Welcome to our live blog of the Bellmont Braves’ adventures in Mishawaka at the Al Smith Classic.
Because this is an individual tournament, we are going to organize the day’s events in chronological order by wrestler.
Note: Bellmont has a forfeit at 132 due to illness.
106-Ben Mills
Round 1-Ben scored the opening takedown against undefeated Brock McCartney of Garrett, but was pinned later in the first period. He drops into the losers’ bracket.
Round 2-Mills was able to bounce back and record a quick fall in the consolations against Donovan Frazier from Warsaw.
Round 3-Ben Mills was eliminated with a loss to Ty Barnhart (17-4) from Mt. Vernon.
113-Ethan Curtis
Round 1-Curtis was defeated by Joseph Hamilton of Center Grove by a score of 15-5. He drops into the losers’ bracket.
Round 2-Ethan received a forfeit.
Round 3-Ethan wasted no time in advancing with a 17-second fall against Evan Amrein of Elkhart.
Round 4-Ethan has moved to the blood round with a gutsy 4-0 win against Ethan Poling of Columbus East. Unfortunately, Curtis will have to wrestle the #1 seed after Kaleb Salazar of Wawasee was knocked out in the quarterfinals.
Round 5-The #1 seed Salazar takes out Curtis, but the junior scored three nice wins and seven team points for the Braves.
120-Henry Faurote
Round 1-Faurote (#7 seed) was in a dogfight for much of the second period and led 4-0 before finishing off Elias Garza by a 6-1 decision. Henry will take on Cameron Woods of Portage in the second round.
Round 2-Henry was defeated by Cameron Woods of Portage. Faurote was in on a few takedowns but never able to finish them and eventually was pinned with a few seconds remaining. He will drop into the consolation round and will need to win three more matches to place.
Round 3-Henry was knocked out of the tournament by Ryan Bos (10-9) of Lake Central. The only points in the match came from a reversal by Bos.
126-Will Franze
Round 1-Will Franze was dominant on top against Brian Conley of Bloomington South, piling up the riding time before scoring the clinching takedown in the third period to win 4-1. He now advances to the second round to take on Cameron Sentner of Wawasee, who pinned Franze in November.
Round 2-Will was pinned by Sentner in the first period and drops into the consolation bracket.
Round 3-Franze needed just 40 seconds to pin Braxton Shines of SB Riley and advance. He needs two more wins to reach the second day.
Round 4-Will has been knocked out of the tournament by the defending Marion County champion, Terry Easley of Warren Central by fall. Easley was left unseeded and is still alive despite it.
138-Chandler Thomas
Round 1-Chandler was a winner with a first-period fall against his opponent from Carroll.
Round 2-Chandler was defeated by Cam Dews from Elkhart by fall and drops into the consolation round.
Round 3-Chandler Thomas was tech falled (16-1) by his opponent and eliminated from the tournament.
144-Sam Wolpert
Round 1-Sam scored a couple of takedowns on good scrambles before finishing off Trevor Crump with a pin.
Round 2-Sam faced a tough challenge and was defeated 5-0 by Wyatt Cooksey of Bloomington South. He will need to win three more times today to make the second day and the medal stand.
Round 3-Wolpert scored a major decision against Wyatt Welinski of LaPorte. Be needs two more wins to survive the day.
Round 4-What looked like it could be a close match turned into an emphatic pin call for Sam as he is just one match away after winning by fall in 2:53 against Hank Temples of Westfield.
Blood Round-Wolpert bows out in the final round of the day with a loss by fall to Marlone Kirksy of Merrillville.
150-Blake Luginbill
Round 1-Blake won with a quick fall against Carson Bohall of Bloomington South.
Round 2-Luginbill was knocked into the losers’ bracket in a 4-2 defeat by Nate Anderson of Columbus East.
Round 3-Blake locked up a cradle and looked to have the pin at the end of the first period.
The match did not end in Luginbill’s favor, however, as the buzzer sounded and Blake eventually was turned and pinned by Isaiah Korba (8-9) of Peru. That eliminated Luginbill from the tournament.
157-Isaiah Herman
Round 1-Isaiah, who is in for Gavin Davis this week, took a forfeit and advanced into the second round.
Round 2-Herman was defeated by one of the top wrestlers in the state, Anthony Cashman of Warren Central. He will drop into the consolation bracket.
Round 3-Isaiah was knocked out of the tournament by a strong NorthWood wrestler, losing by fall.
165-Duke Myers
Round 1-Duke needed just 68 seconds to pin Alex Dibble of Wawasee and advance to the second round.
Round 2-Myers won by tech fall against Tyler Knight of Merrillville.
Quarterfinal-Duke faced a rematch with Marques Young of SB Riley, a tough wrestler he had defeated 8-5 at Goshen. Neither wrestler was able to score a takedown in the first three periods.
The match went to overtime and both wrestlers spent the minute-long period on their feet.
Duke immediately scored his escape in the first :30 overtime and Young found his escape with 15 seconds left, sending the match to the ultimate tiebreaker.
That left Myers having to ride out Young for 30 seconds to get the victory
Duke got another restart with six seconds left and finished out the match for the win.
Myers advances to tomorrow’s semifinals and is guaranteed at least sixth place.
175-Xavior Palacios
Round 1-Xavior won by forfeit in the first round.
Round 2-Palacios scored a big win over Tyler Lake of Columbus East to reach the quarterfinals, winning 7-4. One more win by X will put him into the second day.
Quarterfinals-Xavior was pinned on a weird headlock by undefeated Aidan Costello of Hobart and drops into the losers’ bracket.
Blood round-Xavior has clinched a spot on the podium with a big 10-0 win over Hunter Jones of Westfield.
190-Cole Mendez
Round 1-Entering the tournament as the #5 seed, Mendez faced a tough task against Edwin Garcia of SB Riley in the first round. Mendez only defeated Garcia 5-3 at Goshen in November, but Cole picked up a good takedown in the first period and then turned his man on the edge of the mat for the fall. t
Round 2-Cole looked great in his second match, pinning Kaullin Price of Elkhart in 1:20.
Quarterfinal-Cole is through to the semis with a gutsy 3-1 win over Colin McMahon of Columbus East, who knocked off the #4 seed in the morning round. Cole will wrestle Luke Penola, the #1 seed in tomorrow’s semifinal.
215-Keagan Martin
Round 1-Keagan went straight for the kill, taking down Harrison Fitch, catching a wrist and working his way to a fall in 1:06.
Round 2-Keagan needed little time to take care of Drew Oss from LaPorte, winning by fall in 1:09. He needs one more win to reach the semis.
Quarterfinal-Keagan had no trouble with Kameron Kauffman of Warsaw, winning 17-3. He will try to reach the finals against Devin Kendrex in the morning.
285-Grady Baker
Round 1-Grady received a forfeit in the first round.
Round 2-Grady faced one of the top heavyweights in the state in Plymouth’s Anthony Popi.
Round 3-Grady pinned Daniel Rubalcava of Chesterton for the second time this season to advance.
Round 4-Grady picks up a huge win against Western’s Garrett Heady, 7-3. He will wrestle Ethan Dodson of FW Snider in the blood round.
Blood Round-The gargantuan Ethan Dodson is simply too much for Grady and the match ends by fall, but Baker had two big wins in the consolation round and showed himself well.
