Rochester’s Beck, Horn remain in state contention after Day 1

Winamac’s Wolford ousted, but NM’s McIntire, Moore, Hoover still alive

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Brant Beck Layne Horn

INDIANAPOLIS — Layne Horn and Brant Beck, the two winningest wrestlers in Rochester history, remain in contention for a state championship after Day 1 of the IHSAA state finals at Gainbridge Fieldhouse Friday.

However, the season for two of their teammates ended as did the junior season for Winamac’s Tearson Wolford.

As for North Miami, they started the day with five wrestlers and ended with three, two of whom remain undefeated.

Center Grove currently leads with 33 points. North Miami is 14th with 11 points, and Rochester is tied for 16th with nine points.

Rochester

Beck, ranked No. 2 at 165 per IndianaMat.com, opened his state finals with a fall in 2:34 over Garrett’s Jackson Endsley. Beck repeatedly attacked Endsley’s exposed legs, notching five takedowns and building a 15-3 lead before spilling on top of him after the final takedown and notching the fall.

Beck earned his third consecutive state medal and will next wrestle Indian Creek’s Owen Hallett in the quarterfinals this morning. Hallett, ranked sixth, won by technical fall over Hamilton Southeastern’s Cohen Davis.

“Great,” Rochester coach Tristan Wilson said. “He wrestled great. He went out and did exactly what he said he was going to do. … We’ve had a really good week of practice, a really good week of preparation. All of their minds are right.”

Horn, ranked No. 3 at 132, won a 15-1 major decision over Southridge senior Owen Blessinger. Horn got a takedown in the first period, let Blessinger back up for an escape and then took him down again for a 6-1 lead after one period.

Horn started from the bottom position in the second period and got a quick reversal and later collected Blessinger in a cradle and was awarded four back points for a 12-1 lead. Horn got another takedown in the third period after a scrap to complete the scoring.

“That was a weird match,” Wilson said. “And Layne’s probably the first to tell you he doesn’t wrestle his best match of his life on Friday night. But he’s put up 15 points on a kid at the state finals. That’s still a pretty good deal for him. That kid gave a little bit of an issue, but once Layne figured it out, he set it, and then he was just rolling after that.”

Senior Declan Gard (HWT) and junior Jackson Robbins (120) were both eliminated.

Gard lost to Warren Central’s Jacari Markey 9-4 in a match in which the lead official continuously punished both wrestlers for inactivity. 

Gard was ahead 2-0 in the second period on an escape and a stalling penalty point before the lead official hit Gard with a stalling penalty to make it 2-1. Markey then got the go-ahead takedown just before the second-period buzzer to take a 4-2 lead.

Markey chose the bottom position to start the third period. Gard let him back up to make it 5-2. Then officials called Markey for stalling again. Then they called Gard for stalling again. A Markey takedown on a counter made it 9-3 before one last escape for Gard closed the scoring.

Overall, each wrestler was cited for stalling three times.

“I think he just made one mistake,” Wilson said of Gard. “I think that it got close to the edge, and it was low on time, and he stopped wrestling for a little bit, and then he just got caught. And then from there, he was just battling back against a kid that’s really hard to take down.”

Robbins lost to North Miami’s Braylon McIntire for the third time this season, dropping a 3-2 decision.

McIntire got the match’s only takedown on a single-leg in the first period to take a 3-0 lead. Robbins got an escape to cut the margin to 3-1. Robbins rode McIntire from the position for the entire second period but could not score.

The third period saw each wrestler try and work through awkward positions to gain a leverage advantage on the other. Robbins got an early escape to cut the margin to 3-2 and appeared to come close to a takedown, but officials ruled that McIntire kept contact with Robbins’s leg.

After the buzzer, McIntire appeared to shove Robbins, and the lead official walked over to the scorers table and deducted a team point from North Miami’s team score for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Then he walked back to the mat to raise McIntire’s arm in victory.

The match was the third of the year between McIntire and Robbins. McIntire also beat Robbins at the Rochester John McKee Memorial Invitational Dec. 20 and the Class 1A Team State Duals at Franklin Community Jan. 10.

After the match, McIntire tried but was unable to walk off the mat under his own power. A member of the North Miami coaching staff carried him off the mat.

If McIntire (44-1) can go this morning for the quarterfinals, he will face Brownsburg’s Case Bell. Bell is ranked No. 1 and was last year’s state champion at 113.

Robbins, who transferred from Caston following his freshman season, finished the season 41-7.

Winamac

Wolford, making his first state finals appearance, lost by fall in 2:48 to Princeton’s Jaran Kerney.

Kerney got the first takedown on a counter and then fell on top of Wolford and got another two back points for a 5-0 lead that he carried into the second period.

Wolford started the second period in the top position, but Kerney got a reversal and again turned immediately on top and put Wolford’s shoulders to the mat for the pin.

Wolford finished the season 40-5 with all five losses coming to wrestlers who made the state tournament.

North Miami

In addition to McIntire, the other Warriors earning a state medal Friday were seniors Rex Moore (126) and Hartley Hoover (215), both of whom remain undefeated.

Moore, competing in his first state finals for North Miami after making state the previous three years representing Manchester, improved to 41-0 after beating Lake Central’s Luke Nied by technical fall (17-2) in 2:37.

This will mark his second trip to the state podium.

Moore, ranked No. 10, will next face Tri-West’s No. 14 Eli Ogle, who won by injury default when his opponent, Jett McGuire from Warren Central, was unable to continue due to a knee injury.

Hoover, both physically imposing and mobile, improved to 45-0 with a 17-1 tech fall in 4:53 over Franklin Central’s Andrew Harmon. Hoover got four takedowns and four back points in earning his first career state medal.

Hoover will next face third-ranked Kellen Fellure from Franklin Community in the quarterfinals this morning. 

Meanwhile, Jordan Simon (190) and Logan Smith (HWT) were both eliminated.

Simon, ranked No. 14, lost by tech fall (20-0) in 5:23 to East Central’s No. 6 Brody Wingate. Simon finished his senior season 42-4.

Smith lost to South Putnam’s Keenan Mowery-Shields by tech fall (16-1) in 5:32. Smith finished 42-6.

Both Simon and Smith were making their first state appearances.

The win continued Mowery-Shields’ success against Hoosier North athletes this school year. He is also a star linebacker and tight end on South Putnam’s Class 1A state championship football team that defeated Pioneer three months ago for the title.

He made state in wrestling last year but lost to Gard in his Friday match.