At the New Castle Wrestling Semi-State Saturday, East Central took third with 94 points behind the 142.5 of champion Cathedral and 117.5 of second place Roncalli.
Other area teams placing included: Lawrenceburg 23rd, Greensburg and South Dearborn 28th along with Batesville and Connersville 32nd.
The top four places in each weight class advance to the state finals at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
East Central had two semi-state champions: Blake Wolf at 126 and Charlie Euson at 160. The Trojans Rider Searcy was second at 145. Teammates David Nash took third at 182 and Ryan Bovard placed fourth at 195. Also advancing to state from the area was Corbin Walston of Lawrenceburg who finished fourth at 152.
First round action begins Friday, February 18th at 11 am for weight classes 152 pounds and up, then again at 7 pm for classes 145 and lower. Quarterfinals open Saturday at 9:30 am, consolations run at 5 pm then the championships are showcased at 7:30 pm.
A few records of note. Batesville’s Josh Mobley set the school record for single season takedowns at 129 and also career takedowns at 326. More on Batesville’s wrestlers are in the submitted report below.
Unedited recap from Batesville coach Curtis Miller: The BHS wrestling team’s season came to an end on Saturday as the team traveled to New Castle to compete in Semi-state. The Bulldogs had three seniors compete in their final high school wrestling tournament. Alex Murphy and Chase Hamilton fought hard in the opening round but came up short. Josh Mobley started the day with 3 takedowns on his way to an 8-6 victory to move to the ticket round. Mobley next challenged the #2 170 pound wrestler in the Semi-state from Cathedral. Mobley wrestled a tough match giving up only 1 point going into the third period but came up short to the eventual Semi-state runner-up. Murphy finished the season with 29 wins and 92 takedowns to have the 3rd most takedowns in a season. Murphy finished his career with the 8th most career wins with 105 and 8th in career takedowns with 197. Hamilton finished the season with 31 wins and his career with 57 career wins. Mobley finished the season with 35 wins which is tied for 6th in a season while setting the school season takedown record at 129. Mobley finished his career with 120 career wins which places him 2nd in school history while setting the school record for career takedowns at 326. The Bulldogs season ends with a 19-9 dual record, 6th place finish in the EIAC, 5th place finish in sectionals, and a 7th place finish at regionals.
Unedited recap from Rushville coach Jim Tush: Tuff Tackett at 120 and Matthew Komlanc at 160 showed up to wrestle in the New Castle semi-state, but fell short of their state goals. Losing to formidable opponents from Hamilton Hights and Zionsville ended their seasons but showed them that they have the ability to succeed next season. Tuff had a great single leg shot but went out of bounds before he could capitalize. Matthew went out and attempted a lateral throw against his 16th state ranked opponent, but he couldn’t get it locked up tight enough to make it successful. I am very proud of both wrestlers.
With Tuff making his second semi-state appearance and Matthew making his first, they have seen the level of intensity it takes to succeed at that level. This just adds to their experience that will help them become state qualifiers next year. I know that they can do it. Convincing them that they can do it is the hard part. I wish I could put them in a bubble so that they would not have any idea who they were going to wrestle, what they are ranked in the state, or where they are from. Wrestling is not divided into classes in Indiana. So to make it out of semi-state, our wrestlers must defeat opponents from Perry Meridian, Warren Central, Cathedral, Westfield, Zionsville, Hamilton Southeastern, Fishers and many more. All of these are 5A or 6A (football) schools.
I believe that we will take at least 6 wrestlers to regionals and semi-state next year, with four qualifying for state. Because of Covid, many of our sophomore wrestlers missed out on their freshman year of wrestling. They showed great maturity by putting other family members’ health before their own desires. They showed great improvement this year and are on track to be very successful next year. Along with our current wrestlers, we have a strong 8th grade class moving in. This will grow our number close to thirty, which is still about fifteen less than what I would like to see, but is growth nonetheless. We currently have 89 elementary students in our youth program. This makes our goal of 40+ wrestlers in our future program very obtainable.
Rushville wrestling has a bright future. I am truly blessed to have the opportunity to work with the youth of Rush County.
Go Lions!!!
120 – Tuff Tackett – Isaac Kuhn of Hamilton Hights-L-16-1
160 – Matthew Komlanc – Chase Wagner of Zionsville-L-Pin
Rushville did not score any points at semi-state and tied for 42nd place.
We thank track wrestling and the IHSAA for the semi-state information along with coaches Miller and Tush for their reports.