By Dennis Clark
BLOOMINGTON — Terre Haute South’s Dakota Case was a semistate qualifier last year as a sophomore, and this year he will compete in the semistate once again — but this time as a regional champion.
Case won all three of his matches in strong fashion to win the 125-pound championship at the Bloomington South high school wrestling regional on Saturday.
“I’m very excited,” Case smiled after stepping down from the medal stand. “That gets me a good seed going to semistate, which will help me try to get to state finals. Feels great to be sectional and regional champion.”
Case (31-6) bumped off Benji Loyd of Seymour in a technical fall at exactly four minutes, then won decisions over Anthony Kerr of Edgewood (3-1) in the semifinals and Zach Reiker of Columbus East (5-1) in the championship match.
Case truly looked like the warrior he is on the mat, sporting a large gauze bandage encircling his head with a few blood splotches for added effect.
“Since sectional and [Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference meet], I accumulated a lot of bad mat burn,” Case explained the bandage.
“Dakota is a workhorse,” South coach Gabe Cook praised. “He didn’t give anything up today in his matches, stayed in good position. He’s just a real smart wrestler.”
When asked about Case’s bandaged look, Cook noted, “He’s a just little scuffed up, but he’s OK.”
Three other area wrestlers were nearly crowned regional champions, all three losing their championship matches in close fashion. David Knight (215) of Terre Haute North and Holden Fudurich (160) of Sullivan both fell in overtime sessions, while Jordan Jensen (135) of Terre Haute South was done in by his recent nemesis.
Knight led Sean Vandeventer of Bloomington North 1-0 after two periods, then both went to OT tied at 1-1. But Vandeventer pinned Knight with just 13 seconds elapsed in the extra session. Knight had defeated Vandeventer for the first time in their sectional title match at Northview last week.
Fudurich trailed 3-1 after two periods, then assumed a 4-3 lead late into the third period before Bloomington South’s Terry Terrell scored the tying point just before time expired. Terrell won the match on a takedown just 12 seconds into OT.
Jensen dropped a 4-0 decision to undefeated Brannigan Barlow (36-0) of Bloomington South. Jensen also lost a close decision to Barlow in last week’s title match at the Northview sectional.
“[Jordan’s] goal was to win,” Cook said. “He’s obviously not happy … he’s never happy with second [place]. I think overall we could have wrestled with a little more intensity as a team today, especially in the second round. And the guys know that.”
Other South wrestlers advancing to next week’s Evansville semistate — top four regional finishers qualify — include P.J. Montgomery (140, third place), Tsali Lough (145, third place) and Austin McClain (152, fourth place).
Levi Edwards was West Vigo’s lone semistate qualifier, taking third-place honors at 119 pounds. Edwards was stopped by Joey Resch of Jennings County in a 5-1 decision in the second round. Edwards recovered to assume a 15-1 lead over Tyler Sykes of Bedford North Lawrence before pinning Sykes with two seconds left in their third-place match.
“Levi had two good matches, one match I wish he could have a rematch with [Resch] because I think he can beat him,” West Vigo coach Scott Rohrbach observed. “Matter of fact, I know he can beat that kid. Levi just got out of whack, got a little nervous. But he came back strong and won his third-place match.”
Northview’s Luke Pingleton also is a semistate qualifier, taking third-place honors at 135 pounds. Pingleton was also sidelined by undefeated Barlow, pinned in 39 seconds in the second round. Pingleton came back to win a 12-5 decision over Caden McGaha of Columbus North for third place.
Pingleton’s teammate Beau Judd (285), last week’s Northview sectional champion, failed to qualify for the semistate in dropping a 3-2 decision to Madison’s Jordan Blakemore in their first-round match.
Bloomington South Regional
Early round matches involving Tribune-Star area wrestlers, third place, championship
Top 4 advance to Evansville Semistate at Roberts Stadium on Saturday.
103 — Luke Schroeder (Southwestern) pinned Stephen Stanford (Terre Haute South) 1:18; Devon Orben (Columbus North) major dec. Caleb Nicosin (Northview) 17-2; Third place: Greg Engelking (Jennings County) pin. Orben (CN) 0:42; Championship: Schroeder (SW) dec. Kayne Pike (Bloomington South) 3-0.
112 — Marshall Holwager (JC) pin. Skyler Hall (Nv) 5:43; Third place: Robby Taylor (Madison) pin. Holwager (JC) 0:59; Championship: Jacob Boomsma (BS) pin. Steven Reiker (Columbus East) 5:18.
119 — Baron Reiker (CE) pin. Colt Thompson (Sullivan) 1:23; Joey Resch (JC) dec. Austin Bell (Nv) 7-1; Levi Edwards (WV) pin. Evan Harrell (CN) 0:51; Resch (JC) dec. Edwards (WV) 5-1; Third place: Edwards (WV) pin. Tyler Sykes (Bedford North Lawrence) 5:58; Championship: B.Reiker (CE) pin. Resch (JC) 1:06.
125 — Dakota Case (THS) tech. fall Benji Loyd (Seymour) 4:00; Case (THS) dec. Anthony Kerr (Edgewood) 3-1; Third place: Kerr (E) dec. Seth Seitzinger (BS) 4-0; Championship: Case (THS) dec. Zach Reiker (CE) 5-1.
130 — MIchael Brawner (SW) pin. Bryan Hyde (THN) 4:19; Third place: Robert Stewart (Owen Valley) dec. Spencer Boyd (BS) 3-1; Championship: Shawn Miracle (BN) dec. Brawner (SW) 3-0.
135 — Luke Pingleton (Nv) pin. Tim Shuler (CE) 0:39; Jordan Jensen (THS) major dec. Jerrod Holwager (JC) 19-3; Brannigan Barlow (BS) pin. Pingleton (Nv) 4:17; Jensen (THS) dec. Caden McGaha (CN) 7-3; Third place: Pingleton (Nv) dec. McGaha (CN) 12-5; Championship: Barlow (BS) dec. Jensen (THS) 4-0.
140 — Zach Adams (Madison) pin. Nate Page (THN) 2:37; P.J. Montgomery (THS) major dec. Cody Kelly (Scottsburg) 15-4; Adams (M) dec. Montgomery (THS) 4-2, OT; Third place: Montgomery (THS) dec. Ethan Farmer (BS) 6-3; Championship: Jeremy Salyers (Edg) dec. Adams (M) 13-6.
145 — Tsali Lough (THS) pin. Brandon Baughn (BNL) 3:16; Marcus Waddell (CN) pin. Jed Cox (Sul) 1:21; Sam Horrocks (BS) dec. Lough (THS) 3-2; Third place: Lough (THS) dec. Zach Ferguson (Edg) 5-3; Championship: Waddell (CN) dec. Horrocks (BS) 8-2.
152 — Quincy Richey (Brown County) dec. Larry Shaffer (Nv) 14-3; Austin McClain (THS) dec. Brock Wathen (JC) 9-8; Gabe Holt (CN) major dec. Ryan Roach (WV) 17-2; Third place: Holt (CN) dec. McClain (THS) 13-3; Championship: Richey (BC) dec. Ben Farmer (BS) 10-4.
160 — Logan Harrell (CN) pin. Casey Anderson (THS) 2:56; Holden Fudurich (Sul) tech. fall Ryan Fish (M) 4:40; Justin Baldwin (JC) dec. Brady Silvers (Nv) 8-3; Fudurich (Sul) dec. Baldwin (JC) 7-1; Third place: Harrell (CN) dec. Baldwin (JC) 3-1; Championship: Terry Terrell (BS) dec. Fudurich (Sul) 6-4, OT.
172 — Cory Kopizke (JC) dec.Ben Bird (WV) 10-2; Third place: Kopizke (JC) dec. Tyler Fiddler (BS) 8-5; Championship: Garrett Goldman (BN) dec. Eaton Asher (M) 7-2.
189 — Iyan Bass (JC) dec. Brandon Pleake (Nv) 11-3; Nick Henderson (Scottsburg) pin. Doug Collett (THN) 3:48; Jarrett Brownfield (CN) pin. Blake Ray (WV) 5:30; Third place: Bass (JC) dec. Brownfield (CN) 4-2 OT; Championship: Darren Eads (BS) dec. Henderson (Sc) 15-6.
215 — David Knight (THN) pin. Eli Teague (CN) 4:33; Mark Collett (JC) def. Aaron See (Nv) DQ, flagrant misconduct; Knight (THN) pin. Brandon Rice (Mad) 5:36; Third place: Rice (Mad) pin. Collett (JC) 5:22; Championship: Sean Vandeventer (BN) pin. Knight (THN) 6:47 OT.
285 — James Caum (JC) pin. Joel Blakely (THS) 2:27; Sean McPike (BNL) dec. Nick Brownfield (WV) 4-1, OT; Jordan Blakemore (Mad) dec. Beau Judd (Nv) 3-2; Third place: McPike (BNL) dec. Dakota Tatem (SW) 5-2; Championship: Caum (JC) pin. Blakemore (Mad).
