Nine to regional

With three top-10 teams in the field, the Patriots knew how fierce the competition would be just to make it to the next level of the tournament.

They came up just short of hitting their first-year coach’s target for the day.

Host Jay County High School was shut out of individual championships but had nine wrestlers, including runners-up Sylas Wenk and Bryan Fields, earn regional berths with top-four finishes in Saturday’s sectional tournament.

“Definitely had some ups and downs,” said JCHS coach Tyler Leonhard, adding that entering the day he felt his team could pick up 11 regional berths in 14 weight classes. “We had some kids wrestle really well. We had some kids that lost to the kid that they beat in the placement round. So, you have some good ones there and then took some tough losses as well. 

“But all in all, I feel like it is a good day.”

The top four wrestlers in each weight class advanced and will return to Jay County for the regional tournament at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 7.

Jay County, which closed the year 11th in the Class 2A poll, scored 166.5 points to place fourth in the nine-team field. It trailed champion Class 2A No. 3 Bellmont (273.5), which won six individual titles, runner-up Class 1A No. 5 Adams Central (250) and third-place Class 1A No. 10 South Adams (199).

Both of the Patriots’ championship matches ended in pins.

Wrestling at 120 pounds, Wenk looked like he might gain the upper hand as he nearly scored a takedown in the first 10 seconds against Max Adams (30-3) of South Adams. But the action went out of bounds, and after the reset Adams hit a double-leg takedown to take control.

Wenk was unable to muster any offense, falling behind 7-0 on a pair of reversals before Adams pinned him with just one second left in the final period.

Fields, a junior in his first year with JCHS, shot early in his 175-pound title match, but Xander Schwartz (35-3) of Adams Central fought him off. Schwartz caught a single leg and eventually finished the takedown for the first points of the match.

An escape made it 4-0 before Schwartz finished the match in 3:02.

“Bryan, we keep talking about he's a lot better when he's offensive rather than defensive,” said Leonhard. “He took more shots compared to when he wrestled that kid in ACAC, and … I personally thought he wrestled a heck of a lot better. 

“And then Sylas just, he’s got to keep the match under control, take his shots. And when he's on top, don't give the other guy a chance to score … He's a dog on top, so we’ve got to work to our strengths.”

Wenk (24-6) was dominant en route to the finals, pinning Blackford’s Benjamin Rosenauer and Bluffton’s Roberto Rodas both in the first period.

Fields (21-7) needed just one victory to make the championship match, as he beat Bellmont freshman Owen Shane by an 18-7 major decision.

Of the five Jay County wrestlers who closed their days with victories in third-place matches, two avenged losses from earlier in the day by completely flipping the script.

Senior 150-pounder Jacob Robinson dropped his opening match of the sectional by pin to Bluffton’s Parker Nash in 5:26 before winning the third-place rematch with a pin in 1:01. Sophomore Alex Rivers suffered an 11-2 major decision defeat to Norwell’s Crete Edwards in his opener at 126, then came back to blank Edwards 7-0 to close the day.

Also adding third-place finishes were:

•Jason Landers (29-6) with a 4-3 decision over Braxtyn Hough of South Adams at 138

•Alan Ortiz (23-7) with a pin of Bellmont’s Blake Christner in 2:25 at 215

•Spencer Smitley (20-7) by pinning Adams Central’s Ryan Beer in 2:29 at 285

Adding fourth-place finishes for the Patriots were Corbin Lothridge at 106 and Caleb Sibray at 165.