NEW CASTLE — Once the reality hit Eastern Hancock’s Avery Wills, he had no words.
Wills simply went numb moments after pinning Carmel’s 152-pound sophomore Nathan Powell midway through the second period of their quarterfinal match during the New Castle Semistate.
“I just laid on my back and put my hands on my face,” Wills remarked on the magnitude of his win Saturday afternoon. “I was in shock. I couldn’t get the smile off of my face for about 15 minutes.”
It was a reaction four years in the making for the Eastern Hancock senior wrestler and 19 overall for the Royals’ program, which had been without an IHSAA state qualifier since Keith Oliver in 2002.
Wills erased all of it, the drought, the doubt and his past setbacks in 2 minutes, 55 seconds against Powell during the quarterfinal “round-to-go” to clinch his first-career state finals berth.
“I was dead set on winning that one,” Wills said afterwards. “It feels really good. I’m the first state qualifier in 19 years.”
A two-time semistate qualifier, Wills lost in the opening round last year by fall in 3:14 to finish his junior season with a 30-9 record.
At 30-10 this season, he avenged the recent past to open his final semistate tournament en rout to becoming the program’s fifth state qualifier in school history by placing fourth at 152 inside the New Castle Fieldhouse on Saturday.
Wills joins the ranks of Oliver (2001-02), two-time state qualifier Kent Colclazier (1983-84), Joe Havlin (1982) and David Dunbar (1982).
On Friday, Wills’ season will continue in downtown Indianapolis at the IHSAA wrestling state finals inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse at 7 p.m.
“It couldn’t have happened to a better kid. He’s been wanting this for a couple of years. He had an injury riddled season as a sophomore, so he wasn’t able to get past sectional, and last year he wanted it, but we could tell today he showed as a senior it was his time to get it,” Eastern Hancock head coach Nick Holliday said.
“It’s nice to end that drought with 2002 being the last time we had a state qualifier. We’re really happy it’s Avery.”
Wills knew what he had to be done from the first match.
Pitted against Centerville senior Gabe Phillips (36-3) in the semistate’s opening round, Wills came out focused and pinned his opponent in 27 seconds.
Phillips, who is ranked 15th in the state by IndianaMat, pinned Wills on Dec. 5 during the Cambridge City Lincoln Invitational. This time, Wills was ready to even the score.
“That was probably the most important match of the day,” Wills said. “Gabe Phillips is an extremely good wrestler and I just got lucky, I guess. I just went in believing I had a chance.”
That opportunity turned into momentum against Powell (24-11), while fellow Hancock County semistate qualifiers from New Palestine and Mt. Vernon lost in the opening rounds and quarterfinals, leaving Wills as the last man standing.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to do, to push through. Persevere,” Wills said. “I was supposed to read a book (coach assigned) that’s called, one word that describes you, or something like that, and I chose the word persevere because my whole senior year has been up and down and finishing out the season like this feels pretty good actually.”
Wills faced Perry Meridian’s Matthew Koontz (31-2), who is ranked second in the state, during the semistate semifinal round, and though he lost by major decision 16-4, he made a point.
Koontz, a state runner-up at 132 last year, scored back-to-back tech falls in 3:31 and 2:22, respectively to reach the final four. Wills forced the weight-classes top contender to go the distance.
Koontz later lost in the finals to top-ranked Jajuan Anderson (32-0) of Warren Central by decision 5-3 in sudden-victory overtime.
“He had one of the fastest pins of the day, at least early on, and then really set the tone. He wrestled his next match really well, and then wrestled the No. 2 kid in the state really, really well,” Holliday said. “He lasted longer than anyone else did all day with (Koontz) until the final, so he set the tone with that first pin in the first round.”
He also gained some bragging rights within his immediate family.
His older brother, Jordyn, a two-time semistate qualifier at Eastern Hancock, lost in the opening round at New Castle in both of his appearances in 2017 and 2018 at 145 and 152, respectively. Jordyn went on to wrestle at Trine University after graduating in 2018 before shifting his focus on his academic career.
“That first match was everything on the day. He came out with a different mindset and just capitalized on a good pin, a good first period and just carried it one throughout the rest of the day,” Holliday said.
Unfortunately, his luck was singular with the county’s other program’s falling short of accompanying the Royals’ team leader.
Mt. Vernon entered semistate with a program-record nine qualifiers, but Zach Haughton (26-6) at 126, Aiden Kiner (19-11) at 138, Joel Ratliff (16-15) at 160, Haiden Rose (20-12) at 170, Hunter Austel (11-8) at 182, Russell Weaver (19-7) at 195, Parker Smitley (25-6) at 220 and Matt Foor (13-8) at 285 were defeated in the first round.
Mt. Vernon junior Carson Johnson (26-6), who was ranked 21st in the state at 132, won his opening-round match by decision 6-4 over Milan’s Ashton Myers (5-3).
In the quarterfinals, however, against Carmel’s 12th-ranked junior Brac Hooper (30-4), Johnson lost by fall in 1:10, ending his season with the top-four placers at semistate automatically qualifying for state. Hooper finished third overall.
New Palestine had all three of its senior semistate qualifiers reach the quarterfinals, but the trio was unable to breakthrough.
Richard Clevenger, a state qualifier in 2019-20, defeated 17th-ranked Wyatt Woodall (21-2) of Southmont by decision 3-1 in the first round. The state’s 24th-ranked Dragons wrestler narrowly lost in the 195 quarterfinals by decision 8-7 to East Central’s Ryan Bovard (24-6). Bovard went on to place fourth.
New Palestine’s Tucker Keevers (25-5) powered past Lebanon’s Nick Morgan (24-7) by decision 3-2 in the first round before losing by fall to eventual semistate champion and 12th-ranked Evan Shafer (37-0) of Connersville in the 285 quarterfinals.
At 132, New Palestine’s fifth-ranked Christian White (28-3) came out firing with a 13-1 major decision against Fishers’ Zach Strueder (18-9) in the opening round.
But, the Dragons’ team captain drew a difficult semistate path, losing to 16th-ranked Anthony Hughes (23-5) of Lawrence North by decision 7-2 in the quarterfinals.
Hughes, a 2019-20 state qualifier at 120, placed second at semistate, losing to Warren Central’s ninth-ranked David Pierson (28-3) in the finals by fall in 5:54. White was seeking a third consecutive state finals berth. He qualified at 113 in 2018-19 and placed fifth at 120 last year.
“That’s mind blowing, being the only one,” Wills said. “It’s a shock to be the only one.”
With Greenfield-Central forced to withdraw from the state tournament series prior to the Southport Regional due to COVID-19 protocols, the county struggled to keep pace with semistate team champion Perry Meridian (148.0 points), second-place Cathedral (135.0) and third-place finisher Warren Central (125.0).
“We’re the last county school left. They all had a great season. I’ve been praying for coach (Josh) Holden and his crew (at Greenfield-Central) because that’s a terrible way with COVID to end their season. I’m sure they would have pushed some guys through, but it’s a nice feeling kind of having the county on our back,” Holliday said.
“It feels really good to be able to represent Hancock County and Eastern Hancock really well today.”
