NEW CASTLE — Jared Brown has spent the past three weeks making up for lost time, and on Saturday in New Castle he cemented his comeback.
Sidelined at the end of the regular season because of a concussion, the Pendleton Heights junior cleared the first hurdle in his recovery days before the postseason began. Now, he’s exactly where he expected to be this February.
A semistate qualifier last year, Brown made a return trip this past weekend, and in true form, he punched his ticket to a second-straight IHSAA state finals.
Ranked ninth in the state, according to IndianaMat, Brown (28-4) placed fourth at 132 pounds to secure his state berth after qualifying a year ago at 126.
“I worked hard all week. I just knew I could do it. It was a mindset. I knew I was going to win,” Brown said. “I had to take a week off (because of the concussion), but I got back and I really went after it at practice to get better. I just knew what I had to do to get ready for this time of the year.”
Brown was diagnosed with a concussion the week of the Hoosier Heritage Conference Tournament last month and missed eight days while in protocol. Initially, there was a threat he wouldn’t be able to compete in the postseason, but he cleared and immediately went back to work.
At the Elwood Sectional, he went 4-0 to win his weight class. At home for regional, Brown placed third, which put him in a tough spot at semistate.
With 16th-ranked Milo Merkel (23-8) of Westfield ahead of him in the opening round at semistate, Brown won by fall in 3 minutes, 17 seconds.
His next match was a true test as he faced fourth-ranked Aundre Beatty (26-6) of Warren Central in the round-to-go quarterfinals where the winner earns a spot at state and the loser goes home.
Still making his way back from more than a week of inactivity, Brown had to dig deep against Beatty.
“That definitely was a setback for him, and I am proud of how he worked to overcome that, missing eight days at the end of the season,” Pendleton Heights head coach Dave Cloud said. “That’s a terrible time to miss because you can’t even do anything. It’s not like you have a sore shoulder and you can run. He couldn’t do anything where he moved around because he was in concussion protocol. It’s hard to suddenly do nothing for over a week right near the culmination of your season.”
Against Beatty, Brown had to go beyond six minutes, winning 11-9 in sudden victory overtime.
“We told him, this is what you condition for. You work all year long on our conditioning because a guy like Beatty, you’re not going to out muscle him, that’s for sure,” Cloud said. “Sometimes, you just have to grit it out.”
The win capped his return, but it also drained him as he dropped the next two matches by decision 16-9 to unranked Luke Goodwin (38-5) of Southport and 7-4 against Roncalli’s 12th-ranked Sam Slivka (36-7) in the consolation finals.
“He had a rough day today. You get so primed up for a match like that with Beatty that it was a little hard for him to shift gears mentally after that,” Cloud said. “It’s such a big high, and you have to turn right around and wrestle 45 minutes later. He struggled a little bit with that.
“I hate for him to come in after such a big win with a fourth-place spot, but he proved it this week that he can come in and take on somebody really good, so he’ll have to do it again next week if he wants to place.”
Brown’s teammates weren’t so fortunate.
Colin Gillespie (27-9) lost in the opening round at 182 by fall in 3:53 to see his season come to a close. Justin Stephens (24-6) lost in the quarterfinals by decision 11-4 at 220, while Cade Campbell (35-4) lost a heartbreaker by decision 4-3 in the 285 quarterfinals.
Brown said he hopes to keep going next weekend and place for his teammates.
“I think I’m more prepared. Last year, it was my first time, and I was nervous. I think this year, I know what I have to do,” Brown said.