AVON — The climb to overtake Avon’s seat at the head of the county wrestling table has been a steady and arduous journey for the Danville Warriors and as the scores were announced at the end of the sectional Saturday, it was a jubilant celebration for the crimson and gray clad grapplers.
Danville unseated the Orioles, winners of the last four sectional titles, by half a point 107.5 -107, the same difference separating the two schools in this year’s county tournament that the Orioles won.
Danville’s wrestling team started out the year with three goals; win county, win conference, and win sectional, falling short of the first two.
“I told them that we didn’t win the first two but we don’t look back, we look forward to the one we have next and we can still achieve that goal,” Danville coach Steve Pugliese said. “I told them they had a chance to make history and that doesn’t happen every year and you can only do it once and you want to be a part of the team that does it.
“We are proud of what we have done and, like one of the mom’s said earlier, ‘We are making memories,’ and that’s what it is all about. This team will realize at the end they found a way to get it done.”
Danville got some unexpected upsets to help them pull off the win. Pugliese said wins from Zack Skinner (120), Brock Martin (182), Gabe Diedriech (170), and Mike Martin (285) helped push Danville over the hump for the win.
“To win those matches, that is the fulfilling thing as a coach to see those guys make adjustments and beat guys that were ahead of them,” Pugliese said.
Danville senior Jordan Judy (138), a three-time sectional champion, would not let go of the sectional trophy and expressed just how far the Warriors have come as a unit in his four years.
“I never thought this would happen, especially my freshman and sophomore year, and it is awesome,” he said. “Everyone stepped it up today. It’s crazy and weird as our seniors and the rest of the team have gotten so much better.”
Danville produced the county’s most champions on the day with four. Judy (138), defending state champion Neal Molloy (132), Brayden Montgomery (145), and Kyle Reeves (152) each took home first-place honors.
Molloy and Montgomery, both juniors, now have three sectional titles and for Reeves, also a junior, it was his first.
Avon and Brownsburg fell one champion short of the Warriors as each team had three champions on the day.
Avon’s Jonah Zorniger (182) and Dylan Jones (195) won back-to-back matches for the Orioles and Brian Snyder (285) won by fall.
Brownsburg’s Jon Stinnett (225) won the only finals overtime match and teammates Luke Huston (170) and Austen Arnold (120) also came away with championships.
Cascade’s Hunter Fox (106) and Zach Batts (126) each were first-time sectional champions and Cadets coach Josh Hagenow was pleased with their performances.
“Both have wrestled fantastic over the course of the season,” he said. “They were both seeded first and if they wrestled well, they would win it. They have wrestled great over the course of the season and have aspirations of going as far and as deep in the tournament as they can.”
Tri-West produced one champion on the day as Justin Wright (113) took a 5-3 decision over his South Putnam opponent.
Of 14 weight classes and 28 available finals’ spots, Hendricks County grapplers occupied 20 of those slots.
Avon advanced 12 wrestlers into next week’s regional at Mooresville while Danville (11), Brownsburg (8), Cascade (5), and Tri-West (3) made up the rest of the available advancing spots, giving the county 39 of 56 slots.
With the win, Danville advances to last Indiana team regional in the current format at 6 p.m. against No. 1-ranked Perry Meridian tonight at Martinsville.
That match will feature two defending state champions going head to head as No. 2-ranked Molloy takes on No. 1 Jared McKinley of Perry.
“You do not always get kids who want the big matches the way Neal does,” Pugliese said. “You have to want to be in the spotlight. Neal is not afraid of success, but he is not afraid of failure either. If this is what’s going to make him better, and we think it is, then that’s what we’re going to do.
“Our plans are to go and wrestle on Wednesday night and see what happens. I will tell the kids congratulations, but now we have to get ready for Perry. We don’t get to enjoy this for too long.”
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