{"id":32851,"date":"2026-02-01T20:50:56","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T01:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=32851"},"modified":"2026-02-03T06:47:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T11:47:36","slug":"braves-dominate-jay-sectional-for-48th-title-with-14-advancing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/01\/braves-dominate-jay-sectional-for-48th-title-with-14-advancing\/","title":{"rendered":"Braves dominate Jay sectional for 48th title with 14 advancing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DANE FUELLING<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WZBD.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PORTLAND – Wrestling coaches and fans can sometimes be a greedy bunch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Xavior Palacios delivered a first-period fall in the final to wrap up another sectional title. (Photo by Kristen Kaehr)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Saturday was not the day to be greedy for the Bellmont Braves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Z Team wraps up the sectional for WZBD. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“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.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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New storefront open in Decatur!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“It was definitely a great day,” noted coach Myers. “This is a very special group to be around.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bellmont head coach Tim Myers gives his son and his 144 pound sectional champion a hug to round out the day Saturday. (Photo by Kristen Kaehr)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Manley came back to beat Sibray for third place by a big margin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Blake Christner rides out his man in overtime for a key victory in the quarterfinals. (Photo by Dane Fuelling)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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