GREENFIELD — The night was set for a celebration.
The Greenfield-Central wrestling team opened Wednesday night by honoring three of its former standouts and inducting them into the program’s hall of fame, and then the Cougars went to battle against No. 5 Warren Central.
The visiting Warriors (5-1) weren’t overly gracious, however, despite the significance of the evening, defeating the Cougars 47-7.
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“It’s awesome to induct new guys, especially guys you coached. It makes you feel a little old, but it’s just neat to see those guys come back and remember how great they were and how much they did for the program,” Greenfield-Central head coach Josh Holden said.
“But you have to compete. You have to stop thinking about winning and losing and think about what you have do to compete and wrestle hard for six minutes.”
Before the Warriors won 11 straight matches and 12 of the night’s 14, the Cougars struck first at 182 pounds behind a hard-fought 6-4 decision from junior Scott Stanley.
Down 2-0 early, Stanley rallied to tie the match in the second period with an escape out of the down position, and later pulled ahead in the third period with a three-point near fall.
The Cougars continued to show their grit with two overtime losses. Dakota Herald knotted up his match at 106, but he lost in sudden victory 7-5 when Warren Central’s Zachary Dray scored a takedown 16 seconds in the 1-minute bonus period.
Senior Dylan Dorman nearly shocked Warren Central’s Aundre Beatty, who is ranked third at 132. Moving up to 138, Beatty, who placed sixth at state last year at 132, struggled to overtake Dorman as the match went into overtime tied 1-1.
Dorman refused to give in, forcing 56 seconds into sudden victory before Beatty won on a late takedown throw 3-1.
“He’s good. Dylan has worked his tail off for four years. People don’t know how much time he’s put in it,” Holden said. “He ain’t afraid to wrestle anyone. He wanted to wrestle that match and it showed. He got after it. It was awesome.”
While newly inducted hall of famers Joe Krugler, a 2001 Greenfield-Central graduate; Austin Rose, a 2013 graduate; and Ian Early, a 2012 graduate, were the spotlighted Cougars in the beginning, second-ranked Cooper Noehre turned heads for Greenfield-Central’s second win against Warren Central.
Noehre, who place second at state at 152, missed the Cougars’ (6-2) first seven duals due to a rules infraction that resulted in suspension.
“He violated a school policy, so there was a suspension. He served it. He’s made some corrections and we’re moving on,” Holden said.
The senior 160-pounder was reinstated late last week. In his first match of the season, Noehre went to work.
“I was a little rusty, but we got back to it. It felt good. Obviously, the team score didn’t go the way we wanted it to, but I think we fought hard,” Noehre said. “I made a mistake, but I came back and I’m going to be better than I was last year. Things happen and it’s how you bounce back from it.”
The Purdue commit built a 4-1 lead in the first period and added seven more points in the second before winning with ease over Deyontae Allen by major decision 16-3.
“He looked okay. He looked a little rusty to me. You get pumped and you get gassed a little bit when you’re pumped. I’m not saying he was super tired, but he’s been wrestling better than that at practice, and you get better every day,” Holden said. “He’s going to try and win a state title.”
While there was talk of a rematch between Noehre and top-ranked Brice Coleman, who is the wrestler to beat at 152 this season, the meeting didn’t unfold.
Instead, Coleman stayed at 152 due to a mild injury and won by decision 9-2 over Kenny Thompson. Coleman and Noehre met at regional a year ago with the Cougar eliminating his opponent from the state tournament.
