By RYAN WALKER
Norwell defeated Wells County rival Bluffton on the wrestling mat Wednesday night at the Tiger Den 54-24.
Head coach of the Knights (15-5), John Johnson, said he was happy with his teams’ effort after a long Christmas break where they haven’t faced anyone since Dec 22, especially against a program like Bluffton (10-6).
“I love coming here,” he said after the match. “I love when we get to wrestle (at Bluffton). I think he (Tiger coach Ben Sprunger) just does a phenomenal job with his program, so any time we can come and wrestle Bluffton, it’s always kind of a rivalry match within the county. I thought we moved well, I thought our energy level was up, and we scored points when we needed to. It went in our favor tonight, and yeah, I’m happy with it.”
Johnson added that he was excited about his team’s effort, even in the matches they lost, because they didn’t quit and nearly came back to win. Specifically, he mentioned the 170-pound round between the Tigers’ Levi Kahn and the Knights’ Elijah Behning. Behning was down multiple points in the third period but fought his way back within two by the end, where he lost 9-7.
That type of effort is what he’s looking for when his team heads down to Jay County for the IHSWCA Team State this weekend.
On the other side, head coach Ben Sprunger is working with a young squad but still has high praise for Johnson and his group.
“We’re really young, and we’re a little bit of an inexperienced team this year,” he said after the match. “It’s pretty evident when they (Norwell) got juniors and seniors in their lineup. Johnny’s (coach Johnson) done a good job coaching them up, so I wish them luck at state this weekend. We’re just battling.”
Sprunger, who wrestled and graduated from Bluffton, admitted losing to rival Norwell wasn’t easy. He said he doesn’t even use the word “Norwell” to be said out loud in his house. Last year, the Knights took third place at the sectional, edging out the fourth-place Tigers at the same event.
“Yeah, it’s hard to lose to them. We always want to be the best in the county, that’s always the goal, but it just didn’t happen this year. There’s always been a rivalry since I was a kid,” he said.
Both schools have similar goals by the end of the season — to peak at the right time, but both have had different paths up to this midway point.
Norwell has battled with sickness this season, and it has been difficult to put together a true lineup. Johnson said that Wednesday night was the first fully healthy top-to-bottom group he’s had.
Bluffton has a long-term goal of getting guys to the state finals in Indianapolis as individuals. Last year, Levi Johns placed eighth in the state tournament at 106 (he is competing at 113 this year). Juan Cruz won the sectional and placed second in the regional at the 285 heavyweight.
“I think by the end of the year, we hopefully have a handful of guys get out of sectional and move on to regional, then ultimately get two or three guys to semi-state and state,” he said. “I think we’ve got a couple state placers. We’ve still got a long season ahead of us, so it’s always about peaking at the right time.”
Individual winners in the match for Norwell were:
• Hunter Douglas over Will Frettinger by fall at 106.
• Jason Prough by forfeit at 120.
• Zathan Westfall by forfeit at 126.
• Connor Dreiband over Kaden Simpson by fall at 132.
• Parker Behning over Anthony Cruz by fall at 138.
• Cody Cox over Joe Bunch by fall at 152.
• Max Walker over Christian Castanada by fall at 160.
• Tyler Luther over Taven Frees by fall at 195.
• Ethan Michael over Lukas Gehrett by fall at 220.
Individual winners in the match for Bluffton were:
• Levi Johns over Connor Fotjtik by fall at 113.
• Brody Lewis over Nicholas Stephens by fall at 145.
• Levi Kahn over Elijah Behning by decision 9-7 at 170.
• Aiden King over Parker Capps by decision 7-1 at 182.
• Juan Cruz over Nolan Sutliff by fall at 285.
Norwell will begin IHSWCA Team State at Jay County at 9 a.m. Saturday, Jan 7.
Bluffton will start its IHSWCA Team State in Franklin County at 9 a.m. Saturday, Jan 7.
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