Evansville Mater Dei might not be as dominant of a high school wrestling powerhouse as it once was when it won 11 state championships from 1995-2007 and 12 overall.

But the program is still awful strong and Jeffersonville head coach Danny Struck is well aware of that. At 6:30 tonight, the No. 15 Red Devils and the No. 7 Wildcats will square off in the semifinals of the Jasper Team Regional. Both squads advanced to the regional last Saturday by winning their respective sectionals.

“Mater Dei may not be as strong as they had been before. But they are still a top-five team in the state, year-in and year-out,” Struck said about the Wildcats, whose last state title came in 2007. “I would hope some day our ‘down’ years will be as good as their ‘down years.’ They have a great coach, Greg Schaefer, that is a two-time state champion and just an outstanding person. He is good for the kids. He will have them ready to go.”Tonight’s semifinal will be the second time Jeff and Mater Dei have met in a dual meet this season. Despite putting up a great fight on Dec. 12, Jeff lost to the Wildcats at the Jasper Invitational, 38-16.

Mater Dei will not be the only formidable team at the regional. No. 5 Castle will face Jasper in the other 6:30 p.m. semifinal, followed by the championship at approximately 8 p.m. Jeff lost in the team regional final last year to the Knights, 30-16.

Along with facing Mater Dei, the Red Devils also had dual meets with Castle and Jasper in the Jasper Invite. Jeff suffered a narrow loss to Castle, but easily beat Jasper.

This is the second straight year of the new regional format, which includes only sectional champions in the field unlike in the past when the top two teams from a sectional earned regional berths.

As a result, the Castle and Evansville sectional champions fed into the Jasper Regional. That made the regional tougher because of the strength of the programs in the Evansville area.

But the more formidable competition has not dampened the Red Devils’ confidence one bit.

“It is going to be tough, but we get closer every year,” said Struck, whose program will be making its fifth consecutive regional appearance. “When they realigned the regional last year, it became a lot tougher to win. Mater Dei and Castle had never been in this regional before. We have wrestled both of these teams earlier this season and they were very competitive dual meets. In each dual meet that we wrestled with them this year, most matches were decided by one point or in overtime. We have a good chance of getting through this if our kids do all the little things right.”

Struck thinks the past experience in the regional and other competitions will be beneficial for the Red Devils, who have never won a regional despite reaching the championship match the past two seasons.

“Our experience is helping us and growing each year,” Struck said. “Years ago, our kids were nervous wrestling teams like Mater Dei, Castle and Jasper, all teams with great history. But now as our younger kids keep getting to high school, they have wrestled these teams in our elementary leagues, our middle school trips and at the high school level. We wrestle these teams in season as well as other state power teams from four different states. Our kids’ level of confidence grows every time we do this.”

The Red Devils should have momentum on their side after winning an unprecedented second consecutive sectional championship last Saturday. Jeff had eight individual sectional champions, who were Alonzo Shepherd (103 pounds), Curtis Smith (112), Devon Miller (119), Renaldo Weekley (135), Brandon Marlin (160), Caleb Browner (171), Nelson Bowen (189) and Jimmy Pratt (215).

Tonight’s regional champion will advance to the eight-time IHSAA State Finals on Feb. 27 at Center Grove High School.



JEFF INDIVIDUAL REGIONAL

The following is the area wrestlers who are scheduled to compete in the Jeffersonville Individual Regional at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday at Johnson Arena. Each wrestler’s weight class and record are in parentheses.

The top four grapplers in each weight class will qualify for the Evansville Reitz Semistate on Saturday, Feb. 13 at Roberts Stadium.

• CHARLESTOWN: Bryan Lowery (112, 8-4); Justin Wolf (119, 21-10); Jason Beevers (135, 14-17); Taylor Newcomb (140, 26-6); Cory Suddeth (145, 16-6); Mark Daugherty (152, 19-5); Jacob Hall (160, 25-11); Ethan Bowen (171, 19-11); David Enteman (189, 15-14); John Slaten (285, 27-11)

• CHRISTIAN ACADEMY OF INDIANA: Cory Neel (125, 19-7); Levi Speth (152, 17-10)

• FLOYD CENTRAL: Caleb Happel (103, 27-7); Zach Thomas (112, 21-15); Aaron Witt (130, 29-5); Tom Denny (135, 24-7); Drew Denny (140, 29-8); Ben Moberly (145, 32-2); Eric Foster (152, 19-15); Shane Sneed (160, 24-13); Jacob Faulkenburg (171, 14-8); Andrew Sharp (215, 21-14)

• JEFF: Alonzo Shepherd (103, 39-4); Curtis Smith (112, 37-8); Devon Miller (119, 39-4); Kevin Castro (125, 28-20); Sean Simpson (130, 31-14); Renaldo Weekley (135, 39-5); Tre Harbin (140, 25-20); Damon Dryden (145, 21-22); Brandon Marlin (160, 31-14); Caleb Browner (171, 43-1); Nelson Bowen (189, 25-11); Jimmy Pratt (215, 33-9); Elijah Curtlay (285, 25-12)

• NEW ALBANY: Joshua Coomer (103, 21-10); Austin Jamison (112, 25-14); Tre Marler (125, 23-10); Tim Martin (130, 32-5); Larry Rickman (140, 35-3); Matthew O’Connell (160, 23-18); Zack Faith (189, 21-13); Cody Leasor (215, 17-20); Taylor Hoke (285, 33-6)

• NEW WASHINGTON: Brady Meenach (119, 22-16); Lane Massingham (135, 35-6); Josh Sampson (145, 39-0)

• PROVIDENCE: Brennen Gregory (119, 16-22); Jacob Golembeski (152, 31-5); Joey Libretto (189, 22-7)



REGIONAL TIDBITS

• The area’s returning regional champions from last year are the following: Alonzo Shepherd (Jeff), Curtis Smith (Jeff), Ben Moberly (Floyd Central), Josh Sampson (New Washington), Caleb Browner (Jeff).

• Sampson is the only area wrestler in the field sporting an undefeated record.

• For the first in its three-year existence, the Christian Academy of Indiana wrestling program has at least one wrestler competing at regional. Two Warriors will compete at Jeff on Saturday in Cory Neel and Levi Speth.