3 for the show: Trio survive Evansville wrestling semistate

Easy as 1-2-3.

Or 1:23 to be precise, the amount of time it took Bloomington South's Delaney Ruhlman to dispatch Noah Terry of Tell City in the championship match at 170 pounds of the Evansville Semistate Saturday night at the Ford Center.

It was actually the longest of the three matches the top-ranked senior took part in while earning his fourth trip to state and his second straight semistate title. Ruhlman, bound for Purdue, won at 152 last year after taking second as a freshman at 120 and third at 138 as a sophomore.

Now his aim is squarely at the top after runner-up state finishes the past two years.

"He's just dominant right now," South coach Mike Runyon said. "I hate to say it like that but you can't put it any other way. He's on fire. Now, he's got one more week to train and go for the No. 1 spot."

Ruhlman is one of three area wrestlers who survived the semistate gantlet. South sophomore Cam Meier, who made it to state via a call-up last year, broke through this time for third at 106 while Owen Valley's Branson Weaver ended up fourth at 138 to earn his first trip to Friday's first-round matches at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

As for Ruhlman, he swept through his bracket starting with a pin of 1:09. Then, oddly enough, came a string of Noahs, starting with Martinsville's Noah Summer and a pin of 1:21. He had a walk-over in the semifinal against No. 3 Noah Clouser of Center Grove, who was injured at regional, Runyon thought.

"It was one less match to grind out," Runyon said. "I wasn't too worried about (him sitting around) and I don't think he was, either."

Clouser skipped his semifinal match, putting Ruhlman in the final and saving his body for the final. Clouser pinned Heritage Hills' freshman Jett Goldsberry (son of former Purdue and NFL player Jon Goldsberry) for third to avoid facing a semistate champ in the first round at Indy.

Meier, ranked ninth, was also dominant in his first two rounds, taking out Evansville Mater Dei's David Alstadt with a pin in 1:35 and then had no problems with No. 10 Gavin Ash of Monrovia in a 9-1 major.

"Definitely his experience of being down there paid off," Runyon said. "He was actually more comfortable and ready and went out and wrestled well, In his second, he wrestled a really good kid from Monrovia and held his own. He took him down and controlled the match."

And then he ran into No. 4 Nathan Rioux of Avon (who ended up losing the final 1-0) and lost 6-1. He didn't stay down for long, bouncing back to beat Floyd Central's Isaac Campbell again, 8-2, after those team met in the regional final.

More:Bloomington South wrestler Brant Turner's teammates wouldn't let him walk away

Owen Valley's Branson Weaver (34-6), ranked eighth, had a dominant run to the semifinals before having to settle for fourth and his first trip to the state finals.

He took care of Evansville Reitz's Hayden Goff with a 16-1 technical fall and Trevor Hott of Martinsville with a 10-2 major to earn his spot at state.

Then he ran into No. 2 Cheaney Schoeff, who pinned him in 4:23 and won the title to remain undefeated. It was a rematch from the regional final in the third place bout, but Tell City's Kerby Glenn got the best of him this time with a 7-0 win.

South 5 knocked out

South also saw five others comes up short.

The biggest shocker was at 152 where No. 5 Evan Roudebush, a state qualifier last year who started with a pin in 54 seconds of Seymour's Sam Chandler, ran up against No. 6 Silas Stilts of Center Grove in Round 2. Roudebush (34-3) had won their last two meetings, including one at last year's semistate, but Stilts came up with a 3-1 win with a first-period takedown and an escape point with 10 seconds left.

"We've seen that kid four times, and we're 2-2 with him," Runyon said. "When you wrestle somebody of that caliber, it can go either way. They're two of the top kids in the state and its a shame they had to meet in the ticket round. It leaves a sour taste in your mouth."

Freshman Wyatt Cooksey (23-12) started off with a pin in 3:21 of Caleb Cooper of Columbus East before dropping a 13-3 major to No. 8 Odin Fortune of Evansville Reitz. At 145, freshman Hunter Fender was pinned in 3:42 by Bradley Owens of Jeffersonville.

Two Panther careers came to an end as senior Brant Turner lost a tough 3-0 decision to Keegan Williams of Evansville Memorial at 138. And at 195, senior Drew Chandler lost 12-5 to Scottsburg's Bryson Mata in his opener.

Center Grove (202½) won the team title over Brownsburg (180½) while South was sixth (50).

Edgewood empty handed

All three Edgewood wrestlers fell short of state and the way senior Cash Turner's high school career ended just added to the frustration.

Turner (38-2), ranked 12th, had no problems in his opener, pinning Gabe Pugh of Eastern (Pekin) in 2:49 to set up a battle with No. 10 Mason Day of Brownsburg. Turner (38-2) led 1-0 in the third, thanks to a stalling call on Day for backing out of the ring to avoid a takedown, when it got crazy, leaving his coach to wish high school's postseason in Indiana had video review.

More:Columbus North seniors push their way past Bloomington South

"Cash was on top and turned him but the ref didn't swipe it out," Edgewood coach Daniel Coyne said. "There were 11 seconds to go and the guy stood up and hit us with a reversal. He dropped down and had (Turner's) leg and we had his leg. Time ran out and one ref waved it off, then the other one threw up a '2'. They came together and decided it was a two(-point move.)

"I thought time was up. It was heartbreaking for sure. And it was not a reversal. At most, you could call an escape. He still had the leg. Cash wrestling well. Time was out. Where they got two from? It's hard to answer that."

At 113, freshman John Orman (26-9) came out with a 9-0 major over Henry Lovan of Providence but then ran into No. 5 Charlie LaRocca of Center Grove and it ended in a pin in 2:52.

"He had a phenomenal season, especially for a freshman," Coyne said. "It's kind of hard to walk into a semistate with Nos. 1, 4, 5, 6 and 8. And he's only 14 years old. He hasn't turned 15 yet. He's worked hard from Day 1. Lifted, ran, trained all summer. Never missed anything."

"He had an amazing first round and hit some shots we've been working on. A lot of that had to do with Cash, who has taken the time to work on shots and picks with him. So John was a young Cash Turner out there."

At 132, junior Landon Clement (25-12) was pinned in 3:10 by Columbus North's Justice Thornton.

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Hickok heartstoppers

Bloomington North junior Cael Hickok had a first trip to semistate to remember, short of earning a state berth.

The 160-pounder started off with a dramatic 5-3 win in sudden victory overtime over Peyton Bell of Evansville North. Hickok was up 2-1 before giving up takedown in the final 45 seconds but came up with escape as tiem would down to force OT. He got the takedown for the win.

In Round 2, more of the same as Hickok's opponent, Braden Moore of Charlestown, gave up two stalling points in the final seconds to send that match to OT. But this time, it was Moore who got the winning takedown late for an 8-6 win. Hickok finished 31-11.

Ousted Patriots

Owen Valley's Eli Hinshaw (220) and Bryce Mills (285) each won their openers before taking dramatic losses in the second round.

Hinshaw (35-3), ranked ninth, opened with a pin in 1:58 but then fell behind against No. 8 Nate Johnson of Center Grove. Johnson had to fend off a late surge by Hinshaw to win 6-5.

Mills started with a pin in 18 seconds, then got in a struggle with No. 15 Austin Vanover of Mater Dei. Mills (30-7) earned an escape point with 47 seconds left, but Vanover got a takedown 20 seconds later to post the 2-1 win.

Junior Kyvan Bandy (27-12) was pinned in 2:00 by No. 6 Caden Brewer of Brownsburg.

EVANSVILLE SEMISTATE

TOP TEAM SCORES: 1. Center Grove 202½; 2. Brownsburg 180½; 3. Evansville Mater Dei 81½; 4. Tell City 78½; 5. Avon 55; 6. Bloomington South 50; 7. Columbus East 42; 8. Southridge 30; 9. Cascade 26; Floyd Central 26. 18. Owen Valley 18½; 28. Edgewood 7; T39. Bloomington North 2.

Top 4 advance to state finals

106: 1. Revin Dickman, Brwnbg (37-5) d. Nathan Rioux, Av (36-5), 1-0; 3. Cam Meier, BSouth (34-4) d. Isaac Campbell, FlydC (32-4), 8-2. 113: 1. Charlie LaRocca, CG (38-2) d. Jackson Heaston, IndCrk (33-4), 8-2; 3. Preston Haines, Brwnbg (28-9) md. Isaac Ash, Monrovia (32-6), 8-0. 120: 1. Jake Hockaday, Brwnbg (29-4) md. Isaiah Schaefer, EMD (34-3), 11-3; 3. Eddie Goss, CG (37-5) md. Logan Bickel, Cascade (33-9), 8-0. 126: 1. Evan Seng, EMD (34-3) d. Chase Stephens, TCity (29-5), 3-0; 3. Landen Haines, Brwnbg (23-10) d. Hyatt Yeager, CG (32-8), 2-1. 132: 1. Joey Buttler, Whiteland (41-0) d. Brady Ison, Brwnbrg (26-5), 3-1; 3. Odin Fortune, Reitz (42-2) medical fft over Justice Thornton, Col N (39-3). 138: 1. Cheaney Schoeff, Av (40-0) tf. Reese Courtney, CG (33-8), 17-2; 3. Kelby Glenn, TCity (38-3) d. Branson Weaver, OV (34-6), 7-0. 145: 1. Wyatt Krejsa, CG (17-0) tf. Bradley Owen, Jeff (37-9), 16-1; 3. Luke Robards, Ev.Central (38-3) d. Mason Day, Brwnbg (29-11), 7-1. 152: 1. Hunter May, EMD (36-1) d. Silas Stilts, CG (33-9), 6-3; 3. Tyce DuPont, TCity (38-4) p. Gage Eckels, BenDavis (33-9), 2:02. 160: 1. Luke Kemper, EvCentral (38-2) d. Andre Merritt, CG (36-5), 10-7; 3. Michael Hutchison, Cascade (41-5) md. Braden Moore, Charlestown (29-9), 11-3. 170: 1. Delaney Ruhlman, BSouth (37-0) p. Noah Terry, TCity (39-4), 1:23; 3. Noah Clouser, CG (31-5) p. Jett Goldsberry, Heritage Hills (42-5), 1:37. 182: 1. Caden Brewer, Brwnbg (31-9) p. Julian Weems, CG (26-8), 2:36; 3. Bray Emerine, FlydC (27-3), d. Jackson Fox, Col E (33-7), 4-1. 195: 1. Reid Schroeder, Southridge (40-1) d. John Purdy, Castle (40-1), 9-5; 3. Gunner Henry, Brwnbg (31-8) d. Kaden McConnell, CG (37-3), 5-0. 220: 1. Tommy Morrill, Col E (38-1) d. Alex Rose, THSouth (37-4), 3-1; 3. Nate Johnson, CG (27-3) d. Spencer Watson, Tri-West (33-7), 10-4. 285: 1. Leighton Jones, Brwnbg (33-5) p. Kelton Farmer, Reitz (36-1), 2:37; 3. Tyler Schott, CG (31-11) d. Austin Vanover, EMD (29-9), 8-1.

Contact JIm Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com or 812-331-4381 and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: 3 for the show: Trio survive Evansville wrestling semistate