An early streak helped propel the Hamilton Southeastern wrestling team to the Mudsock Trophy.
The Royals beat Fishers 41-30 in the annual dual meet, which took place Thursday at the Tiger Den. Southeastern won six matches in a row at one point, and that allowed the Royals to weather a late charge by Fishers.
“We wrestled really well,” said HSE coach Nick Brobst. “I think Fishers did, too. It was a good, hard matchup between the two teams.”
The Tigers started the meet with a win, as Preston Putzback got a third-period pin at 195 pounds. But that was followed by the Royals’ six-match streak, which put them ahead 29-6 halfway through the meet.
Andrew Irick won the 220-pound match by forfeit, then Crae Kunkleman (285) and Sam Crousore (106) each got major decision victories. Jake Simone won the 113-pound bout by fall, Jake Lemieux picked up a decision win at 120, then Gaige Lloyd was a winner by pin at 126.
Fishers’ Josh Thompson stopped Southeastern’s streak with a decision win at 132 pounds. This started a back-and-forth between the teams, as the Royals’ Reece Luhmann won the 138-pound match with a first-period pin.
The Tigers answered with a victory by fall from Tyler Lindamood at 145, but Jackson Williams clinched the meet for the Royals by taking the 152-pound bout by pin. Fishers swept the final three matches: Zach Pairitz won at 160 by fall, Mason McCartney took the 170-pound match by decision, and JD Farrell was the 182-pound winner by pin.
“This season we’ve been hot and cold,” said Brobst. “We’ve got real hot a couple times and won seven, eight, nine matches in a row, and then we’ll go cold and lose a couple we shouldn’t lose. So it just depends on the day.” The coach said that happens with a young team sometimes, so the goal is for the Royals to be “more hot than cold by the end of the year.”
The Royals will compete at the North Central Invitational on Saturday, while the Tigers return to action next Thursday with a dual meet at Lawrence Central.
Hamilton Southeastern 41, Fishers 30
Meet started at 195 pounds
195: Preston Putzback (F) def. Spencer Lutz (HSE) by fall, 4:23
220: Andrew Irick (HSE) won by forfeit
285: Crae Kunkleman (HSE) def. Nathan Pairitz (F) by major dec., 10-0
106: Sam Crousore (HSE) def. PJ Pritchett (F) by major dec., 10-1
113: Jake Simone (HSE) def. Zach Strueder (F) by fall, 3:50
120: Jake Lemieux (HSE) def. Dylan Parodi (F) by dec., 6-1
126: Gaige Lloyd (HSE) def. Truman Abel (F) by fall, 3:22
132: Josh Thompson (F) def. Ethan Pritt (HSE) by dec., 17-15
138: Reece Luhmann (HSE) def. Zaac Morey (F) by fall, 0:32
145: Tyler Lindamood (F) def. Cam Roberts (HSE) by fall, 5:30
152: Jackson Williams (HSE) def. Josh Reardon (F) by fall, 3:49
160: Zach Pairitz (F) def. Jacob Schneider (HSE) by fall, 2:32
170: Mason McCartney (F) def. Ryan Cast (HSE) by dec., 11-4
182: JD Farrell (F) def. Isaac Haneline (HSE) by fall, 1:20
The Hamilton Southeastern wrestling team won the Mudsock trophy over Fishers 41-30 on Thursday. The Royals used an early six-match win streak to take control of the meet, then held off a late charge by the Tigers. (Richie Hall)