By Hunter Tickel | For the Daily Journal
JASPER
Unbeatens Drake Buchanan of Center Grove and Gabe Sollars of Evansville Mater Dei squared off in the 182-pounds title bout in what was a potential state title match rehearsal.
“It’s highly possible,” third-year Center Grove coach Maurice Swain said. “Obviously, it was the No. 1 and 2 ranked guys; they got out there and let it fly. Between the two of those guys, nobody held anything back.”
No. 3 Sollars handed top-ranked Buchanan his first loss of the season in a match that went back and forth early as they sized up one another.
Sollars grasped momentum against Buchanan by posting a takedown and an escape, then finishing off the match with a pin with 19 seconds left in the second period.
“He was squaring up and keeping my head trapped on my shots,” Buchanan said. “It was making it difficult to finish on.”
Buchanan started the day with a pin, earned a 20-8 win in the quarters and advanced out of the semis on an injury forfeit to return to next weekend’s state finals at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Throughout the day, he let his opponent escape before going to work with both wrestlers upright.
“Just got to wear him down,” Buchanan said. “It makes them more tired and I get to work from neutral.”
Buchanan was one of 21 Johnson County wrestlers from Franklin, Whiteland, Indian Creek and Center Grove who descended on Jasper for the semistate. Ten of them earned the right to continue on to the season’s final weekend.
The Trojans had nine grapplers contesting in the meet, and four advanced to next weekend, including No. 3 Hayden Watson, who finished runner-up at 145 pounds.
Watson had a pin with 54 seconds left in the first period of his opener, and then narrowly escaped in the quarterfinals, 4-2.
That match was knotted at 2-2 when Watson secured a clutch takedown in the final minute to book his ticket to Indianapolis.
“That was a big moment because I’ve wrestled Ashton (Hayhurst of Mater Dei) many times and it’s always a close match,” Watson said. “It’s always a dog fight. I saw an opportunity, and I took it.”
Third at state last year, Watson got through to the semistate final with a 5-2 win.
In a 4-1 championship loss, he was taken down before escaping on a restart, but closed the match by allowing an escape and then getting called for a penalty for applying force to his headlock.
The other two Trojans to secure places in next weekend’s bout were freshman Reese Courtney at 113 pounds and junior Michael Tharpe at 126.
Of the three Whiteland competitors at the meet, 113-pounder Joey Buttler was the lone survivor.
After falling one win short of state last year, Buttler bounced back with a pin with 37 seconds left in the first round and won his quarterfinal 7-4 before a narrow defeat to sophomore Coy Hammack of Tell City, 6-5.
Buttler won his consolation match against Courtney, 5-3.
Franklin claimed an area-high five state slots from among is seven competitors. At 126 pounds, senior Jacob Bechert came in third, after winning his first two matches 17-8 and 5-1.
No. 3 Tyler Fuqua (170) advanced past the quarterfinal hurdle that tripped him up last year with a pin with 30 seconds left in the second. He was joined by senior No. 6 Harris Eason (195), junior Nolan Skaggs (220) and heavyweight junior Jacob Johnson.
Five other county wrestlers fell short in the ticket round, including a pair at 106 pounds, where Center Grove’s Charlie LaRocca took a 3-2 loss and Indian Creek’s Jackson Heaston dropped a 5-1 decision.
The Trojans’ Riley Rust lost a 7-3 battle at 152 pounds, Franklin’s Jalen Ward fell to Sollars in a 6-0 decision at 182 and Whiteland’s Jakarrey Oliver was defeated by Kelton Farmer of Evansville Reitz.
Roncalli advanced two wrestlers out of the New Castle Semistate. Bryce Lowery was the runner-up at 126 pounds, and Sam Peeples finished third at 182.
