W VIDEO: Indiana Wrestling Report on the state finals!!!

Another exciting wrestling season finds itself in individual state finals week in Indiana. As usual, most of the highlights will see little coverage in traditional media outlets. So, Hoosier Authority has decided to devote a weekly show to action on the mats.

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO IN THE PLAYER TO THE RIGHT OF THE PAGE!!

Thus we bring you the “Indiana Wrestling Report” with Hoosier Authority Executive Director Mike McGraw and assistant coach Matt Schoettle of defending state champion Perry Meridian. During the year, Mike & Matt will focus on the top teams, individual wrestlers, and human-interest stories the sport has to offer in the Hoosier state.

This week, Episode 10 focuses in two parts on a class-by-class preview of some of the big earlier matches expected to take place Feb. 17-18 at Banker’s Life Fieldhouse (formerly Conseco Fieldhouse) – a tournament that Matt thinks might be one of the best ever. Some of those Friday preliminary and Saturday pre-finals matches include:

• 106: Once-beaten No. 3 Tommy Cash New Palestine vs. No. 10 Damon Kuhn Evansville Reitz – and if anyone will have anything for undefeated defending state champion Nathan Boston of Lawrence North
• 113: Unbeaten No. 2 Brandon James of Perry Meridian in a possible quarterfinal battle with either No. 10 Anthony Schoettle of Center Grove or Sam Lovejoy of Fort Wayne Luers – and if anyone will have anything for undefeated top-ranked Jarred Brooks of Warsaw
• 120 (perhaps the tourney’s most loaded class): No. 8 Adam Garcia of Merrillville vs. No. 6 Andrice Martin of Franklin Central and No. 11 Brock Bevans of Yorktown vs. No. 5 Alonzo Shepherd of Jeffersonville
• 126: Once-beaten No. 3 Nick Crume of Jimtown vs. two-time state champ No. 2 Cody Phillips of Union County – plus dealing with the shadow of unbeaten top-ranked defending state champ Kyle Ayersman of Lake Central
• 132: No. 4 Trevor Moody of Evansville Reitz in a potential quarterfinals matchup with once-beaten top-ranked defending state champion Jared McKinley, who might have to then face No. 5 Tommy Forte of Mishawaka in the semis before a possible highly anticipated championship battle with undefeated No. 2 Neal Molloy of Danville
• 138: No. 4 Nick Bova of Perry Meridian vs. No. 15 Jordan Judy of Danville and No. 3 Mitch Hartman of South Bend Clay vs. No. 11 Michael Nix of Fort Wayne Dwenger
• 145 (where undefeated top-ranked Jason Tsirtsis getting his fourth title to match brother Alex’s feat eight years ago at Griffith is all but assumed): No. 3 Charlie Mavros of Hanover Central vs. No. 7 Rhett Hiestand of Yorktown
• 152: No. 8 Ethan Farmer of Bloomington South vs. Zach Beebe of Angola and No. 18 Gino Gillum of Indianapolis Cathedral vs. Daniel Ginter of Penn – plus a probable quarterfinals showdown between unbeaten top-ranked Conner Mullins of New Castle vs. once-beaten No. 3 Quincy Richey of Brown County
• 160: A pair of likely quarterfinals bouts featuring No. 2 Kirk Johnson of Perry Meridian vs. once-beaten No. 3 Bobby Steveson of Merrillville and undefeated top-ranked Brian Harvey of Indianapolis Cathedral vs. No. 8 Scottie Sopko of Hobart
• 170: No 11 Clayton Fiddler of Bloomington South vs. No. 15 Ethan Dale of McCutcheon
• 182: Unbeaten No. 4 Dalton Brandenstein of Evansville Mater Dei vs. No. 7 Dominic Fimbianti of Munster and No. 5 Dakota Thacker of Bloomington South vs. No. 3 Matt Hurford of Culver Community
• 195: No. 9 Jaylin Allen of South Bend Clay vs. Mater Dei’s No. 3 Dane Maurer, the brother of four-time state champ Blake Maurer who is undefeated after not wrestling his first three years of high school
• 220: Top-ranked Tyler Kral of Crown Point vs. once-beaten Cameron Colby of Kokomo
• 285: A wide-open heavyweight field where takedowns, as always, will be critical

Be sure to check back each week for the next installment of this video series so you can stay up to date with all the inside news on wrestling this season – only from HoosierAuthority.com, the Indiana high school sports authority!