DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
PORTLAND – Wrestling coaches and fans can sometimes be a greedy bunch.
Set a target, meet it, and one might find a Bellmont coach or fan who stews over one loss or one place in the team standings at a big tournament.
Saturday was not the day to be greedy for the Bellmont Braves.
Why?
Because they honestly couldn’t have done much better at any weight if they came back together and wrestled the sectional over again on Wednesday.
Capturing their 48th sectional trophy in school history (second-most all-time in Indiana), the Bellmont Braves pushed through 14 boys to next week’s regional and captured six individual titles. Coach Tim Myers’ team put up 273.5 points and never gave much thought to the team score after the quarterfinal round ended.
“I look back and can’t really think of anyone who didn’t wrestle well,” noted assistant coach Sean Faurote, who won a sectional title himself for the Braves 30 years ago and now takes delight in the successes of the boys he’s coached for as long as he can remember. “They all wrestled at or above where they should have finished. Just a great day.”
“It was definitely a great day,” noted coach Myers. “This is a very special group to be around.”
The Braves won 12 of 14 quarterfinals, more than expected. One of those losses came at 165, where Austin Manley was narrowly defeated by Caleb Sibray (6-5) of Jay County.
Manley came back to beat Sibray for third place by a big margin.
The highlight of the round was a smart, calculated victory by Blake Christner in overtime at 215 to defend his #3 seed against South Adams’ Cooper Affolder.
That big round was followed up by a pair of wins that likely clinched the team title, with Jacob Binegar and Bradley Baker knocking off their Adams Central counterparts to reach the finals at 106 and 113.
The Braves then went on a roll, winning five straight semifinals, highlighted by a demolition job at 144 by Gabe Myers, who somehow scored 25 points on Parker Barnes. Each successive takedown made Myers hungrier for another.
Seniors Grady Baker and Sam Wolpert both scored bonus points in reaching the final for the eventual champions.
The elimination round might have been the sweetest for the Braves, with Oliver Faurote and Owen Shane (gallery above) representing the ninth grade class with easy wins to punch their regional tickets.
Luke Ruble and Austin Manley gave the sophomore class two more wins and kept the Braves’ on track for a perfect 14-for-14 day, but it was always going to come down to 215 for that mark.
Luckily for the Braves, junior Blake Christner was up for the task and the battle.
Wrestling Southern Wells’ Blayden Schomber, Christner forced overtime at 5-5 and outlasted Schomber, getting the overtime takedown to give Bellmont a 14th regional qualifier.
In the championship matches, Jacob Binegar controlled the match against Steven Frettinger of Bluffton, winning his second title at 106 (6-0). That was followed by a win with attitude from Bradley Baker, whose excitement at winning his first varsity tournament was evident for Bellmont fans to enjoy.
While Ben Mills couldn’t quite figure out the formula against a tough Dakota Sprunger at 126, he is still a legitimate contender for a state berth a 126. He will relish an opportunity to get Sprunger again next week.
Henry Faurote got over the hump and, after finishing on the second spot on the podium at sectional, regional and semi-state each time as a freshman and again as a sophomore, he stood on the top spot with little fuss, dominating Myles Kaehr, 19-3.
Anyone who saw Gabe Myers in the semifinal likely knew what the outcome was going to be in the 144 final. Gabe took a 1-0 lead into the third, then impressed the crowd with three displays of outstanding technique, all leading to takedowns and ultimately, a 10-3 win and a sectional title.
Sam Wolpert and Charlie Faurote both settled for expected consolation prizes against highly-ranked opponents, but the Braves answered back with two very satisfying, albeit expected, titles with Xavior Palacios at 190 and Grady Baker at 285.
Oliver Faurote, Austin Manley and Owen Shane all gave themselves real shots to make it to semi-state with wins in the third-place match, as well.
The Braves could not be in better position to defend their regional title next week in the same gym, but they will need to be equally as impressive to hold off challenges from Delta and Adams Central. The same scenario will likely play out, as well, at the semi-state.
Team Scores: 1st-Bellmont 273.5; 2nd-Adams Central 250; 3rd-South Adams 199; 4th-Jay County 166.5; 5th-Bluffton 116; 6th-Norwell 76; 7th-Southern Wells 56; 8th-Union City 54.5; 9th-Blackford 51
BELLMONT RESULTS
Quarterfinals
106-Jacob Binegar t.f. Briggs Fiechter (SW), 17-1
113-Bradley Baker p. Noel Godinez (Blk), :09
120-Oliver Faurote t.f. Owen Macklin (AC), 16-1
126-Ben Mills p. Trace Simpson (Blf), 1:43
132-Connor Fojtik (N) t.f. Luke Ruble, 21-1
138-Henry Faurote WBF
144-Gabe Myers p. Gabe Ardizzone (JC), :58
150-Sam Wolpert p. Lane Dollar (SW), 1:01
157-Charlie Faurote t.f. Dylan Bolt (JC), 18-1
165-Caleb Sibray (JC) d. Austin Manley, 6-5
175-Owen Shane t.f. Nic Brewster (SA), 21-4
190-Xavior Palacios p. Efren Ruiz-Herrera (JC), :18
215-Blake Christner d. Cooper Affolder (SA), 3-2 (UTB)
285-Grady Baker p. Wyatt Clifton (N), 4:29
Semifinals
106-Jacob Binegar d. Cruz Bowers (AC), 7-2
113-Bradley Baker p. Ezra Liechty (AC), 2:49
120-Max Adams (SA) m.d. Oliver Faurote, 10-1
126-Ben Mills m.d. Crete Edwards (N), 14-1
138-Henry Faurote p. Braxtyn Hough (SA)
144-Gabe Myers m.d. Parker Barnes (Blf), 25-14
150-Sam Wolpert t.f. Gabe Steiner (SA), 17-1
157-Charlie Faurote p. Eli Loshe (SA), 2:33
175-Bryan Fields (JC) m.d. Owen Shane, 18-7
190-Xavior Palacios p. Brady Bannister (Blk), 1:13
215-Jake Boots (Blf) p. Blake Christner, 2:29
285-Grady Baker p. Ryan Beer (AC), 3:30
Consolation Quarterfinals
132-Luke Ruble WBF
165-Austin Manley p. Blayne Durbin (SW), :22
Consolation Semifinals
120-Oliver Faurote p. Joseangel Perez-Contreras (UC), 3:58
132-Luke Ruble d. Cooper Glassford (JC), 9-4
165-Austin Manley d. Owen Reynolds (N), 9-4
175-Owen Shane t.f. Ryker Dollar (SW), 17-0
215-Blake Christner d. Blayden Schomber (SW), 8-5 (OT)
Championship Bouts
106-Jacob Binegar d. Steven Frettinger (Blf), 6-0
113-Bradley Baker p. Brock Sprunger (SA), 2:21
126-Dakota Sprunger (SA) m.d. Ben Mills, 8-0
138-Henry Faurote t.f. Myles Kaehr (AC), 19-3
144-Gabe Myers d. Wyatt Mann (SA), 10-3
150-Dylan Ogg (AC) m.d. Sam Wolpert, 9-0
157-Maverick Dubach (AC) p. Charlie Faurote, 3:39
190-Xavior Palacios p. Wes Summersett (SA), 1:52
285-Grady Baker m.d. Conner Landis (Blf), 10-1
Third-Place Bouts
120-Oliver Faurote p. Owen Macklin (AC), 1:37
132-Connor Fojtik (N) p. Luke Ruble, 1:37
165-Austin Manley m.d. Caleb Sibray (JC), 14-3
175-Owen Shane m.d. Nic Brewster (SA), 16-5
215-Alan Ortiz (JC) p. Blake Christner, 2:25
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