MIER ââ?¬â?? Oak
Hill had a chance to win its first wrestling sectional Saturday since
the IHSAA switched to a 10-team tournament four years ago. Yet, the
Golden Eagles came up just a bit short.
It came down to
the final match, with the Eagles trailing Western by three points and
needing a victory from heavyweight Gerry Sigworth. He had upset
top-seeded Dan Hunkeler of Northwestern in the semifinals, but the much
heavier No. 2 seed Zach Washington of
Western
outscored the Eagles 33.5 to 8 in the championship round and eked out a
206-203 victory. Oak Hill will advance to the team regional at
Huntington North for the fourth consecutive year.
Oak Hill meets
champions of its sectional, at 6 p.m. Wednesday. Western competes
against Maconaquah, and then the two winners vie for the title later
that evening.
“It’s very
disappointing,” said Oak Hill coach Andrew King, whose team led
177-163.5 entering the final rounds. “It’s like (Western) got the
(football) and then went down the field with three passes and ran the
ball three straight times for the touchdown.
“Today, I know what the New England Patriots feel like,” King said.
The team
competition might have been every bit as close as the 38-34 AFC
championship game won by the Indianapolis Colts over the Patriots.
Overall, the championship round wasn’t nearly as epic for Grant County
wrestlers, with three earning sectional championships and 27 moving on
to Saturday’s Peru Regional.
Oak Hill
152-pounder Mickey Correll and 189-pounder Jared Jenkins each beat
county rivals to win their weight classes. Correll decisioned
Eastbrook’s Cody Younce 7-4, and Jenkins outpointed Mississinewa’s Zach
Ancil 8-5 in the final round.
Mississinewa’s
Chandler Pogue scored a 9-1 decision over Northwestern’s C.J. Hansen in
the 145-pound championship match. Pogue and Correll each were No. 1
seeds, but Jenkins was seeded second behind Ancil.
Ancil had just
defeated Jenkins last Saturday in the Central Indiana Conference meet
and the intensity in Jenkins’ face and demeanor was evident. Referee
Russ Isaacs warned Jenkins twice about his conduct.
“There was a lot of head butting going on,” Jenkins said. “(Ancil) was doing it and then I did it back. It was just a good
Leading 4-3, Jenkins scored on a near-fall early in the second period and then rode out the remainder of the match.
Younce had
defeated Correll 4-3 in December when Eastbrook beat Oak Hill in a dual
meet for the first time since the early 1980s. Correll came back to win
10-4 in the Grant Four tournament and relied on the same strategy to
win the rubber match.
“Lots of takedowns,” Correll said. “I wanted to score on (Younce) as often as possible.”
Correll also was a sectional champion in 2005 and has his sights set on much loftier goals.
“I want to break
Justin Johnson’s takedown record and get to the state meet and get my
name on the wall with all the other great wrestlers here,” Correll said.
A year ago,
Pogue had a losing record and did not advance out of the sectional,
finishing in sixth place. The sophomore spent the summer at a wrestling
camp in
“I didn’t want to have another season like I had last year,” Pogue said.
Oak Hill will advance 10 to Saturday’s
Eastbrook’s
Jacob Holloway (130 pounds) and Marion’s Nick Duke (135) and Darryn
Scott (215) came into the tournament with No. 1 seeds but ended up with
runner-up finishes. Scott had fallen behind 8-2 in his match, rallied
furiously in the final minute and dropped a 10-8 decision to Eastern’s
Chad Coolbaugh.
“We had hoped to get a few more wrestlers into the championship round, but overall, I was pleased,”
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