DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
Note: Coverage of the Adams Central BAGUBAS in January is courtesy of a sponsorship by the Joe Edgell Family. If you’d like to sponsor a team on WZBD.com, contact the station for more details.
BLUFFTON – A string of back-to-back-to-back-to-back champions through the middle weights anchored the Adams Central efforts to claim yet another ACAC wrestling title, with the BAGUBAS scoring 270.5 points on a night when they never really looked back, eventually beating rival South Adams by 46.5 points.
It was a night dominated by the two Adams county teams, with Heritage and Bluffton playing a tertiary role with a few solid individuals. The Stars and Jets combined for 17 of the 28 finalists on the night.
The fact that the conference has just seven members, along with several forfeits from Southern Wells, Heritage and Woodlan, left the eight-man bracket with byes and forfeits for nearly every wrestler seeded #1 or #2.
That left the opening round with little drama, although the Jets did score a big win with Clay Fiechter at 144. The freshman, who has not seen much action lately for the team, took out the #3 seed, Jace McCune of Southern Wells, with a fall in the final seconds of the first period to advance to the semis.
The first upset in the semifinals came at 138, where it was once again the Jets who were upsetting the seeding cart, with Myles Kaehr coming from behind to score a fall over Jay County’s Jason Landers.
South Adams picked up an extra finalist at 165 (see series of photos below) with Nathan Plattner’s 19-6 domination of #2-seeded Caleb Sibray of Jay County.
Anyone who tagged the 285 class as the most wide-open for the tournament was proven absolutely correct at the end of the semifinal round.
Jay County’s Spencer Smitley used a first-period takedown to outlast #1 seed Conner Landis of Bluffton, while #2 Ryan Beer (AC) and #3 Junior Vallejo (Heritage) came nowhere close to a takedown. Beer was the more aggressive of the two and Vallejo was hit with two stalling warnings, giving the AC freshman the all-important first point of the bout.
Vallejo got an escape with his choice in the third and the two pushed and shoved their way into the two :30 overtimes, where both young men were able to ride out their opponents, forcing the ultimate tiebreaker. The table help mistakenly told the official that it was Vallejo who had scored first, but AC assistant Parker Bates was quick to remind both of them that it was the stalling point to Beer that came first.
The brief discussion was likely irrelevant, however, as Beer chose top and Vallejo was very likely going to choose bottom. Beer got off to a good start, but Vallejo was able to win the match with a reversal with ten seconds to go.
Brock Sprunger, who advanced to the finals with a big 19-3 win over Ezra Liechty (AC) in the semis, absolutely dominated #1 seed Drake Hicks (SW) to claim a title, winning 20-2 before the end of the second period at 113.
The Starfires continued with the upsets with perhaps the most satisfying South Adams win of the night in the finals at 120.
Sylas Wenk (JC) dominated Max Adams throughout the first period, taking a 12-2 lead into the second and choosing bottom. Adams, however, invigorated the Starfire crowd and coaching staff with a thrilling fall, prompting a big celebration by the sophomore, who has just three losses on the season. One of those losses was to Wenk in the ACAC Duals – an 18-3 tech.
Dakota Sprunger made it three in a row for the Stars at 126 and Kale Beer won the Jets’ first title at 132.
The Heritage Patriots got the first of their three titles with a fall for Max Mirelez at 138, but it was another ACAC champ for the Starfires at 144.
Wyatt Mann was seeded second but looked like a #1, showing his offense and adding nearfall in the third for a convincing 10-4 win, further cementing his status as a real contender for a spot at the State Finals at 144.
There was simply no competition for the Jets triumvirate of studs at 150-157-165, with Dylan Ogg, Mav Dubach and Brason Schortgen all winning easily without much fuss. Few would be surprised if all three were wrestling in the championship bouts in each of the next three weekends.
Xander Schwartz continued to ask the question if he might make the triple threat of the Jets a quadruple, pushing his record to 33-3 with a 21-1 tech for a title at 175.
At 190, it was a dose of revenge for Jax Litchfield of Heritage. A ticket-rounder last year as a ninth-grader, Litchfield somehow won his 40th match of the year already by dominating Wes Summersett. It was Summersett who dealt the Heritage big man his only loss of the year back in December.
Max Nussbaum, who gave up just two takedowns to Litchfield in a 6-0 loss in the semis, took third place for the Jets.
The closest bout of the night in the finals came at 215. Top-seeded Jake Boots of Bluffton found two early takedowns against AC’s Ethan Funk, then decided that his 8-4 lead was sufficient. Funk was one stalling call away from tying the match in the dying seconds, but fell, 8-6.
The night ended well for the Patriots, with Vallejo claiming the 285 title. Hit with stalling to fall behind 2-1 with 30 seconds left, Vallejo won his blue ribbon with a late takedown, giving the Patriots their third title – their highest total in years.
Team Scores: 1st-Adams Central 270.5; 2nd-South Adams 224; 3rd-Jay County 212; 4th-Bluffton 195; 5th-Southern Wells 131.5; 6th-Heritage 130.5; 7th-Woodlan 54
Championship Bouts
106-Steven Frettinger (Blf) d. Cruz Bowers (AC), 6-2
113-Brock Sprunger (SA) t.f. Drake Hicks (SW), 20-2
120-Max Adams (SA) p. Sylas Wenk (JC), 3:31
126-Dakota Sprunger (SA) p. Cade Foster (H), 3:07
132-Kale Beer (AC) p. Will Patterson (SA), 1:44
138-Max Mirelez (H) p. Myles Kaehr (AC), 3:31
144-Wyatt Mann (SA) d. Parker Barnes (Blf), 10-4
150-Dylan Ogg (AC) t.f. Gabe Steiner (SA), 18-3
157-Maverick Dubach (AC) p. Eli Loshe (SA), 1:33
165-Brason Schortgen (AC) t.f. Nathan Plattner (SA), 19-6
175-Xander Schwartz (AC) t.f. Bryan Fields (JC), 12-3
190-Jax Litchfield (H) t.f. Wes Summersett (SA), 1:39
215-Jake Boots (Blf) d. Ethan Funk (AC), 8-6
285-Junior Vallejo (H) d. Spencer Smitley (SW), 4-2
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