Bice, Rose lead team past Franklin Central

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INDIANAPOLIS — A gentle giant most days, Greenfield-Central senior Garrett Bice flipped the switch Thursday night.

Driven off the mat and taken down at full speed onto the uncovered hardwood floor, Bice laid on his back momentarily with a choice to make.

The heavyweight decided to go into beast mode despite the illegal shot, shooing away his coaches and trainers as he sparked the Cougars to a lopsided 59-16 dual win against host Franklin Central.

“It was awesome. He got up and he was angry,” Greenfield-Central 120-pounder Gavin Rose remarked after the win. “He was riled up to score.”

Bice was granted a penalty point for the off-mat tackle before erupting for three takedowns en route to earning a 12-4 major decision. His four-point win pushed the Cougars lead to 22-6 and they never let up against the Flashes.

Greenfield-Central scored six pins, two technical falls and a 5-3 decision by freshman Shane Stough at 160 pounds to improve their season record to 6-1.

The Cougars built an 18-6 lead prior to Bice’s match behind a forfeit at 170 pounds and a pin by senior Brad Lowe at 182 pounds in 1:57. Lowe is 7-0 on the year and ranked ninth in the state at 170 by IndianaMat.

A fall at 195 by Franklin Central narrowed the gap, which junior Hunter Gulden (5-2) pushed back to six points with a pin in 4:55 at 220.

Then, it was Bice’s turn to ignite the charge.

“When I hit the edge of the mat, I thought, is he going to stop? I felt the floor get real slick and he just kept going,” Bice said. “I hit the floor. I felt it in my head and in my lower back. I’m just laying there thinking, I have to get back up, so I jumped right back up. I was ready to go.”

Bice, who is a member of the school’s highly-decorated marching band and a robotics enthusiast, returned to wrestling after taking the past two seasons off. Cougars’ head coach Josh Holden loves having the senior back in the wrestling room.

“The kid hasn’t wrestled since he was a freshman. He comes back out as a senior. How many kids do that? He’s just a tough kid,” Holden said. “We’ve been kind of waiting for him to get mad because he doesn’t get mad a lot.

“He goes off the mat, gets fired up a little bit and comes out and wins that match. I can’t say enough about him. He fits right in with the other guys we have.”

Bice further emphasized the tone as the Cougars rattled off four more pins and a pair of technical falls the rest of the way.

Ninth-ranked Carter Noehre (7-0) won by tech fall at 132 in 4:15, while his younger brother, Cooper (6-1), scored his tech fall in 2:44 at 145, where he’s ranked 16th in the state.

Freshman Isaac Swartz won by fall at 106 in 52 seconds. Senior Larry Evans (6-1) pinned in his match at 126 in 53 seconds. Sophomore Kenneth Thompson (5-2) scored his pin in 3:32 at 138.

Rose (7-0) had the fastest fall of the dual at 20 seconds, while sporting a new look with a protective mask. The two-time state qualifier and sixth-ranked wrestler at 120 broke his nose during practice earlier this preseason.

The new gear hasn’t slowed him down.

“I keep asking him when he’s going to take that thing off, and he’s says, he might keep it on a little while longer,” Holden laughed. “It’s working.”

So are the Cougars, who are preparing for a tough stretch ahead with another sectional foe coming to Greenfield-Central on Wednesday in Warren Central and the Perry Meridian Duals on Dec. 9.

Greenfield-Central hosts state-ranked Roncalli on Dec. 14 before the New Palestine 6-way on Dec. 16.

“We know we’ve ended the easier part of our schedule, and we’re now going into the tough part. That means we have to focus and wrestle harder at practice,” Rose said.

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Greenfield-Central 59, Franklin Central 16

170: Wyatt Andrick (GC) won by forfeit

182: Brad Lowe (GC) def. Braden Rodriguez (FC), fall 1:57

195: Gavin Keesee (FC) def. Scott Stanley (GC), fall 1:03

220: Hunter Gulden (GC) def. DeShawn Young (FC), fall 4:53

285: Garrett Bice (GC) def. Steven Edwards (FC), maj. dec. 12-4

106: Isaac Swartz (GC) def. Cole Dewell (FC), fall 0:52

113: Nicholas Morton (FC) def. Dylan Dorman (GC), fall 6:13 (OT)

120: Gavin Rose (GC) def. Joshua Kincaid (FC), fall 0:20

126: Larry Evans (GC) def. Shane Godby (FC), fall 0:53

132: Carter Noehre (GC) def. Riley Conley (FC), tech. fall 4:15

138: Kenneth Thompson (GC) def. Chase Coleman (FC), fall 3:32

145: Cooper Noehre (GC) def. Ishmael Rodriguez (FC), tech. fall 2:44

152: Tyler Rodriguez (FC) def. Mike Hoskins (GC), maj. dec. 9-1

160: Shane Stough (GC) def. Benjamin Massey (FC), dec. 5-3

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