EVANSVILLE —
The day didn’t start in a promising fashion for Wabash Valley high school wrestlers at the Evansville Semistate in Ford Center on Saturday — but it got better as it went along.
As a result, three Valley wrestlers will appear Friday in Bankers Life Fieldhouse at the state finals, including an unlikely semistate champion in Terre Haute South’s Tsali Lough.
The 160-pounder will be joined at the finals by Northview’s Aaron See, a third-place finisher in an extremely tough 220-pound class, and Greencastle’s 170-pounder Carter Lewis, maybe the most unlikely finalist of all.
Lough takes a 44-2 record with him to the finals, so unworthiness is certainly not the issue. But four other 160-pounders at Evansville were ranked ahead of him — the rankings haven’t been updated since postseason matches began — and the wrestler he opposed in the semistate championship match, Swade Oser of Heritage Hills, brought a 54-0 record into that match.
Oser never had a chance. Lough put him in a front headlock seconds into the championship match, flipped him on his back and held him there until finally finishing the pin in 62 seconds.
“I go into every match with a plan,” Lough said moments after his victory. “This one happened to work out.”
“It’s kind of a roll from a front headlock,” coach Gabe Cook of South said of the winning move. “We were focusing on getting [Lough] where he’s best, and he works well out of a headlock.”
“That roll is my favorite move. I’ve pinned a lot of guys with it,” Lough agreed, yet admitted, “I was pretty shocked to be on top [as soon as the match began].
“Obviously [Oser] is a good kid, and we knew what he does,” the South senior continued. “The plan was to go out and wrestle the best I could, and hopefully win the match ... I’ve been doing [that front roll] since seventh grade and I’ve been trying to get it perfect. I think I’m almost there.”
See’s victory in the third-place match at 220 wasn’t as quick and not quite as decisive, but it was almost equally surprising — and came, ironically, against another wrestler from Heritage Hills.
See and Jared Boehm of Heritage Hills had each lost in the semifinals to unbeaten wrestlers (Iyan Bass of Jennings County stayed that way, beating Keith Knura of Indian Creek for the championship). Still, Boehm brought a 52-2 record into his match with See.
The Northview wrestler never trailed, getting a takedown seven seconds into the match and adding two more later for a 7-3 win. Its importance is this: now See won’t have to face a semistate champion in his first match at Indianapolis.
“Coach [Dan Mikesell] was like ‘You can not get fourth place,’ “ See said after his match, “and with my luck I would have drawn the No. 1 guy in the state [if I had finished fourth].
“I was going to turn it on, and all my attacks were pretty good,” the Northview wrestler continued. “[Boehm] was ranked ninth, that was all we knew ... but I wrestled good today. I felt crisp.”
“I felt pretty good about [the championship match],” Mikesell said afterward. “[See] beat a kid from Mater Dei on Mater Dei’s mat, and then he beat a regional champion [in the second round].
“Aaron doesn’t lack confidence,” Mikesell added, “so I knew he would give it all he had. The game plan was to get into [Boehm’s] legs and wear him out, and he stuck to it pretty well.”
Lewis finished fourth at the Mooresville Regional, but he won a controversial overtime decision over a regional champion from Castle in his first match Saturday, then posted a dominating win in the second round to punch his ticket to Indianapolis. His semifinal and third-place matches weren’t as good — but he’s still a state finalist.
“At the state, everybody’s tough,” Lough noted. “I’m just going to wrestle the best I can [Friday] and hopefully win and wrestle again on Saturday.”
Asked what he was looking forward to, See answered, “Just the whole state-finals experience, honestly — and being up there with all my good friends like Tsali [who was standing nearby].”
Cook and Mikesell were both proud of two other wrestlers from each school who didn’t get a chance to advance.
South’s Sam Cook ran into unbeaten Dalton Brandenstein of Evansville Mater Dei, the eventual 182-pound semistate champion, in his first match and lost 6-1. Phoenix Adams of the Braves won a first-round match over Edgar Chavez of Jasper at 132, then lost 17-2 to unbeaten Neal Molloy of Danville — not only the eventual semistate champion but also a defending state champion.
“Sam really wrestled well today,” coach Cook — who is not related to his 182-pounder — said later. “He fought hard for six minutes, and he kept himself in position to win even in the third period.
“You can’t beat the experience Phoenix had today,” the coach added. “Unfortunately he was up against the defending state champion — one of the best wrestlers in the state.”
Northview’s Caleb Nicosin, who lost a five-overtime regional championship match a week earlier, was sidelined 6-2 in the first round by Mater Dei’s Wyatt Seng at 106, while 160-pounder Brody Girton of the Knights pinned Casey Abell of Forest Park — a regional champion — before losing to Center Grove’s Brock Warner.
“The last three weeks have been the best Brody Girton’s done in his career,” Mikesell said. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of him. Caleb ran into a buzzsaw. He got the first takedown but then got reversed, and when it was 4-2 [against him] he tried a desperation move [that cost the last two points] at the end. He’s had a fantastic career, and was a four-time [Western Indiana] conference champ.
“I’m really happy for our program,” Mikesell added. “To end a three-year drought [between state finalists] is really nice.”
West Vigo’s Ben Bird also won a first-round match Saturday at 195, then was pinned by Jeffersonville’s Elijah Curtley in the second round.
“The Jeffersonville kid has been wrestling really tough competition,” noted coach Scott Rohrbach of the Vikings. “We worked this week on countering his throws, but we couldn’t do it. When you get to this level everybody’s good ... I’m real happy about Ben; he’s just a classy kid who is going to go far in life.”
West Vigo had a second competitor at Evansville too, because 138-pounder Jacob Creasey was an injury replacement at 138 pounds.
“A Bloomington South wrestler was hurt,” Rohrbach explained. “We found out [Friday] at about 4:30, Jacob made weight and we jumped on the bus.”
Creasey suffered a first-round loss to another Danville wrestler. Other first-round disappointments were suffered by the two wrestlers each from Terre Haute North and Sullivan and the other five wrestlers from Putnam County.
Wabash Valley results
106 — Wyatt Seng (Evansville Mater Dei) defeated Caleb Nicosin (Northview) 6-2; Damon Kuhn (Evansville Reitz) pinned J.J. Low (Terre Haute North) 0:43.
113 — Bailey LaHue (Corydon) pinned Joseph Gilham (Sullivan) 2:26. LaHue was semistate champion.
126 — Gideon Van Hook (ER) pinned Cory Orndorff (Sul) 1:30.
132 — Phoenix Adams (Terre Haute South) defeated Edgar Chavez (Jasper) 4-3; Neal Molloy (Danville) defeated Adams 17-2. Molloy was semistate champion.
138 — Jordan Judy (Dan) pinned Jacob Creasey (West Vigo) 1:22.
160 — Swade Oser (Heritage Hills) pinned Aaron Langdon (Greencastle) 0:35; Brody Girton (Nv) pinned Casey Abell (Forest Park) 3:04; Tsali Lough (THS) defeated Luke Terry (Eastern Pekin) 21-5; Mahlon Parkinson (EMD) pinned Jesse Gardner (South Putnam) 5:06; Lough defeated Parkinson 13-3; Brock Warner (Center Grove) defeated Girton 15-0; Lough defeated Warner 3-2; Lough pinned Oser 1:02, semistate championship.
170 — Carter Lewis (Greencastle) defeated Austin Warren (Castle) 7-5, OT; Lewis defeated Jacob Hall (Charlestown) 14-3; Sean Mappes (CG) pinned Lewis; Austin Bowman (Franklin) defeated Lewis 14-4. Mappes was semistate champion.
182 — Dalton Brandenstein (EMD) defeated Sam Cook (THS) 6-1. Brandenstein was semistate champion.
195 — Caleb Cole (Scottsburg) defeated Rudy Harris (SP) 6-1; Ben Bird (WV) defeated Conner Tolley (Franklin) 4-0; Elijah Curtley (Jeffersonville) pinned Bird 1:10.
220 — C.J. Andrey (Paoli) pinned Ben Hesler (G) 1:12; Aaron See (Nv) defeated Evan Collins (EMD) 9-0; Jared Broehm (Heritage Hills) pinned Ethan Edington (THN) 0:47; See defeated Andrey 6-3; Keith Knura (Indian Creek) defeated See 6-2; See defeated Broehm 7-3 for third place.
285 — Nathan Wright (EMD) defeated Will Mobley (G) 5-1.
High School
South’s Lough to wrestle for state title
Three Valley wrestlers advance to state finals
- High School
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New route leads to same place for South girls tennis
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This year, their trip was re-routed through Greencastle (regional) and Center Grove (semistate). So it cnahged to east and more east. -
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Ashlyn Sullivan was 2 for 3 with a double, home run and three RBIs to lead the winning Maroons. -
West Vigo baseball falls in sectional to Owen Valley
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South Vermillion softball's late-season surge comes to end
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The loss was just the second in the last 12 games for the Wildcats. The Mustangs, however, haven’t lost a sectional softball game for eight years in a row. -
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PREP ROUNDUP: Mundy, Porter, Knight individual regional winners
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Thornton puts away South Vermillion
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Lakers triumph, go home for regional
Shakamak took Class A Clay City Sectional honors in high school softball for the first time since 2009 Wednesday, defeating White River Valley 9-5 in the title tilt.
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North Vermillion avenges losses
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Pats, Knights will meet in sectional
Adler Ingalsbe pooh-poohed his lack of velocity Wednesday night, yet the Terre Haute North pitcher was throwing BBs in the first game compared to Mooresville’s Brandon Topie in the nightcap.
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South outbattles Northview to reach sectional final
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Panthers get 20th win in sectional
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Plainfield Sectional all about parity
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PREP ROUNDUP: North Vermillion in title game
Casey West had a triple and three runs scored to help North Vermillion softball advance to the championship game of the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional on Tuesday.
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North takes second in track regional
Terre Haute North finished second with 74 points, six behind team champion Evansville Reitz, during the Evansville Central girls track and field regional that ended late Tuesday night.
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Wildcats advance to sectional softball final; West Vigo falls
Patience, patience.
South Vermillion exhibited great patience, being very selective at the plate and it paid off royally in the fourth inning. -
South, Crawfordsville win in regional tennis semis
Terre Haute South outlasted Fountain Central 4-1 in the first round of the girls high school tennis regional Tuesday, advancing the Braves into today’s championship match against Crawfordsville.
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Braves, Knights open with wins
It was an excellent night for starting softball pitchers to help their own cause Monday night in the Class 4A Northview Sectional.
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Lough dreamt about McMillan
A two-time state finalist in wrestling and a two-time all-Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference football player and wrestler, Tsali Lough of Terre Haute South was named the male recipient of the 2012 McMillan Award on Monday night at South’s Senior Awards Night.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Panthers cruise in sectional opener
Sarah Burnham pitched a two-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts in high school softball Monday evening as host Riverton Parke defeated defending champion Rockville 10-0 in opening-round action at the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional.
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Notable tradition bodes well for Riverton Parke
Located practically in the shadow of a high school that sets one state standard in track and field, Riverton Parke has a tendency to be overlooked in that sport.
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Vikings get 18th win over Shakamak
West Vigo began a busy week of high school baseball Monday on a winning note, defeating Shakamak 6-3.
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Greencastle new site for girls tennis regional
The starting times might prove to be a bone of contention, but otherwise coaches Bill Blankenbaker and Emily Goff are thrilled their respective girls high school tennis teams will begin play today at the Greencastle Regional.
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Northview sectional groups 3 20-win teams
Three teams with 20-plus victories will attempt to claim the Class 4A Northview Sectional crown for high school softball this week, and most of the other Wabash Valley sectional fields also appear to be wide open.
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Terre Haute South softball takes Riverton Parke tournament
Terre Haute South is going into the Class 4A Sectional at Northview on Monday with momentum, confidence, a deep bench and a healthier pitching staff than it has had in quite a while.
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North baseball splits doubleheader with Indy North Central
Some of their incentive could have been sapped a couple of nights earlier, when Center Grove achieved an eight-inning victory over Warren Central to clinch the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference high school baseball championship.
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Robinson takes regional softball crown
Robinson’s Maroons came from behind in the last two innings Saturday to defeat top-seeded Newton 3-2 and win the Illinois Class 2A Lawrenceville Regional.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Terre Haute South baseball sweeps, takes second place in MIC
Terre Haute South rallied for a tie in the bottom of the seventh and won the game in the bottom of the eighth in Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference high school baseball Saturday, coming behind for a 3-2 win over host Lawrence North.
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