Wrestling: Southmont Pulls of Shocker at North Montgomery Regional

By Eric Eaton
Staff Writer

Crawfordsville – It was quite a night for the Southmont Wrestling team on January 30th at the North Montgomery Team Regional as it defeated two schools with substantially larger enrollments to win the championship.

Click here to watch of all of our video coverage from the event!

For starters the Mounties knocked off 11th-ranked Carmel in the semifinals 30-28, ending the Greyhounds run of five straight regional championships. Carmel is the state’s second largest school with an enrollment of roughly 4000 students. The student enrollment at Southmont on the other hand is approximately 625, which ranks 183rd in the state.

Then in the championship match, the Mounties edged another team from Hamilton County in Westfield, 35-33, giving Southmont its first regional championship in wrestling since 2001. Westfield is the 70th largest school in the state with an enrollment of just over 1400 students.

Championship match recap: Southmont 35, Westfield 33

The competition began at 112 lbs. and Westfield recorded both a pin and a tech fall in two of the first three bouts to grab an early 11-4 lead.

However, Southmont caught-fire beginning with the 130 lb. weight class. Travis Haslam scored a 2-1 decision at 130 lbs, to trigger a stretch of five straight wins for the Mounties. Jake Moore recorded the fifth consecutive win by major decision at 152 lbs., giving Southmont a 28-11 lead.

Westfield’s 7th ranked 160-pounder in R.V. Peter, put a brief halt to the Southmont surge with a major decision victory, making the score 28-15 in favor of the Mounties.

Southmont though would start another two bout winning streak at 171 lbs. to close out the Shamrocks.

Derrek Day’s 4-2 decision at 171 lbs. gave the Mounties a 31-15 advantage. Then, Nick Hodges scored a major decision victory at 189 lbs. to clinch the championship for Southmont.

There were still three matches remaining, but not enough points remained for Westfield to overcome its 20-point deficit, 35-15. The Shamrocks got pins in all three of those bouts, to make the final score 35-33.

“We won every match that we thought we could win,” said Westfield coach Terry O’Neill. “Then there were what I would consider three or four swing weight classes. You know we lose by a point at 130, two to one, and then when we get pinned at 35, teched at 40 and pinned at 145. Those bonus points were what the difference was, simple as that. It’s heartbreaking, we were right there.”

With the win Southmont advances to the Lawrence North Semistate on February 6th to wrestle the host Wildcats, who are the 10th ranked team in the state.

Southmont/Westfield Individual Results (the competition began at 112 lbs.)
Wt Class    Wrestler    School        Wrestler    School    Match Result
112 lbs.    Brady White    WF    Def.    Steven Simpson    SM    Fall 3:28
6-0 WF
119 lbs.    Nathaniel Borden    SM    Def.    Will Mueller    WF    Maj. Dec. 10-2
6-4 WF
125 lbs.    John Floor    WF    Def.    Jeremiah Anderson    NM    Tech-Fall 4:30
11-4 WF
130 lbs.    Travis Haslam    SM    Def.    Tyler Smith     WF    Decision 2-1
11-7 WF
135 lbs.    Nathan Whitlow    SM    Def.    Ben Cole    WF    Fall 1:14
13-11 SM
140 lbs.    Chris VanCleave    SM    Def.    Andy McColgin    WF    Tech-Fall 4:00
18-11 SM
145 lbs.    Ryan Chism    SM    Def.    Cameron Witt    WF    Fall 4:20
24-11 SM
152 lbs.    Jake Moore    SM    Def.    Austin Kane    WF    Maj. Dec. 12-2
28-11 SM
160 lbs.    RV Peter    WF    Def.    Aaron Cravens    SM    Maj. Dec. 14-5
28-15 SM
171 lbs.    Derrek Day    SM    Def.    JD Purdie    WF    Decision 4-2
31-15 SM
189 lbs.    Nick Hodges    SM    Def.    Robert Melby    WF    Maj. Dec. 11-2
35-15 SM
215 lbs.    Paul Parsley    WF    Def.    Jesse Martin    SM    Fall 3:52
35-21 SM
285 lbs.    Josh Hale    WF    Def.    Tyler Bridge    SM    Fall 4:52
35-27 SM
103 lbs.    Parker Bankert    WF    Def.    Bryce Allgood    SM    Fall 3:28
35-33 SM

Semifinal match #1 recap: Southmont 30, #11 Carmel 28

Southmont overcame a 15-3 deficit after five bouts by winning 6 out of 8 matches between 135 lbs. and 189 lbs. to defeat 11th-ranked Carmel 30-28.

“We were o-fer against Carmel until tonight,” said Southmont coach Jamie Welliever. “It didn’t look real good for a while but we got it going there. That’s extra special when you can go through a little adversity during a dual meet and hang in there, stick with it, and come back and win.”

The Greyhounds trailed 30-18 with two bouts remaining. However, Eric Courter was unable to secure enough points at 215 lbs. to keep the competition alive for Carmel. Courter recorded a 4-point major decision win over his Mountie opponent, but he needed a 6-point pin to make the 285 lb. bout meaningful.

Southmont/Carmel Individual Results (the competition began at 103 lbs.)
Wt Class    Wrestler    School        Wrestler    School    Match Result
103 lbs.    J.B. Cremer    CA    Def.    Bryce Allgood    SM    Decision 8-3
3-0 CA
112 lbs.    Evan Ackerman    CA    Def.    Steven Simpson    SM    Decision 6-4
6-0 CA
119 lbs.    Nathaniel Borden    SM    Def.    Christian Morris    CA    Decision 4-1
6-3 CA
125 lbs.    Nick Settineri    CA    Def.    Jeremiah Anderson    SM    Decision 4-0
9-3 CA
130 lbs.    Will Mascaro     CA    Def.    Travis Haslam    SM    Fall 3:28
15-3 CA
135 lbs.    Nathan Whitlow    SM    Def.    Dan Frascella    CA    Fall 2:50
15-9 CA
140 lbs.    Chris VanCleave    SM    Def.    Chris Mascaro    CA    Decision 9-2
15-12 CA
145 lbs.    Ryan Chism     SM    Def.    Nathan Ziems    CA    Fall 0:36
18-15 SM
152 lbs.    Brandon Krieger    CA    Def.    Jake Moore    SM    Decision 7-5
18-18
160 lbs.    Aaron Cravens    SM    Def.    Nolan Pachciarz    CA    Decision 7-3
21-18 SM
171 lbs.    Derrek Day    SM    Def.    Andrew Molin    CA    Decision 6-2
24-18 SM
189 lbs.    Nick Hodges    SM    Def.    Josh Yoder    CA    Fall 3:57
30-18 SM
215 lbs.    Eric Courter    CA    Def.    Tyler Bridge    SM    Maj. Dec. 10-1
30-22 SM
285 lbs.    Jessie Hollander    CA    Def.    Wade Dove    SM    Injury Default
30-28 SM

Semifinal match #2 recap: Westfield 37, North Montgomery 22

The tournament host North Montgomery Chargers won 4 of the first 6 matches and led 16-9 after Carter Wilson’s 3-2 decision victory at 135 lbs.

However, Westfield won 6 of the final 8 bouts to advance to the final. North Montgomery trailed 33-16 with three matches remaining and needed pins in all three to steal the win. They failed to do so, as Westfield clinched the victory following a 1-0 decision win by North Montgomery’s Sam Myers at 189 lbs.

Westfield/North Montgomery Individual Results (the competition began at 103 lbs.)
Wt Class    Wrestler    School        Wrestler    School    Match Result
103 lbs.    Jacob Addler    NM    Def.    Parker Bankert    WF    Decision 9-7
3-0 NM
112 lbs.    Brady White    WF    Def.    Caleb Dale    NM    Fall 2:24
6-3 WF
119 lbs.    Will Mueller    WF    Def.    Ryan Carpenter     NM    Decision 7-5
9-3 WF
125 lbs.    Brock Sempsrott    NM    Def.    John Floor    WF    Fall 5:20
9-9
130 lbs.    Tyler Haslam    NM    Def.    Drew Billman    WF    Maj. Dec. 15-1
13-9 NM
135 lbs.    Carter Wilson    NM    Def.    Ben Cole    WF    Decision 3-2
16-9 NM
140 lbs.    Andy McColgin    WF    Def.    Isaac Myers    NM    Maj. Dec. 14-2
16-13 NM
145 lbs.    Cameron Witt    WF    Def.    Kelby Haslam    NM    Decision 8-2
16-16
152 lbs.    Mark Beer    WF    Def.    Alex Hall    NM    Tech-Fall 5:53
21-16 WF
160 lbs.    Brock Robinson    WF    Def.    Jacob Walsh    NM    Fall 3:11
27-16 WF
171 lbs.    JD Purdie    WF    Def.    Zach Stewart    NM    Fall 3:51
33-16 WF
189 lbs.    Sam Myers    NM    Def.    Robert Melby    WF    Decision 1-0
33-19 WF
215 lbs.    Casey Bushong    NM    Def.    Paul Parsley    WF    Decision 5-3
33-22 WF
285 lbs.    Josh Hale    WF    Def.    Nathan Dale    NM    Maj. Dec. 11-2
37-22 WF