Franklin wrestlers pick up sectional title

<p>MOORESVILLE</p><p>Franklin wrestling coach Bob Hasseman didn’t think his Saturday would include celebrating the program’s first sectional team title in five years.</p><p>He’s never been so happy to be wrong.</p><p>The Grizzly Cubs qualified 11 wrestlers for the upcoming Mooresville Regional, and eked out a half-point victory over runner-up Center Grove.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery<p>Franklin finished with 225 points to the Trojans’ 224.5. Greenwood wound up fourth with 124.5 points.</p><p>“We seeded pretty good, but to be as young as we are, I didn’t want to get my hopes up,” Hasseman said. “It was exciting. A great team effort. I talk about (team) a lot, but until it happens … I thought they handled themselves really well.</p><p>Three Cubs picked up individual titles — Tyler Fuqua at 132 pounds, 145-pounder Ethan Nash and Jalen Ward at 170. Four of their teammates were runner-ups in their respective weight classes. All of Franklin’s regional qualifiers are underclassmen, led by a strong sophomore group of six.</p><p>One of the sophs, Fuqua, knows the stakes go up this time of year.</p><p>“I definitely have to prepare for it, like I had to prepare all year, because postseason is really the most important time,” said Fuqua, who upped his season record to 27-6 by pinning Decatur Central’s Mark Everman in the final. “It’s definitely more nerve-wracking, but you try not to focus on it because you want to wrestle as good as you can.”</p><p>Nash, a junior, and Ward, a sophomore, take records of 20-12 and 20-13, respectively, into regional competition.</p><p>Center Grove qualified nine wrestlers, including four sectional titlists. The Trojans won the first three finals — freshman Michael Tharpe at 106, classmate Hayden Watson at 113 and junior Brayden Littell at 120. The team’s other blue ribbon was won by senior Peyton Pruett at 160.</p><p>Littell, now 33-0 and ranked first in the state, knows the bulls-eye he wears every time he takes the mat.</p><p>“It’s kind of fun. It’s weird seeing how people switch up their wrestling just to wrestle me,” Littell said. “They’ll change their style of wrestling for that match.”</p><p>Tharpe pinned Franklin’s Garrett Mills in his first sectional championship match to improve his season mark to 24-8.</p><p>“It didn’t even reach my mind until after county,” said Tharpe of the possibility of being a sectional champ. “I wrestled against (Mills) at county and won, 6-1, but he was wrestling tough today and I was just lucky I won. It feels amazing. This is my third year wrestling, and I didn’t expect to win this at all.”</p><p>Greenwood qualified seven wrestlers for regional, including senior Nick Willham, a sectional winner at 195. Representing Whiteland will be four qualifiers, led by 152-pound sectional champ Kole Hughes, a junior.</p><p>Besides Franklin and Center Grove, the Mooresville Regional includes individual qualifiers from Hendricks County powerhouses Brownsburg and Avon. Hasseman would love all 11 of his wrestlers to make it through another round, but knows it’s probably not realistic.</p><p>“We’ll have to wrestle well to maybe get three or four guys to semistate,” he said. “Brownsburg, Avon, Plainfield, and Center Grove has some really good talent, too. Our regional is that good.”</p>