Beck, Gard win showdowns, lead Rochester to dual win over Valley

Shambaugh, Manns win by fall for Vikes; Montelongo, Hammer win by decision

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

AKRON –- They did not seem to be messing around during the wrestling dual between Rochester and host Tippecanoe Valley at the Valley auxiliary gym Wednesday.

Brady Beck and Bazle Owens wrestled each other in the first match of the night at 220.

Beck won by decision, and it foreshadowed the rest of the evening.

RHS got five falls, two more decisions in addition to Beck’s and two forfeits as they beat the Vikings 51-19.

This marked the third year the teams have had a midweek dual against each other. Valley had won the previous two years.

Joey Spencer (120), Wade Shafer (152), Kaleb Shaffer (170), Eli Swango (195) and Marshall Fishback (HWT) won by fall for Rochester.

Ethan Holloway (113) and Mitchell Shafer (132) won by forfeit.

Greyson Gard (145), Noah Swango (160) and Beck (220) won by decision.

Galvin Shambaugh (106) and Jacob Manns (138) won by fall for Valley. Brandon Hammer (182) won by major decision, and Drake Montelongo (126) won by decision.

The Beck-Owens matchup was a battle of Rochester John McKee Memorial Invitational champions. Owens, who won the McKee title at 195, stepped up to 220 and got the first takedown, but Beck rallied to win 7-2.

Beck got an escape late in the first period and another out of the bottom position to tie the match. A takedown put him ahead for good in the second period, and he added another takedown and stalling penalty point in the third period.

“Brady came off with a nice win,” RHS coach Clint Gard said. “I think he probably respected Bazle a little too much. They know each other just from wrestling so long. So I think that was part of the issue there.”

Valley coach Kyler Kearby said Owens will have to learn to finish tough matches like this.

“He’s capable of beating Beck,” Kearby said. “I know he wants that one back. He got that first takedown, and he kinda got off the horse. That’s something where we’ve got to finish. Bazle’s got all the ability in the world. I know he’s got big goals for this season as far as the state tournament series. We’ve got to finish matches. Can’t go up 2-0 and lose the rest of the way 7-0.”

Fishback pinned Ian Becker in 4:54, but Shambaugh pinned Tyler Wolfe in 58 seconds to make it 9-6.

Holloway’s forfeit made it 15-6. Spencer sunk in a side headlock on Barrett Heller and won in 1:00 to make it 21-6.

Montelongo, who is currently ranked third among wrestlers feeding into the East Chicago semistate at 120, moved up to 126 and beat Aaron Swango 9-2.

Kearby said afterwards that he should have told Montelongo to give up an escape on purpose in order to get an extra takedown and perhaps a major decision.

“I’ll put that one on me,” Kearby said. “We should’ve cut him after we got that takedown in the third period. Take him down then and get another takedown and that way he’s got the major and then we can try to work with that because I know we needed more bonus points right there. He wrestled well, and it would have been nice to at least get a major or pin out of that match.”

Manns’ fall in 3:06 over Nathaniel Beck offset Mitchell Shafer’s forfeit.

That brought up Gard against Branson McBrier. McBrier was a semistate qualifier at 138 last year, but Gard, a sophomore, got a takedown in the first period and didn’t let McBrier turn him from the bottom position in the second period.

A takedown and near fall made it 6-0, and though McBrier got a reversal, Gard hung on for a 6-2 win. Greyson Gard also beat semistate qualifier Bodey Henry from Northwestern last week.

“He’s beaten two semistate qualifiers in the last two weeks,” coach Gard said of Greyson. “I think it’s significant in that it gives him confidence, which is very important. I think it’s significant in that Branson is a solid wrestler and a good kid, so anytime you get a chance to wrestle another good kid and get a win, that’s always positive. I saw him do some things in that match that you don’t normally see him do, which was good. I’d like to see him do a little more of it. … He had a nice slide-by there for the first takedown, and then he went into a merkle, a side headlock where we roll through there with the leg hooked. To see him hit that and it hit it really, really hard was a positive.”

Wade Shafer’s fall in 3:15 over Darren Crump at 152 made it 36-15.

At 160, Noah Swango got eight takedowns and gave up five escapes against Jadyn Virgil before Virgil suddenly locked in a side headlock and got Noah Swango on his back for five points. But Noah Swango immediately popped off the deck and got a reversal and one more takedown to win a 20-14 decision.

Shaffer’s win over Cameron Mason by fall at 3:04 made it 45-15.

The bout at 182 featured RHS freshman Alex Deming, currently ranked No. 7 among wrestlers feeding into the Fort Wayne semistate, against Hammer, a junior who was a semistate qualifier at 170 last year.

The match was tied 2-2 after one period, but Hammer got an escape and then got a takedown and two back points on a counter move to a Deming shot attempt to make it 7-2.

A takedown and near fall in the third period completed Hammer’s 12-2 win. Hammer also beat Deming at the John McKee tournament.

Eli Swango trailed Dalton Alber 4-1 in the second period but got a reversal and then turned Alber on his back for a fall in 3:35. Coach Gard said Eli Swango weighed in at 183 and likely gave up 12 pounds to Alber.

“That was a big win,” coach Gard said. “That was one I thought they’d get for sure.”

Rochester has beaten every TRC team they have faced in a dual except for Peru. The loss to Peru was decided on a tiebreaker.

“You could tell we haven’t wrestled in about a week,” coach Gard said. “So that’s one thing. We’ve got some work to do there. I don’t think our kids wrestled bad. I don’t know – we didn’t wrestle bad and we didn’t wrestle great. But we put it on them pretty good.”

Coach Gard said his team had no conditioning issues Wednesday even though it was their first dual in eight days.

Kearby said his team is “pretty healthy” as well, but he wants a better mindset. He spoke of attacking positions afterwards.

“We didn’t lose tonight on endurance,” Kearby said. “We lost some matches tonight on that will to keep pushing. For me, if I’m disappointed in something, it’s that.”

Wrestling notes

• Gard told RTC after the match that the sectional and regional, which are set for Jan. 30 and Feb. 6, respectively, will be moved from Peru to Maconaquah. Maconaquah is already set to host the TRC meet on Jan. 23.

RESULTS: ROCHESTER 51, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 19

(match started at 220)

106 – Galvin Shambaugh (TV) def. Tyler Wolfe (RHS), fall, 0:58

113 – Ethan Holloway (RHS) won by forfeit

120 – Joey Spencer (RHS) def. Barrett Heller (TV), fall, 1:00

126 – Drake Montelongo (TV) def. Aaron Swango (RHS), 9-2

132 – Mitchell Shafer (RHS) won by forfeit

138 – Jacob Manns (TV) def. Nathaniel Beck (RHS), fall, 3:06

145 – Greyson Gard (RHS) def. Branson McBrier (TV), 6-2

152 – Wade Shafer (RHS) def. Darren Crump (TV), fall, 3:15

160 – Noah Swango (RHS) def. Jadyn Virgil (TV), 20-14

170 – Kaleb Shaffer (RHS) def. Cameron Mason (TV), fall, 3:04

182 – Brandon Hammer (TV) def. Alex Deming (RHS), 12-2

195 – Eli Swango (RHS) def. Dalton Alber (TV), fall, 3:35

220 – Brady Beck (RHS) def. Bazle Owens (TV), 7-2

HWT – Marshall Fishback (RHS) def. Ian Becker (TV), fall, 4:54