Indian Creek coach Pat Dowty, left, yells instructions to one of his wrestlers during the Johnson County tournament in December.
Rob Baker | For the Daily Journal
Indian Creek used to be the one county wrestling team that didn’t spend the first two Saturdays of the postseason inside the Mooresville High School gymnasium.
Now the Braves have company.
The offseason redistricting conducted by the Indiana High School Athletic Association now has Indian Creek and Franklin competing in the 13-team sectional at Jennings County.
From that point, the bus rides south only get longer and more time-consuming.
Regional qualifiers from the Braves and Grizzly Cubs will compete at Jeffersonville. Both the semistate and state finals this year play out inside the spacious Ford Center in Evansville (Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis is hosting the NBA All-Star Game the weekend of state).
Franklin coach Jim Tonte is quick to educate those who believe his squad caught a break.
“The Mooresville Regional is brutal, but the Jennings County Sectional is way, way better than everyone gives it credit for,” Tonte said. “I’ll put it this way. My son Corinthian would probably be seeded third (at 157 pounds) at the Mooresville Sectional, and might be seeded fourth or fifth at Jennings County.
“And there are some other weight classes just like that.”
No top-20 teams feed into sectionals at Jennings County and Jeffersonville, which would appear to bode well for the two Johnson County teams. But Columbus East and Columbus North, programs with rich histories of their own and a combined 35 team sectional titles, are also at Jennings County. Teams such as the host Panthers, Scottsburg and Switzerland County also feature promising young talent, according to Tonte.
Evansville is almost always hailed as the most difficult of the four semistate sites. That hasn’t changed.
“We don’t have a choice in the matter. Those are the cards you’re dealt, so you just deal with it,” Indian Creek coach Pat Dowty said. “It’s unfortunate, because honestly there are places where there are byes all the way to semistate.
“Our sectional, it didn’t matter if you went to Bloomington North or Jennings County, it’s a tough sectional. It’s just crazy how many great teams are in the Evansville Semistate. There are a lot of times you see the top four kids at semistate be the top four kids at state.”
Brownsburg and Center Grove, the state’s No. 1 and 3 teams, respectively, according to the Indianamat.com power poll, all will be part of the Evansville Semistate. So too will Avon (seventh), Evansville Mater Dei (eighth), Floyd Central (ninth) and many other squads capable of sending individual qualifiers to state.
The realignment also potentially puts Grizzly Cub and Brave wrestlers on the same mat for a third time this season. The teams competed at both the Johnson County meet Dec. 16 and then the Evansville Mater Dei Holiday Classic Dec. 28-29.
“Because we wrestle Franklin so much, I would rather not see them at sectional or regional,” Dowty said. “There’s a chance you could wrestle a Franklin kid six times in one season. It’s good if you’re the underdog, but if you’re winning, it’s tough.”
Tonte, who sees the outstanding young talent both programs currently feature at the middle school and elementary levels, takes a different stance.
“I’m fine with it. Pat has this good group coming up too,” Tonte said. “I truly believe that the Jennings County Sectional is going to be the new Mooresville Sectional.”
Might as well get started now.
IF YOU GO
Mooresville Sectional
When: Saturday, 9 a.m.
Teams: Center Grove, Greenwood, Whiteland, Cascade, Cloverdale, Decatur Central, Eminence, Martinsville, Monrovia, Mooresville
Jennings County Sectional
When: Saturday, 9 a.m.
Teams: Franklin, Indian Creek, Columbus East, Columbus North, Eastern (Pekin), Jennings County, Madison, Salem, Scottsburg, Seymour, Southwestern (Hanover), Switzerland County, West Washington
Admission: $7 per person at all sites; children 5 years or younger admitted free
Advancement: The top four finishers in each weight class advance to the regional.
