DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
FORT WAYNE – Adams Central will lead the contingent of wrestling teams from across the state in the Parade of Champions Friday with a pair of semi-state champions after Dylan Ogg and Brason Schortgen captured individual titles to help the BAGUBAs to a fifth-place finish in the team race at the Coliseum Saturday.
Ogg repeated as champ with a pair of nerve-wracking overtime victories to get back on the top spot of the podium. His classmate followed him 15 minutes later with a dominating effort, capping off three straight weeks where both Brason Schortgen and Ogg carried the weight of their #1 ranking in the semi-state with poise.
While the Jets only ended up with two qualifiers, they got great displays of courage and heart from a handful of others who fell just short. Maverick Dubach’s quest to upset #1 Linkin Carter of Eastside fell just short. Despite his injury at regional, Dubach put it all on the line (see below). He took down Carter twice and had him on his back for nearfall in the second period.
The Jets had a total of seven wrestlers in the ticket round.
Team Scores: Delta 142.5, North Miami 119, Bellmont 114, Garrett 99, Adams Central 68.5, East Noble 62, Homestead 52.5, Wawasee 50.5, Carroll (FW) 47.5, Leo 45, New Haven 43, Cowan 42, Maconaquah 33.5, Angola 32, Eastside 29.5, Concord 23, South Adams 22, Western 22, Yorktown 22
In this advanced stage of the tournament, we will summarize the BAGUBA day by individuals.
132 – Kale Beer
Beer’s excellent season came to an end in a hard-fought match against Sean Harris of New Haven.
Kale did not allow his first-round opponent a hint of a point, positioning himself for a match in the ticket round that was always going to be incredibly difficult. Both wrestlers entered the third period with a stalling warning and Harris needed an escape to tie the bout. Instead, he scored a reversal and four nearfall to clinch a spot in the State Finals after his brother narrowly missed out in the ticket round at 106.
Beer ended up with two wins this season over state qualifiers, both over guys who ultimately dropped down to 126 (Qwanell Gabriel of Lakeland and Dakota Sprunger of South Adams). The junior reached 100 wins this year and five of his six losses on the year came to guys who ultimately advanced to the State Finals.
132-Kale Beer d. Korbyn Haifley (Fremont), 7-0
132-Sean Harris (New Haven) d. Kale Beer, 7-1
138 – Myles Kaehr
Kaehr conceded the opening takedown against Harper Lee, but made a huge dent in the Railroaders’ hopes of a team title when he took Lee down and scored a fall with a cradle to move to the ticket round. It wasn’t in the cards, however, in the second round as Erik Hunt grabbed two takedowns and scored the fall in the second period.
Kaehr’s win in the opening round was a significant one, tying him with some recent greats on the program’s all-time wins list (Logan Macklin and Logan Uhlman). 119 wins put Kaehr in the top 15 all-time at Adams Central.
138-Myles Kaehr p. Harper Lee (Garrett), 3:29
138-Erik Hunt (Western) p. Myles Kaehr, 2:47
150 – Dylan Ogg
Ogg may have cost some AC fans their fingernails Saturday, but he repeated as champion. A straight-forward tech in the opening round was met by a considerable challenge in the ticket round against returning state qualifier Cavan Tom.
Ogg could not score a takedown in regulation and after a reversal in the third period, he was riding with the score tied at 4-4. Tom scored a reversal, but Ogg got one back at the buzzer to save his campaign and force overtime. Dylan then finished the match with a takedown with five seconds left in the one-minute period.
With two other 150s from the Jay County regional joining him (Sam Wolpert and Ashton Goney), Ogg won 8-0 in the semis over Goney, who was able to overcome a knee injury from the previous week.
Once again in the finals, the bout was tied with Ogg riding Dallas Davidson of Angola in the third period. Overtime was forced when Ogg answered Davidson’s reversal with one of his own.
Dylan won his second semi-state by scoring a reversal in the first half-minute period, followed by a ride out of Davidson in the second 30 seconds.
The win put Ogg 14th all-time in school history with next weekend and his senior year yet to go. He’ll need 42 victories in that span to become the school’s wins leader. He currently has 43 wins this season already.
150-Dylan Ogg t.f. David Nieto (Kokomo), 15-0
150-Dylan Ogg d. Cavan Tom (Wawasee), 9-6, OT
150-Dylan Ogg m.d. Ashton Goney (Cowan), 8-0
150-Dylan Ogg d. Dallas Davidson (Angola), 10-8, OT
157 – Maverick Dubach
Dubach had plenty of fans cheering for him and he gained even mor respect with how he wrestled Saturday. Drawing Linkin Carter in the same quarter bracket for the third time at semi-state, Dubach came just short of one of the biggest upsets in the state against the #1 man from Eastside.
Dubach was taken down early in the opening round and trailed heading into the second, but got the reversal and the fall.
An early 8-1 deficit against Carter just made things all the more exciting when Dubach returned the favor, putting the Coliseum crowd on their feet as the official swiped for nearfall. Dubach cut the lead to 14-10 with a takedown with 90 seconds left, but was left frustrated as time ran out on his career with Carter called for stalling in the dying seconds.
Dubach ends his career with 144 wins, good enough for fifth all-time in Adams Central history.
157-Maverick Dubach p. Gage Pearce (Oak Hill), 2:38
157-Linkin Carter (Eastside) d. Maverick Dubach, 14-11
165 – Brason Schortgen
Brason returned to the State Finals with a trifecta of falls in the opening three rounds, maintaining his perfect record at 165 this year with a chance to join classmate Dylan Ogg as a champion.
In the bout that was supposed to settle who was best at 165 in the Fort, there seemed to be only one wrestler interested in forcing the action and that was Schortgen. He took Rylee Biddle down twice and cruised to victory, with Biddle deciding in the final five seconds to go after Brason.
Having already passed his uncle Dustin Mitchel on the all-time wins list for Adams Central earlier in the year, Brason will have a slight lead on Dylan Ogg next year in a race for the school’s all-time wins mark. Schortgen has 126 to Ogg’s 120 heading into the State Finals.
165-Brason Schortgen p. Devin Meinika (Columbia City), 1:24
165-Brason Schortgen p. Porter Kleeberg (Central Noble), 4:00
165-Brason Schortgen p. Nolan Winicker (Concordia Lutheran), 5:30
165-Brason Schortgen d. Rylee Biddle (East Noble), 7-2
175 – Xander Schwartz
Schwartz scored a fall in the first round and then built a lead deep into the ticket round against undefeated Eli Gahl of Northfield. A late nearfall gave Gahl a 7-4 win and another trip to the State Finals.
175-Xander Schwartz p. Ashton Hahn (NorthWood), 2:40
175-Elijah Gahl (Northfield) d. Xander Schwartz, 7-4
190 – Max Nussbaum
Nussbaum’s season as an undersized 190 finished with a trip to semi-state. He was the only member of the team from the ninth or tenth grade to advance to Fort Wayne and finished with 35 wins (62 for his career already).
190-Job Richman (Eastside) p. Max Nussbaum, 3:39
215 – Ethan Funk
The difference in the first round match for Funk with Austin Abbott was a takedown in the second period. That allowed the senior to advance to the ticket round, where he faced eventual champion Hartley Hoover of North Miami, who won by tech fall over Funk in his final career bout.
215-Ethan Funk d. Austin Abbott (Prairie Heights), 6-4
215-Hartley Hoover (North Miami) t.f. Ethan Funk, 19-3
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