Center Grove’s Courtney Reese, top, wrestles in the 120-pound final during Saturday’s sectional at Mooresville.
Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
MOORESVILLE
Jacob Johnson and Nate Johnson could finish the 2021-2022 wrestling season having faced each other a total of five times.
Odds are excellent that each installment would be a classic.
Saturday’s sectional at Mooresville concluded, fittingly, with Jacob Johnson, Franklin’s senior 285-pounder, needing to go to an ultimate tiebreaker to defeat Center Grove sophomore Nate Johnson, 5-2, in a dramatic championship match.
“It went all the way to an ultimate tiebreaker, which is the very last criteria,” a sweat-soaked Jacob Johnson said afterward. “They get choice of top or bottom, and he chose bottom. All he had to do is stand up and he wins, and I rode him out, so I got the win.
“He’s a great opponent. It’s the second time I’ve wrestled Nate this season. The other one was at county, and it went into overtime, and this one went all the way.”
Center Grove, which had eight wrestlers take home first-place medals, won the team title with 306 points. Franklin was second with 214 and Whiteland third with 155.5.
The Grizzly Cubs and Warriors each crowned two individual champions.
Center Grove’s dominance began with sophomore Charlie LaRocca winning the 106 class for a second consecutive year by pinning Martinsville’s Brennan Leonard.
“I wrestled him earlier in the year and pinned him in the second period,” said LaRocca after improving to 29-4 on the season with his third pin of the day. “I just had to stay on my offense. Stay on my attack. I want to get a state medal this year.”
Trojans sophomore Reese Courtney won at 120 pounds, followed by teammates Michael Tharpe (126), Wyatt Krejsa (132), Hayden Watson (145), Andre Merritt (152), Noah Clouser (170) and Drake Buchanan (182).
Franklin’s other sectional winner was senior Nolan Skaggs in the 220-pound weight class. He scored a 1-0 decision over Center Grove’s Royce Deckard, the latter being one of four Trojans wrestlers to place runner-up.
Standing atop the podium for Whiteland were juniors Keegan Grandinetti at 138 pounds and 195-pounder Sam Allen. Grandinetti’s performance is notable considering he placed seventh at sectional a year ago at 145, finishing the season 14-14.
He’s now 27-5 going into Saturday’s regional at Mooresville.
“It feels good. Better than seventh last year,” said Grandinetti, laughing. “The improvement is from practicing in the offseason, having Joey (Buttler) as my practice partner. A few weeks before sectional, I started believing this was possible.”
Grandinetti pinned Cascade senior Garrett Hicks in the title match; Allen later defeated Center Grove senior Bryce Crump, 5-1.
“I think this year (Grandinetti) is finally in the right weight class,” Whiteland coach Anthony Meister said. “He’s been putting in the work, had a great offseason with just a lot of hours on the mat. Last year, he knew he could’ve done better, and especially seeing Joey go to state, I think that rubbed off on a lot of kids.
“Now Keegan is finally in the right weight class, and it’s showing because he’s doing really well.”
The top four finishers in each division qualify for this weekend’s regional, meaning Center Grove will be represented in all 14 divisions. A dozen Grizzly Cubs and eight Warriors will also be in contention for berths in the following week’s semistate in Evansville.
Indian Creek participated in the Bloomington North Sectional on Saturday, with junior Jackson Heaston winning the 113-pound class and improving to 34-1 overall. Joining him at the Bloomington South Regional will be teammates Luke Neibert and Carson Volz, who were third at 106 and 170, respectively, and Jackson Neibert, who was fourth at 145.
