Lewis Cass junior Eli Grist wrestled his way to a sectional championship in the 132-pound weight class Saturday at the Peru Sectional.
Grist defeated opponents from Tippecanoe Valley and Huntington North by fall to advance to the championship match, where he defeated North Miami freshman Tyler Tacheny by 12-0 major decision. It was Grist’s first sectional title. He will take a 34-4 record and a No. 1 seed into next Saturday’s Peru Regional.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAlso advancing to the regional for the Kings were Dom Sebastian (144) and Brinxston Jones (165) with third-place finishes and Landen Adams (126) with a fourth-place finish.
The Kings placed sixth as a team. North Miami, which was the Class 1A state champion in the Team State Duals this year, won the sectional title.
TWIN LAKES SECTIONAL
Logansport junior Quintin McLeod won the sectional title in the 190-pound weight class.
McLeod won matches against opponents from Rensselaer and Frontier both by fall to win his first sectional championship. He will take a 26-1 record and No. 1 seed into next Saturday’s Logansport Regional.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Berries’ Logan Sutton (138) and Jackson Easter (215) also advance to the regional with fourth-place finishes.
Pioneer’s Chase Van Meter (157), Noah Van Meter (175) and Brady Price (215) all advanced to the regional with second-place finishes. Hunter Ward (120) placed third and Tyler Schnurpel (285) placed fourth to advance to the regional.
Pioneer placed third as a team behind Rensselaer and Benton Central. Logansport placed sixth.
PLYMOUTH SECTIONAL
Winamac junior Tearson Wolford was the sectional champion in the 215-pound weight class.
Wolford defeated opponents from North Judson, Culver and Rochester all by fall to win his second career sectional title. He will take a 35-2 record and No. 1 seed into next Saturday’s Penn Regional.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Warriors’ Hayden Taylor (138), Asher Jones (150) and Rian Shell (157) each placed second to advance to the regional. Justin Housinger (106), Charles Cottrell (144) and Broderick Reutebuch (165) each placed fourth to advance.
Caston did not have a wrestler advance.
Winamac placed fourth as a team behind Rochester, Warsaw and Bremen. Caston placed 10th.
CASS 45, LOGANSPORT 21
The Lady Kings (20-3) recorded their first 20-win regular season in program history with a win at the Berry Bowl.
Hope Rush scored nine points and Anna Hedrick had eight points and six steals to lead the Kings. Ava Hubner and Presley Johnson chipped in six points apiece and Aftin Griffin and Lexi Gotshall each scored four.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementGoldie Kitchell led the Berries with 12 points. Lily Clem added five.
Logan was within 22-16 at halftime and 31-20 after three before Cass outscored them 14-1 in the fourth.
Both teams drew byes at their upcoming sectionals and will play Friday. Cass awaits the Rochester-Manchester winner at Wabash and Logan awaits the Western-Twin Lakes winner at Western.
CASTON 51, DEMOTTE CHRISTIAN 44
Caston got back on the winning side of the ledger with a win over a possible sectional opponent at DeMotte.
Madi Douglass had 24 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Comets (10-12). Allison Craig added eight points and Grace Colvin and Adyson Steininger had six apiece.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementCassie Nanninga had 16 points and Mackenzie Bult had 11 to lead the Knights (7-13).
Caston plays North White (6-14) at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Class 1A North White Sectional.
WEST CENTRAL 30, PIONEER 27
Pioneer dropped a low scoring contest against visiting West Central.
Avery Haselby scored nine points to lead the Panthers. Liz Kennell had seven, Hannah Zeigler six and Lois Layer five. West Central held leading scorer Mia McKaig scoreless after her 30-point game at Winamac earlier in the week.
Makylah Holle led the Trojans with seven points.
Both teams compete at the North White Sectional on opposite sides of the bracket this week. Pioneer (8-15) plays North Newton (6-17) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. West Central (15-6) plays Tri-County (15-5) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementCASTON 47, TRI-COUNTY 44
Caston backed up its win over Pioneer with a win at possible sectional opponent Tri-County for a weekend sweep.
The Cavaliers (8-6) are the three-time defending sectional champions but the Comets (11-4) got the upper hand Saturday.
Logan Mollenkopf had 22 points and Lane Hook scored 14 to lead the Comets. Carson Harness added six and Gavin Mollenkopf chipped in five.
Tyler Burns and Drew Foster had nine apiece to lead Tri-County. Gabe Miller added seven.
“Another physical game for our guys. I thought they battled through contact all night and stayed the course in the midst of some scoring droughts,” Caston coach Carl Davis said. “Winning the rebound battle was huge for us. We needed them all. We have challenged the guys for weeks now on the boards and Gavin, Lane and Logan all had a double-digit rebound game this weekend. I’m not sure we’ve had three guys do that in a season in my time here let alone the same weekend.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“Not our best game by any means but a gritty team win. The guys found a way when it wasn’t their night in some regards and that’s what good teams do. We hit shots down the stretch in clutch moments and came up with an outstanding defensive possession to end it. Proud of the way they competed.”
Caston hosts North White Thursday night before hosting Class 1A No. 9 Triton Saturday afternoon for a battle of the two remaining unbeaten teams in HNAC play.
PIONEER 57, SOUTH NEWTON 48, OT
Pioneer outscored South Newton 13-4 in overtime to record a win in Kentland.
Shiloh Rine scored five of his game-high 19 points in overtime to lead the Panthers (3-11). Phillip McFatridge scored seven of his 16 points in OT. Gabe Scott added 14 points and Micah Rans had eight.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMatthew Armstrong scored 17 and Colton Marks scored 14 to lead the Rebels (7-11), who were coming off a 15-point win over Tri-County on Friday night.
“I thought it was a great win for us,” Pioneer coach Darren McKaig said. “South Newton has always been a tough place to play. Our guys are so mentally tough — to play as hard as we did tonight after being so drained from (Friday) night was really impressive. Rine and Scott were so impactful with them both having double-doubles.
“McFatridge really stepped up this game. His ball handling was very strong, and he went 10 of 13 from the free throw line to help finish out the game. Layer had an impressive moment diving on the ball near the end of the game. Rans is still our leader. He is so smooth with his ball handling. It is amazing that we know that there is somebody on the court that we can get the ball to and know it will be safe. Rans also hit two big 3s in the second half. Solano gave us some huge minutes. I believe that he was a big part of the reason we were able to turn the game around. Solano was able to play with the physicality that was needed to make some big plays.”
Pioneer travels to North Judson on Thursday.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementCASS SPLITS
Cass recorded a 56-54 win over Maconaquah on Friday night.
Trey Johnson scored 19 points to lead the Kings (9-5, 5-2 TRC). He hit 1 of 2 free throws in the closing seconds of regulation to force overtime and then scored eight of the Kings’ 10 points in the extra session.
Brennan Deeter added 17 points and Julian Levine was also in double figures with 11.
Jack Gochenour scored 27 and Levi Merritt added 13 to lead the Braves (2-12, 0-5).
“It was a tough, physical game,” Cass coach Eric Branz said. “I thought we did a good job handling Maconaquah’s press, but it took a while to adjust to their halfcourt defense. Our turnovers gave Maconaquah the opportunity to score in transition. Julian did a great job scoring for us in the paint early in the game.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMac led 17-9 after one and 24-18 at halftime.
“We were able to cut their lead to three before they hit a 3 at the buzzer,” Branz said.
Cass came back to tie the game at 34 after three and 44 at the end of regulation.
“The majority of the third quarter was a struggle and we lacked focus,” Branz said. “The last couple minutes we were able to regain our composure and went on a run to tie up the game going into the fourth quarter.
“Trey and Brennan took over the last couple minutes of the third through the end of the game. They made winning plays and shots. We shot very well from the free throw line which helped keep the game tied on regulation and then win it in OT.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementCass shot 18 of 22 from the line (82%) for the game.
Kokomo was too much for Cass as the Wildkats recorded a 75-40 win in Walton Saturday night.
Deeter had 12 points, Johnson had 11 and Jaxon Lutane chipped in eight for Cass.
Korbyn Hammel scored 26 to lead four Wildkats (12-5) in double figures.
Cass travels to Wabash on Thursday.
PLYMOUTH INVITE
The Lady Berries traveled to Plymouth for an invitational.
The Logansport Red team consisting of Jentry Strong, Tiara Lincoln, Bella Walker and Rylee Zimmerman finished in seventh place out of 11 teams with a score of 83.1.
Strong scored an all-around of 26.45. She had her season high on the vault with an 8.35. Lincoln finished in the all-around with a score of 27.25. Walker scored a season high on beam with a 7.35 and finished with a score of 28.85. Zimmerman competed on the vault today and scored an 8.55.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Logansport White team consisted of Chloe Wicker, Amilia Zaragoza, Lucy Gordon, Adrienne Scott and Reese Rennewanz. Wicker scored her season highs on both of her events (bars 4.05, beam 6.4). Zaragoza tied her career high on the vault with an 8.2. Gordon scored an 8.25 on the vault and a 7.7 on the floor. Rennewanz scored a 6.9 on the beam, 7.5 on vault and a 6.85 on the floor. Scott competed in the all-around for the first time and finished with a score of 28.55. She competed floor for the first time in her career and scored a 7.4. She had a career high on beam with a 6.8.
“All together we had a good meet,” Logan coach Jaime Descoteaux said. “I am excited to have the whole team back together again next week and see what we can do.”
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