ELWOOD — Pendleton Heights boys wrestling won the Madison County tournament at Elwood on Saturday, Dec. 15, while Lapel wrestlers finished fourth.
The Arabians crowned six champions: Jared Brown, 126 pounds (co-Wrestler of the Meet); Jace Longere, 132 pounds; Jacob Fiew, 138 pounds; Caleb Gibson, 145 pounds; Zach Sanford, 160 pounds (co- Wrestler of the Meet); and Tremor Bynum, 195 pounds.
The final scores for the meet showed Pendleton Heights with 282 points. Anderson placed second with 215, followed by Alexandria, 145; Lapel, 144; Frankton, 142; Elwood, 139; and Madison Grant, 125.
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Pendleton Heights head coach Dave Cloud said he was happy with the way his wrestlers responded to the coaches’ challenge to score bonus points, major decisions, tech falls and falls.
“Of our first round wins, every one of them was a bonus score,” Cloud said. “Over the course of the day the team had 25 falls, nine more than any other team. That is an extra 50 points on our score for the day.”
Brown entered the day as the No. 3 seed at 126 pounds. In the semifinal match, he faced K.J. Williams of Anderson. Both wrestlers were able to get reversals, and Brown built a lead until he finally stopped another roll attempt and pinned Williams’ shoulders to the mat for a fall.
The final was a face-off against undefeated Lapel senior Harrison Hadley, a state qualifier in 2018. Brown scored the first take-down, but Hadley quickly escaped and went on the offense. He swept Brown’s legs off the mat and put him to the mat on his back. Brown contorted his body to turn a takedown into a roll through reversal, putting Hadley to the mat, getting the slap for a fall.
Longere won his fourth Madison County individual title. The senior won by fall over top-seeded Sparky Manis from Lapel. Then he defeated Anderson’s Christian Chavez by a score of 8-3.
Fiew turned in a dominating day on his championship run. In the semifinals, he pinned Alexandria freshman Max Naselroad. In the final matchup against Anderson’s K.D. Williams, Fiew got the first takedown and then owned the match from the top position. Up 11-0, Fiew got a turn for a fall and the championship.
Gibson scored three falls, including the final one over Bryan Gaytan of Anderson to win the title and move his season record to 20-0.
A surprise for the Arabians was Sanford, a junior. Weighing in at 148 pounds, Sanford bumped up to 160 to fill in for injured senior Jarod Miller. Sanford defeated top-seeded Josh Parish in the semifinals.
In the third period with time running out on the clock, Sanford got a reversal to take the lead and then almost got a fall on Parish. In the finals, Sanford struck in the third period against Lapel’s Reese Smith. The fall for Sanford earned him a county championship.
Bynum needed only 59 seconds to down his semifinal opponent. In the finals, he kept on the attacks and pressure for a decisive 9-1 victory against Phoenix Mills from Lapel.
At 182 pounds, Arabian wrestler Clayton Todd and Elwood senior Jalen Morgan went at each other with shots and sprawls, ending up tied 2-2 at the end of regulation. Morgan scored a reversal in the second overtime to go up by 2, but in the third Todd got a takedown and then fended off Morgan for the win.
Pendleton Heights wrestler Cade Campbell lost in the finals against state No. 1-ranked Kyle Cornwall.
Lapel head coach Jacob Stilwell said he was pleased with what he saw from his team.
“Overall we wrestled well,” Stilwell said. “The kids fought hard and continue to improve every day.”
Lapel was set for a meet Wednesday, Dec. 19, at home against Knightstown, Centerville and Union City. The meet was not over by press time. The Bulldogs will be in action again Saturday, Dec. 22, at the Frankton Invitational.
The Arabians face Anderson at home at 6 p.m. today, Thursday, Dec. 20. Anderson.