JEFFERSONVILLE — Agony and ecstasy are always an equal distance away during a wrestling match, but local teams and individuals mostly grasped the latter on Saturday afternoon at the Jeffersonville Regional at Johnson Arena.

As expected, Floyd Central senior Cooper Samuels continued his march toward a second straight state championship, winning the 171-pound weight class with a hard-fought 6-2 decision over New Albany’s J.T. Jenkins, the defending champion in the class.

Samuels (39-0), however, got to experience some the agony as well, even with his fifth win over Jenkins (33-6).

“I was disappointed with my performance,” said Samuels, the state champ

at 160 last season. “I was not aggressive the whole match like I normally am. It’s good that I get a bye at semistate, but I expect to win. I also expect a better performance.”

While Samuels grappled with his emotions, his teammates, fresh off winning

the Jasper team regional on Wednesday, were earning their own tickets to the individual semistate. The top three finishers in each class advanced to

Saturday’s meet at Evansville Reitz.

Floyd junior Elijah Hagler was third at 112 to become the first Highlander

to move on, while he was quickly joined by Eric Luckett, also third at 125

— a bracket that was dominated by local grapplers, with New Albany’s Nick

Oxley beating Charlestown’s Jeff Stotridge in the final, 6-2.

Jeremiah Faulkenberg became Floyd’s first individual champion, winning a

5-2 decision overt Jasper’s Cameron Betz in the 125 final. Garrett Blackman nearly joined him, but fell to unbeaten New Albany star Ivan Rodriguez in the final bout of the 145 class.

Tyler Alvey also claimed the 160 championship for the Highlanders.

“Right now, the important thing is to qualify (for semistate),” said Floyd Central coach Rob Willman. “We could have wrestled better, but we’ll regroup and I think we’ll do well.”

The team semistate will take place on Wednesday, perhaps giving Floyd a leg up when the individuals take the stage on Saturday.

“We’re looking forward to going to Castle (for the team semistate),”

Willman said. “We’ll have some intense battles, but does it hurt to wrestle a team like (Evansville) Mater Dei on Wednesday? Probably not.”

One of the more intriguing angles of the afternoon was the dominance of the

schools that comprise the Jeffersonville Sectional. Thought to be one of

the top fields in the state, that fact was proven when 31 of the 42 wrestlers that advanced in the state tourney came from the local sectional, including 21 of the 28 finalists.

“Our sectional has dominated the regional,” said Charlestown assistant

coach Kevin Zollman. “It just shows how good our sectional is.”

The Pirates were “ecstatic,” according to coach Tom Kendrick, after getting two regional championships for the first time since 1990. Eddie Duran

won the 119 bracket by beating Pike Central’s David Bates by a 3-1 decision in overtime. Aaron May also needed an extra period in his win over South

ridge’s Brad Kramer at 135.

“Anytime you win a regional, that’s a big accomplishment,” Kendrick said. “To do it in overtime is a huge accomplishment. Today, we wrestled the way we were coached and didn’t make mistakes.”

There was no mistaking the accomplishments of New Albany’s Rodriguez, who

improved to 40-0 and took the next step in accomplishing his dream of a state title. The senior recently slipped to No. 9 in the state rankings, but

maintains that advancing is the only thing on his mind.

“The rankings don’t mean much,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter what my record is. I just want to get to state. I could even take a loss

in the semistate and still make it.”

Rodriguez wasn’t the only Bulldog to capture a title, as he was joined by Brent Kaelin (152) and Oxley on the top of the medal stand.

Tim Martin was third at 119 and Kirk Moore second at 130, after losing to Providence’s Omar Salguero in the final.

“As a coach, you always want more,” said New Albany coach Eric Burres. “We lost some close battles. But every week, you start over and everyone is 0-0. We’ll go back to the drawing board. We saw a lot of things today and we’ll go back to practice and starting working on them this week.”

The host Red Devils got a nice individual milestone when senior Dominique Smith, who had only six wins as a freshman, advanced by finishing third at 135. He improved to 38-18 on the year and helped his family reach the 200-win mark.

“When I was a freshman, I saw coach (Danny) Struck in the hallway and he asked me to wrestle,” Smith said. “He pushed me a lot and I finally reached my goals.”

Curtis Smith did his part in winning Jeff’s only individual title at 103, pinning Jasper’s Kaleb Chambers in the final. Other than that, the Devils struggled in finals, going 0-4 after Smith’s win. Still, Jon Clark (285), Richard Hayes (215), Tyler Tatgenhortst (189) and Caleb Browner (152) will compete in Evansville. Alex Bailey also advanced by ending up third at 140.

“That’s the most Jeff has ever had, so we have to be happy that the program is going up,” Struck said. “We had two sophomores and three juniors qualify for semistate, so we’re very excited for next year as well.”

Providence got to experience plenty of ecstasy as well, advancing seven to Evansville, including champions in Salguero and Ethan Cook, who won a narrow 6-4 decision over Tatgenhorst in the 189 final.

Kevin Mooney was second at 112, while Cody Davidson, Carl Schenck, Adam Mattingly and Jacob Golembeski also advanced by winning third-place matches.



JEFFERSONVILLE REGIONAL

(Top three in each weight class advance to Evansville Reitz Semistate)

Teams — Southridge (SR), Vincennes (VL), Pike Central (PC), Charlestown (CH), Forest Park (FP), North Knox (NK), Jasper (JA), Floyd Central (FC), Jeffersonville (JE), New Albany (NA), Providence (PR), Pekin Eastern (EA), Salem (SA), Corydon (CO).

103: 1. C. Smith (JE); 2. Chambers (JA); 3. Kendle (PC); 4. Olinger (FP).

112: 1. Hutchinson (EA); 2. Mooney (PR); 3. Hagler (FC); 4. Byrer (NK).

119: 1. Duran (CH); 2. Bates (PC); 3. Martin (NA); 4. Snyder (SA).

125: 1. Oxley (NA); 2. Stotridge (NA); 3. Luckett (FC); 4. EADS (CO).

130: 1. Salguero (PR); 2. Moore (NA); 3. Varner (JA); 4. Hatfeild (VL).

135: 1. May (CH); 2. Kramer (SR); 3. D. Smith (JE); 4. Boeglin (FP).

140: 1. Faulkenberg (FC); 2. Betz (JA); 3. Bailey (JE); 4. Forbis (NA).

145: 1. Rodriguez (NA); 2. Blackman (FC); 3. Golembeski (PR); 4. Horall (NK).

152: 1. Kaelin (NA); 2. Browner (JE); 3. Steckler (SR); 4. Hessig (FP).

160: 1. Alvey (FC); 2. Stetter (SR); 3. Davidson (PR); 4. Rasche (JA).

171: 1. Samuels (FC); 2. Jenkins (NA); 3. Mattingly (PR); 4. Varner (JA).

189: 1. Cook (PR); 2. Tatgenhorst (VL); 3. McGowan (VL); 4. Rossi (NK).

215: 1. Steinhart (JA); 2. Hayes (JE); 3. Schenck (PR); 4. Scott (FC).

285: 1. Hopf (FP); 2. Clark (JE); 3. Anderson (CO); 4. Spurgeon (SA).