole Stuffel (31-8) at 132 pounds while No. 20 Wyatt Hoppes (31-6) pinned Landers in 1:12 in the 144-pound bracket.