Becks to the wall: Brothers win first-round matches at state, but Deming, Holloway, Horn eliminated

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Brady Beck Brant Beck

EVANSVILLE — Rochester’s Brant Beck (165) and Brady Beck (HWT) won their first-round matches at the IHSAA wrestling state finals at the Ford Center Friday, but teammates Grant Holloway (106), Layne Horn (126) and Alex Deming (215) were eliminated.

Brant Beck renewed his rivalry with Cowan’s Levi Abbott – he had beaten him twice already this season – and beat him again 5-1.

Meanwhile, Brady Beck handled Leo’s physical sophomore Isaiah Coolman 7-3.

Brant Beck is a state placer for the first time. He made state in 2023 but lost in his Friday match. Brant Beck, ranked No. 5 in his weight class per IndianaMat.com, will wrestle No. 3 Evan Roudebush of Bloomington South in his first match today.

Brady Beck is a state placer for the third straight year. He will take on Center Grove’s Nate Johnson in the quarterfinals.

All wrestlers who won on Friday wrestle three times today.

Wrestling resumes at 10 a.m. Eastern today.

Brant Beck grabbed Abbott’s ankle for a takedown and a 2-0 in the first period. After an exchange of escapes, Brant scored another takedown on a counter as the aggressive Abbott tried to get back in the match.

Brady Beck, ranked No. 2, yielded a rare takedown to Coolman and fell behind 2-1 but responded with a reversal and took a 3-2 lead.

He went to his hammer lock move and was awarded a two-point near-fall to make it 5-2. Coolman got an escape, but Brady again turned Coolman on his back for another near-fall to give himself extra breathing room.

As the match progressed, the crowd noise became deafening, but it had nothing to do with Brady Beck or Coolman: On another mat, top-ranked Paul Clark of Crown Point, the wrestler who handed Brady Beck his lone loss at the East Chicago semistate final, suffered an upset loss to DeKalb’s James Hartleroad.

Seventh-ranked Austin Hastings was also upset on a pin from Heritage Hills’ Hayden Smith.

Deming lost 3-2 to Indianapolis Cathedral’s Jackson Weingart in his first-round match.

Weingart chose the bottom position to start the third period with the match 2-2, but Deming chose to start the third period in neutral and yield the tiebreaking point, hoping to get a two-point takedown with both wrestlers on their feet.

It didn’t happen as Weingart fought off Deming’s shots.

Deming finishes 43-3. He was a three-time state qualifier.

Holloway ran into top-ranked and undefeated Jensen Boyd of Delta and lost by technical fall 23-8 in 3:35 as the quick Boyd repeatedly rode Holloway to the ground before letting him back up before riding him to the ground again.

Holloway, a freshman, finishes 19-7.

Horn held a 5-2 lead over Jay County’s Cody Rowles before Rowles, a senior, scored seven straight points to win 9-5.

Rowles excelled from the bottom position, garnering three reversals. He also scored a three-point near-fall out of a scramble.

Horn opened the match with a single-leg takedown and was still leading 3-2 in the second period when he covered Rowles during another scramble.

Horn finished his sophomore season 44-2. He has just four losses in two seasons.

Evansville is hosting the state finals because usual venue Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis is hosting NBA All-Star Weekend.

Rochester’s Alex Deming attempts a single-leg takedown against Indianapolis Cathedral’s Jackson Weingart during their first-round match at the IHSAA state finals at the Ford Center in Evansville Friday. Weingart won 3-2, eliminating Deming.