Merrillville leads NWI charge at wrestling semistate
By Michael Osipoff 648-3137 or mosipoff@post-trib.com February 11, 2012 11:40PM
Lake Central's Kyle Ayersman takes down Hobart's Aaron Ayala in the championship match at 126 lbs. during the wrestling semi-state meet on Saturday, in Merrillville. Ayersman defeated Ayala 6-0. | Scott R. Brandush~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 13, 2012 10:42AM
MERRILLVILLE — Merrillville’s wrestling program has enjoyed considerable success over the years.
And Saturday’s semistate was especially fruitful for the host Pirates.
Merrillville qualified seven wrestlers for next weekend’s state meet at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, what coach David Maldonado believed is its highest total, and won three semistate titles.
In all, with the top four finishers in each weight class advancing to Indianapolis, 10 region schools produced 27 state qualifiers. In addition to Merrillville’s seven (of its 12 semistate qualifiers), Crown Point (which also had 12 semistate qualifiers) had five (as did Penn and South Bend Clay); Hanover Central (with two champions, with no other team besides the Pirates with more than one) and Chesterton had three each; and Lake Central, Portage and Hobart all had two apiece. Lowell, Munster and Bishop Noll had one each.
Crown Point senior Jason Tsirtsis (38-0), a three-time state champion; and Lake Central senior Kyle Ayersman (48-0), a two-time state champion, each won his fourth straight semistate title.
Tsirtsis pinned Hanover Central’s Charlie Mavros (35-3) — whose only three losses have come to Tsirtsis, including in sectional and regional finals — in 39 seconds in the 145-pound final, capping his day-into-night that also included two other first-period pins and a forfeit.
“If he isn’t the greatest wrestler to come out of this state, I’d like to know who is. And I’m a humongous Andrew Howe fan, humongous Andrew Howe fan,” said Crown Point coach Scott Vlink, also mentioning Alex Tsirtsis.
Ayersman defeated Hobart’s Aaron Ayala — who had edged Crown Point’s Trevor Burlison 5-3 in overtime in the semifinals — 6-0 at 126, as he posted two pins and two shutouts.
Senior 195-pounder Kourtney Berry (29-0), senior 170-pounder Darryl Peppers and freshman 160-pounder Bobby Steveson (36-1) won Merrillville’s titles.
Berry repeated as a champion by pinning Benton Central’s Jacob Ricks in 1:05, his fourth first-period pin of the tournament.
“He’s really come into his own,” said Maldonado, adding only one of Berry’s opponents this season — at a tournament in Missouri — has made it out of the first period. “He just feels position. You can’t teach that.”
Peppers — coming off a 10-8 overtime win against McCutcheon’s Ethan Dale in the semis — downed Logansport’s Dalton Christensen 11-5, after Steveson had topped fellow standout freshman Hobart’s Scottie Sopko (32-4) 8-4.
“The age doesn’t really matter,” said Steveson, whose only loss this season continues to be against Tsirtsis, and who has defeated Sopko four times, including in sectional and regional finals. “If you practice hard and work hard, age shouldn’t matter. I’ve been working too hard all year to go out there and lose.”
Sophomore 106-pounder Stevan Micic (43-0) and senior 120-pounder Paul Petrov (43-0) won Hanover’s titles, both remaining undefeated in the process.
Micic pinned Penn’s Zach Davis in 1:34.
“I just had to get the job done,” said Micic, a semistate runner-up last season. “I’m not trying to sound cocky or anything, but that’s how matches are supposed to be. You have to get the job done.
“It’s kind of a big deal (to win a semistate title). Of course, you always want to do better the next time. But you have to wrestle the same every tournament.”
Petrov beat Merrillville’s Adam Garcia 8-4, adding to his semistate title from 2010 after last season’s runner-up finish.
“I knew going into the match that he (Garcia, who beat Crown Point’s Josh Fuqua — a semistate champion, defeating Micic, and state runner-up last season at 103 — 5-1 in the quarterfinals, his third victory this season in that series) was going to go at me hard for six minutes,” said Petrov, who admittedly got tired. “Attack, attack, attack — that’s his style of wrestling. I just had to wrestle my match.
“We’re performing for our school, we’re representing our school — it’s awesome.”
Warsaw senior Jarred Brooks (31-0), who held off Petrov 2-1 for last season’s 112 title, pinned Merrillville’s Adam Brodie in 3:41 at 113 on Saturday. At 220, South Bend Clay’s Joe Gallegos pulled out a 3-1 overtime win against Crown Point’s Tyler Kral — who had edged Lake Central’s Gelen Robinson 1-0 in the semis to take a 3-1 lead in their competitive series — on a takedown with 19 seconds left in OT.
“It’s a little bittersweet. We got five guys out, and that’s really good, but that’s how this game goes,” Vlink said. “You lose the last one, you’re disappointed, but we just have to get as many kids on the podium as we can next weekend.
“We’ve got some disappointed kids on the bus, but we have to work through it. We have to get in the right mind frame. We tend to let the losses override the wins, but you have to keep it in perspective.”
Among notable results in the quarters, when spots in the state meet are on the line: Bishop Noll junior 160-pounder Damian Gomez (fourth place) beat Crown Point’s Dusty Schurg, a semistate runner-up last season, 5-3 to give the Warriors their first state qualifier since 2003; Lowell senior 170-pounder Jeremy Crocker, a semistate runner-up last season, lost 8-7 to Logansport’s Christensen; and Chesterton junior 152-pounder Chris Katsafaros (fourth place) edged Hobart’s Tony Morales 5-3 on a takedown as time expired.
Also, Culver Military Academies sophomore 106-pounder Kayla Miracle (42-5) became the first female to qualify for the state meet, placing fourth. She scored a 17-0 technical fall against Lafayette Harrison’s Daniel Davis in the first round, then won 10-0 in the quarters against Lake Central’s Brandon Truver, before losing two matches.
In finals not involving any area wrestlers: Mishawaka’s Tommy Forte beat Culver Academies‚ Anthony McHugh 11-6 at 132 pounds; McCutcheon’s Alex Griffin scored a 14-0 major decision against Penn’s Ben Varner at 138; Lafayette Jefferson’s Adrian Brown pulled out an 8-6 win against Penn’s Danny Ginter at 152; Delphi’s Tanner Lynde posted a 16-4 major decision against Twin Lakes‚ Christian Winkle at 182; and Bremen’s Abraham Hall edged Wawasee’s Dimetri Kaplanis 4-2 in overtime at heavyweight.
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