Comeback vs. Cavs

The Patriots gave up five pins in the first seven matches.

Three of them came in the first period as they fell behind by 21 points.

There was still time for a comeback.

Winning six of the final seven matches, the Jay County High School wrestling team overcame its deficit for a 42-33 Senior Night victory over the visiting Coldwater Cavaliers.

“I felt like we wrestled pretty rusty,” said JCHS coach Eric Myers, whose team has been off since winning the Dec. 27 Battle in the Bear Den at Monroe Central. “We haven’t been on the mat for a little bit and I felt like it showed. … I felt like we were on our heels a lot of the match. We weren't the aggressors in our match. … In those matches that we lost, we weren’t dictating where the match went. We were reacting to what they were doing. …

“I was pretty hard on them after the match, but we did have some really good things that we did. We had some guys wrestler pretty well.”

The team result came down tot he final two matches as the Patriots (17-4) still trailed 33-31. They needed senior A.J. Heskett to give them a chance and then Jason Landers to secure the win.

Both came through.

After avoiding trouble in the opening moments of his match, Heskett wasted no time taking advantage of a reset. He used a double-leg takedown for a 3-0 lead against Trent Westgerdes in their 132-pound bout, added a two-point near fall and then finished the match in 1 minute, 2 seconds.

“I’ve just got to stick to my moves and pin him,” said Heskett. “I can’t let the pressure get to me when it’s close.”

His win put the match in the hands of Landers at 138 and he came through. He racked up a takedown and two three-point near falls in the opening period, just missing a pin on a leg cradle. He got a reversal in the second period and then two more near falls in the third for an 18-0 technical fall.

“I was just out there doing everything I could,” said Landers. “I was just throwing everything I had at him because I knew the match was on the line. And I knew I wanted to win for the team.”

Coldwater’s early advantage came from pins by Ohio’s 13th-ranked Brady Hamilton over Chandler Murphey at 144, Gavin Kuhn over Caleb Sibray at 157, Colton Hibner over Mario Ardizzone at 165, Collin Westgerdes over Cole Carpenter at 175 and Aidan Laux over Freddie Lingo at 215. Hamilton, Hibner and Westgerdes all finished their matches in the opening period.

Jay County senior A.J. Myers pushes for a pin of Sam Rismiller of Coldwater during their 190-pound match Tuesday. Myers finished his match in just 37 seconds as the three seniors in the Patriot lineup for Senior Night went 3-0 with two pins and a forfeit. (The Commercial Review/Ray Cooney)

 

The only wins for the Patriots in the first half of the meet came from senior A.J. Myers with a pin of Sam Rismiller in just 37 seconds at 190 pounds and a 6-3 victory for Jacob Robinson over Tanner Stammen at 150.

Though the Cavaliers were unable to hold on to the lead, coach Aaron Alig was pleased with the improvement his young team showed. Coldwater finished sixth behind the champion Patriots at the East Central Indiana Classic just before Christmas and lost to JCHS 53-14 last season, 58-15 in 2023 and 53-24 in 2022.

“I feel like we wrestled tough,” said Alig, who had six freshmen in the lineup. “We know that they’re good. …

“Overall, I feel like we wrestled really tough, so I’m proud of how our guys hung. It’s a lot closer than the last couple of years. I’m really proud of them.”

Alan Ortiz started to swing the momentum, getting a double-leg takedown and near fall in the final five seconds to turn a tight heavyweight match into an 8-0 major decision over Carter Heitkamp.

Corbin Lothridge and Sylas Wenk sandwiched first-period pins around a Griffin Byrum forfeit at 113 to claim the lead for JCHS, setting up Heskett and Landers to finish off the comeback.

“I was really happy that we were able to pull off some of those matches that we were,” said Myers. “We were in a bad way. We were hoping to get a pin out of Alan. … Then Corbin Lothridge … went out there and put a nice half and a wrist in and got a pin for us when we really needed one.”

He said he had a conversation with Wenk about proving Coldwater wrong after it moved Brent Heuing up from 113 to avoid Byrum.

“He’s wrestling great and he went out and got a pin for us there,” said Myers.

Photo Gallery

JCHS wrestling vs. Coldwater (01/07/2025)

Junior varsity

Jay County picked up three victories in six contested junior varsity matches, with 215-pounder Brice Coy finishing off Brandon Hemmelgarn in just 15 seconds.

The other two victories both came over Aiden Norris at 126 pounds. Miles Jones pinned Norris in 26 seconds while Hayden Richman won his match by a 19-3 technical fall in the second period.