GREENFIELD — In a year like no other, high school wrestling roster depth has become more of a necessity rather a mere luxury.
Case in point, the unbeaten Greenfield-Central Cougars, who utilized their strong numbers to compensate on Wednesday night against Hoosier Heritage Conference rival Pendleton Heights.
With four projected starters out due to trace contact quarantines, the Cougars turned to their reserves, and they didn’t skip a beat.
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Instead, the Cougars defeated the visiting, and equally short-handed, Arabians, 49-30, on G-C Wrestling Hall of Fame Night behind four pins, four forfeits and a 15-3 major decision from junior Dakota Herald at 120 pounds.
“It’s a lot different this year. We had to adapt to the situation in the wrestling room, overcome that, and then we had to make a bunch of adjustments in the lineup to make sure we accommodate for people being out, being quarantined from close contact,” said Herald, one of the program’s key returning starters.
“Right now, we’re just hoping the season doesn’t get canceled, ride it out and do what we can.”
Through the South Dearborn Invitational last weekend and Wednesday’s first dual of the season, the Cougars have proven more than capable, improving to 4-0 to start their campaign regardless of adversity.
With obvious holes to fill in their 2020-21 lineup already due to graduations, the Cougars opened the season last week without IHSAA state-place winners Cooper Noehre and Dylan Dorman and four other former 2019-20 seniors that logged varsity time.
This season, they are relying on their next wave of contenders, who are aiming to duplicate, if not exceed, the team’s 14-10 record from last year en route to achieving several more primary goals.
First on the list is staying healthy and, hopefully, unfazed by inevitable COVID-19 quarantines. Next, they want to be ready to compete, especially in conference, at any given notice, no matter what the pandemic might do to their schedule this winter.
The first scheduling change unfolded this past Saturday as the Cougars shifted to the South Dearborn Invite rather than participating in the canceled Rex Leavitt Super Duals in Elwood, an annual tradition.
They rolled with the revamp and defeated South Dearborn 56-15, North Posey 41-31 and Tri, 76-0, to win the team title.
“We still have 10 seniors this year, so a lot of guys have been through the program, know the expectations. The thing we like is, this is probably the hardest working team we’ve had since I’ve been here,” G-C head coach Josh Holden said. “The big tell is when you drill. It’s hard to get high school kids to drill right, and when you go down to the end of our room and watch us drill, it’s awesome. It’s kids going hard.”
Herald is one of them.
A regional qualifier last season and an HHC runner-up at 106, Herald is one of four decorated wrestlers leading the Cougars’ reloaded lineup.
At 113 this season, Herald finished 24-14 overall last year as a sophomore. He was 11-23 as a freshman at 106.
This offseason, he further cemented his commitment to progress by working at Contenders Wrestling Academy in Plainfield.
He’s been primarily training with Nick Hull, a 1995-96 state champion at 112 from Lawrence Central, who instructs at Legends of Gold in Indianapolis.
Hull was a former top-ranked collegiate wrestler, who attended Clarion University and Harper College. Last year, he surprisingly came out of retirement and qualified for the US World Team with a trip to compete overseas in an effort to inspire his wrestling pupils.
“I’ve been going to him since freshman year when I didn’t win a match (other than forfeits). He’s always seen potential in me, and he’s really kept me motivated,” Herald said.
“I’ve wrestled throughout the offseasons, and I haven’t played any other sports besides wrestling. I’ve just been wrestling straight on for years. It’s really starting to show this year, all the time, effort, practice I’ve put in. I’m really proud of that.”
At 4-0 early on this season, Herald has registered a pin and two major decisions, including against Pendleton Heights’ Elijah Creel while wrestling up at 120 due to a quarantine reshuffle.
Like Herald, 126-pound sophomore Zeke Holden (20-17 last year), 120-pound sophomore Cohen Hager (21-18) and 195-pound senior Scott Stanley (25-12) were all regional qualifiers this past February.
“We are inexperienced, but we got four classes in here right now that get you excited about what could happen,” Holden said. “We just have to get better. Can’t be satisfied with where we are because we know there’s some tough competition coming up.”
Senior Matt Torres (16-21 last year) at 145, along with classmates Shane Stough (7-5) at 170 and Jacob Blevens (11-11) at 220 provide additional leadership and crucial points for the Cougars.
Blevens lost by fall to Pendleton Heights’ AJ Hopkins, but had three pins at South Dearborn to stand at 3-1 on the season.
Matt Torres won by fall in the first period against PH’s Ryan Hensley to even his record at 2-2 to date. Stough, who was absent on Wednesday, is 2-1 with a pin and a major decision on his record.
Junior Matt Wickham, who was 21-16 last season, is 4-0 at 132 with a pin, a tech fall and a major decision. He defeated PH’s Jaiden Tong by decision 8-5.
“We’ve all worked hard during the offseason, during the season. We’re always in the wrestling room, six days a week, just going as hard as we can for two hours straight,” Herald said. “We’re just putting in work, and it’s paying off.”
Nathan Miller is slotted to start at 106, Cameron Burrus is 3-1 at 138 this season and Clay Guenin is 3-1 at 152 after losing by fall against Arabians’ Jared Brown, who is ranked 12th in the state by Indianamat.
Junior Brady Durnell is 4-0 with two pins and a forfeit win against PH at 160. Dewey Woolsey is starting at 182 for the Cougars, though sophomore Sly Blevens filled in to win by fall against PH’s Dresden Roberts to improve to 3-1 with two pins overall. Brayden Fleener is starting at heavyweight.
“I told people we were going to have about 40-50 kids again, and people said, that’s probably not good in a COVID situation because it’s hard to social distance, you’re in a practice room, but we wrestled our third 106-pounder today,” Holden remarked after the dual.
“I think it’s the first year ever we have four at 106, so it came in handy. I think this is the year to have 50 kids because if you have a good plan for the practice room and you can social distance, and they’re good about wearing their masks, you keep everybody healthy, and those guys come in handy because other people might not be doing what we’re doing.”
The Cougars will look to keep the trend going next week at home against Franklin Central on Wednesday before heading to HHC foe New Palestine on Dec. 9.
“It’s exciting. It’s all about staying healthy this year. I don’t want to wear my mask, but I’m going to wear it because it’s the right thing to do and it keeps my teammate healthy and keeps me healthy. If we can get (to the HHC Meet on Jan. 16, 2021) healthy, I’m excited about conference,” Holden said.
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Greenfield-Central 49, Pendleton Heights 30
106: Riley O’Brien (GC) won by forfeit
113: Connor Zuber (GC) won by forfeit
120: Dakota Herald (GC) def. Elijah Creel (PH) by major dec 15-3
126: Zeke Holden (GC) won by forfeit
132: Matt Wickham (GC) def. Jaiden Tong (PH) by dec 8-5
138: Jared Brown (PH) def. Cameron Burrus (GC) by fall 3:52
145: Matt Torres (GC) def. Rylan Hensley (PH) by fall 1:54
152: Ethan Childers (PH) def. Clay Guenin (GC) by fall 5:59
160: Brady Durnell (GC) won by forfeit
170: Silas Frye (GC) def. Ryan Butler (PH) by fall 2:49
182: Sly Blevens (GC) def. Dresden Roberts (PH) by fall 5:02
195: Colin Gillespie (PH) def. Scott Stanley (GC) by fall 0:43
220: AJ Hopkins (PH) def. Jacob Blevens (GC) by fall 1:27
285: Sam Mossoney (PH) def. Braden Fleener (GC) by fall 2:50
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