JEFFERSONVILLE — Floyd Central’s 10-year run as reigning IHSAA sectional wrestling champions ended Saturday at William S. Johnson Arena, as Jeffersonville captured the crown in a narrow victory that wasn’t decided until the final match of the day.

The Red Devils finished with 256 points, four better than Floyd Central’s 252. Both squads will advance to Wednesday’s team regional at Jasper.

Jeffersonville’s John Clark pinned Salem’s Alan Spurgeon in the second period of the 285-pound third-place matchup to secure the win for the Red Devils, who won their first sectional championship since 1992.

“A lot of our kids wrestle nearly 365 days a year,” Jeffersonville coach Danny Struck said. “The kids did awesome and I’m happy for them. This is what I like to do, coach wrestling, and it makes it easy when you have such a great group of kids.”

Jeffersonville’s effort was buoyed by wins from junior Austin Copeland (152), who outpointed Floyd Central’s Tyler Alvey 3-1 in the championship round, and senior Justin Cunningham (189), who defeated Floyd Central’s Morton Scott 5-2 to capture first place. Both wins were crucial in keeping Floyd Central away from the top spot.

“I didn’t pin the kid I was wrestling, which made me mad because I always want to beat Floyd Central,” Cunningham said. “Floyd Central has won so many years in a row you start out trying to win the matches for yourself. But when I heard it was that close, I didn’t even care if I did it for myself anymore. I wanted to get the win for the team.”

Floyd Central coach Rob Willman noted that he was without three of his top grapplers due to illness or injury on Saturday — Drew Denny (103), Eric Luckett (119) and Jeremiah Faulkenberg (130).

Willman said he hopes to get all three back in time for Wednesday’s regional, but still feels as if the Highlanders can advance even if they’re not suited up.

“If we can get those guys back, that will change things. But even if we don’t, I think we still have a chance,” Willman said. “I don’t think we fall off that much.”

Willman said he was “disappointed for our kids.”

“I don’t think it was a lack of effort on our part, and that’s what makes it disappointing,” he said.

Still, Floyd Central notched three championship wins — Jake Missi (135), Brach Hollis (140), and Cooper Samuels (160).

Perhaps the bitterest pill Saturday was swallowed by Providence, who despite having four sectional champions finished just three points out of second place and a regional berth with 249 points.

Winning for Providence were Kevin Mooney (112), Omar Salguero (119), Carl Schenck (215) and Eean Huffman (285).

“We performed to our capabilities today,” Providence coach Phil Cook said. “We wrestled a lot of better than we have been doing. We had two good weeks of practice coming up to this.”

New Albany finished in fourth place with 220 1/2 points and also had four sectional champions — Nick Oxley (125), Kyle Hall (130), Ivan Rodriguez (145) and J.T. Jenkins (171).

Charlestown’s lone win of the afternoon came in the first match, when Brandon Balmer outpointed Jeffersonville’s Curtis Smith 7-2 in the 103-pound championship.

The top four wrestlers in each division advanced to next Saturday’s Jeff Individual Regional.



JEFFERSONVILLE SECTIONAL

Team scores — Jeffersonville 256, Floyd Central 252, Providence 249, New Albany 220 1/2, Charlestown 167 1/2, Corydon 103, Salem 32, New Washington 32, Pekin Eastern 16.

Championship results:

103 — Balmer (CH) dec. C. Smith (J), 7-2.

112 — Mooney (P) pin Witt (F), :46.

119 — Salguero (P) dec. Duran (CH), 4-2.

125 — Oxley (N) dec. Stotridge (CH), 12-6.

130 — Hall (N) dec. D. Smith (J), 6-3.

135 — Missi (F) dec. Bailey (J), 19-6.

140 — Hollis (F) dec. Woodrome (NA), 2-1.

145 — Rodriguez (N) pin Hendricks (J), 2:42.

152 — Copeland (J) dec. Alvey (F), 3-1.

160 — Samuels (F) pin Peters (N), 4:35.

171 — Jenkins (N) dec. Cook (P), 5-4.

189 — Cunningham (J) dec. Scott (FC), 5-2.

215 — Schenck (P) dec. Traver (CH), 4-3.

285 — Huffman (P) pin Anderson (CO), 3:26.