DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
INDIANAPOLIS – Two county high school wrestlers reached the championship bout of their respective weights at this weekend’s ISWA Folkstyle State Finals and took home second-place medals as wrestlers of all ages converged on Warren Central High School for the annual event.
Maverick Dubach won a thrilling semifinal against Brendan Bentz of Madison despite giving up the opening takedown at 144. That sent Mav to the finals against Luke Reid of Valparaiso, a state qualifier this year for the Vikings who was ranked #10 in the state at 138 at season’s end. Reid took the title with a 13-5 major.
Bellmont’s Xavior Palacios also made the finals at 175, dominating his way to the championship bout with three big wins. He met Lawrence North’s Michael White in the final and was defeated by fall late in the match after falling behind 12-3. White won a sixth-place medal at the IHSAA State Finals as a sophomore last month.
Dubach’s teammate, Brason Schortgen, also had a great tournament at 138. Schortgen wrestled eight matches in just a few hours and beat every opponent he faced except Rochester’s Layne Horn.
The two wrestlers did not meet when Rochester wrestled Adams Central in the 1A championship dual, with Horn at 126 and Schortgen at 132, but they met in the quarterfinals Sunday and Brason jumped out to an early lead with a takedown late in the first period. Schortgen was trailing just 3-2 when he chose bottom to start the third but Horn ended up with the fall.
The weight was eventually won by New Pal’s Gunner Butt (4th at 126 at IHSAA State in February) and Horn wound up wrestling Schortgen again for third place. Horn won the final match of the day by a convincing 12-0 scoreline, but Schortgen certainly showed his talent in a very talented field.
Two other Bellmont HS teammates also competed, with Grady Baker competing in the junior heavyweight division. The sophomore caught a tough break with his draw, meeting the eventual champion, Tyler Schott of Center Grove, in the very first bout.
Baker wrestled well against Schott, who lost his varsity spot mid-season this past season to eventual state champion Nate Johnson, but lost 7-4.
Grady bounced back with two wins by fall, both in the second period, to make the final 12. In the medal round he met Mark Gonzales from Crown Point, the runner-up at Frosh/Soph State two weeks ago. Baker yielded a late takedown and fell to Gonzales, 4-1, falling just short of a medal.
Bellmont freshman Henry Faurote wrestled Sunday and reached the quarterfinals with three falls and faced Eli Gahl of Northfield, whose sister was a state champion last year at IHSGW State. Gahl knocked Faurote into the consolation bracket with a 12-4 major decision.
Faurote came back with two wins to reach the consolation semi, where he fell to Bo Jackson of Indian Creek by major decision. A loss to Brownsburg’s Robert Leahy gave Faurote the sixth-place spot on the podium.
Adams Central’s other high school participants also had success as Kale Beer won four matches and fell just short of placing at 120, while Dylan Ogg made it all the way to the third-place match, where he lost for the second time Sunday to Fountain Central freshman Dakoda Willoughby.
Matt Heiser won a match at junior 175 before losing two straight decisions to fall out of the tournament Saturday.
Even more middle school wrestlers from county schools competed and had plenty of success.
Kley Beer of Adams Central finished with a 2-2 record at 83 pounds.
Bellmont’s Jacob Binegar reached the semifinals with three straight victories, then came back in the consolation to reach the third-place bout. He was defeated in the semis by the eventual champion, Spenser McCammon. Binegar took fourth after being unable to finish the final bout due to injury.
Bradley Baker wrestled in the same bracket as Binegar and also had to default to the same wrestler deep in the consolation bracket. Although he did not place, Baker did win four matches on the day and was knocked out by the eventual third-place wrestler, Ty Sisson of Floyd Central.
Oliver Faurote won a medal at 110, finishing in sixth place. His feat was impressive after dropping the opening bout of the day Sunday to Hunter Happe of Evansville Memorial. Faurote bounced back to win five bouts in a row before facing Happe again in the fifth-place match.
Charlie Faurote made the championship bout at 125 pounds with three major decisions and a fall. In the finals he wrestled Spencer Howard of Maurer-Coughlin, a former Indy Nationals champ, and lost a tough 3-0 decision.
Austin Manley took fifth place at 149 and finished with a 5-2 record, recording three falls along the way.
Gabe Myers competed at the 16U 126 weight and won his opening two bouts by wide margins, but fell in the next two matches to bow out of the tournament. His two defeats came against the eventual fourth and seventh-place finishers.
Also competing from the Bellmont Middle School team were Luke Ruble and Liam Simon.
Other results from younger weight classes:
Crimsyn Steury won three matches at 8U 49 for the Decatur Wrestling Club.
Brothers Morgan and Sean Flanagan also competed, with Morgan wrestling 8U 62 and Sean competing at 10 U 63. Sean won his second consecutive match to start the day with an impressive comeback and a gritty overtime takedown to advance.
He won another bout in the consolation bracket before falling out after a 3-2 Saturday.
Isaac Binegar went 1-2 at 12U 82 for DWC.
Grayson Hendricks was 1-2 for the Jet Wrestling Club at 12U 63 and classmate Troy Ringger wrestled at 12U 74.
Elijah Conrad went 1-2 at 12U 135 for the Jets.
Brock Sprunger (14U 92) and Noah Guerra (14U 165) competed for South Adams Gold.
Max Adams took sixth place at 16U 106 for South Adams, winning four bouts along the way.
Also competing in the 16U division for South Adams Gold were Tristin Ehr (113), Braxtyn Hough (132) and Wyatt Mann (144).
South Adams’ Emmit Seip wrestled under the Warrior RTC banner at 12U 98.
Adams Central also had a pair of wrestlers competing for Warrior. Max Myes won a couple of bouts at 14U 77 and Cruz Bowers picked up a fall at 83.
Max Nussbaum also competed for AC at 157, winning a consolation match by fall.
Heritage also had three wrestlers compete. Cade Foster went 3-2 in the 16U 113 division and Eli Litchfield went 2-2 at 14U 130.
Jax Litchfield (pictured above) was runner-up at 14U 165 after winning the ACAC last week.