INDIANAPOLIS — Jared Brown’s postseason was in jeopardy only a few days before the sectional tournament commenced earlier this month, but despite the lost time because of injury, the Pendleton Heights junior made up for it.
Qualifying for his second-straight Indiana High School Athletic Association wrestling state finals, Brown placed fourth at the New Castle Semistate to punch his ticket, finishing first at the Elwood Sectional and third at home during the Pendleton Heights Regional.
Ranked 16th in the state at 132 pounds by IndianaMat, Brown made some noise in his second go-around inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Friday night.
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And, he nearly advanced to his first state finals Saturday medal round.
Brown faced a quick 5-0 deficit against sixth-ranked Hayden Watson of Center Grove during the elimination round on Friday night, but he rallied back before losing by fall in 1 minute, 42 seconds.
“It was like two heavyweights throwing hay-makers at each other. (Watson) got the last one in,” Pendleton Heights head coach Dave Cloud said. “He got him right back, and I thought, ‘We’re going to get him. We’re going to pin him,’ but he tried to step over with the legs, and he should have just came back from behind and he gave up the reversal to our back.”
Brown (28-5) fought off his back initially in the match and reversed Watson to cut the margin 5-4 with a two-point nearfall. Watson responded, however, with his own reversal and a pin.
“He’s big and strong. He’s a good wrestler. We just couldn’t afford that kind of mistake to someone that good,” Cloud said.
Brown qualified for state at 126 last year while also losing on opening night.
“I wrestled the same match that I usually wrestle, but sometimes I try to do something big and it doesn’t work sometimes,” Brown said. “It was a fight. I thought I had him. I thought I had it won. I definitely needed to slow it down a little bit.”
The flurry was a lesson learned, one Brown intends to fuel his offseason preparation en route to a potential third-straight state appearance his senior season in 2020-21.
“It’s good. It gets me prepared for next year. I just need to keep working every day,” Brown said.