Center Grove put on a dominating display Saturday at the Johnson County tournament.
The third-ranked Trojans were never seriously challenged as they rang up their fourth straight championship.
And in a new location.
For only the second time in more than 20 years, the tournament was in a place other than Indian Creek as Greenwood received the nod to host. The event was held inside Center Grove’s West Gymnasium in 2020.
It didn’t matter on Saturday as Center Grove asserted itself as not only the best in Johnson County, but quite possibly the state come February.
Trojans coach Maurice Swain is letting his team do the talking on the mat.
“We wrestled well, and had some good individual matches (today),” Swain said. “We had some guys that had to step up today, but win or lose, they competed. As far as winning the state, I think we have a shot to be the team to win. We have a good dual-meet team, and for individual competition.
“We’ll be in contention.”
Even with Center Grove’s dominance, it was still an entertaining meet as 19 wrestlers competing were ranked in their respective weight classes, guaranteeing some close matches.
Secondly, the other teams were battling it out as evidenced by the Franklin-Whiteland match, which was a convincing 46-18 win for the Warriors.
Also, Indian Creek came from behind to take a 48-36 win over the hosts in a tough battle.
Individually, the Trojans were superior, taking 11 of the 14 weight classes.
Winning titles for Center Grove were freshman Justus Thrasher (106), junior Charlie LaRocca (113), sophomore Eddie Goss (120), senior Hyatt Yeager (126), junior Reese Courtney (138), sophomore Silas Stits (152), senior Andre Merritt (160) and juniors Noah Clouser (170), Kaden McConnell (195), Nate Johnson (220) and Tyler Schott (285).
Johnson was named the wrestler of the meet.
Ranked sixth in the state at 220, he had four pins, and all of them in less 30 seconds. None of Johnson’s pins would have equaled a match in its entirety.
Counting Johnson’s four falls, the Trojans had a remarkable 30 pins in their four matches.
Center Grove’s toughest match was against Whiteland, but the Trojans still romped, 56-17. The Trojans then beat Greenwood 75-6, Indian Creek 70-6 and Franklin, 57-13.
Whiteland took second with a 3-1 mark, followed by Franklin at 2-2 and Indian Creek at 1-3.
The host Woodmen didn’t win a match.
However, they did win two of weight classes with junior Ayden Harter winning the 132-pound class, and senior teammate Gavin Rice taking the 145 division with three pins and a decision.
State ranked Sam Allen was Whiteland’s lone champion, taking the 182 crown. Allen is ranked 15th in his weight class.
