Warriors Rip Through Regional

Scott DeHart sat down and looked over his wrestling lineup, matching up his team with the crew from Carroll.

Yep, he figured, his Wawasee Warriors should escape with an eight-point win over Carroll in the first round of Tuesday's Churubusco Regional. Considering margin of error, it could be a few points less or a few points more.

Problem was, DeHart didn't make his margin of error big enough. His Warriors won, all right. They won 51-19. It was a a 32-point win instead of an eight-point win.

It also left one stunned Scott DeHart.

"Heavens no, I didn't think we'd win 51-19," he said. "The Carroll match shocked me."

The win over Carroll was a payback for the Warriors, ranked No. 12 in this week's poll. After they beat No. 19 Fort Wayne Northrop in the first round of last year's regional, they lost to Carroll in the regional finals.

Beating Carroll shuttled the Warriors into the regional championship against the Homestead Spartans, who beat Fort Wayne Northrop 43-19 in the first round.

This was even worse. For Homestead, that is. Wawasee won 56-13.

The Warriors have charged through two rounds of the state tournament, demolishing every opponent in the way. They won Saturday's East Noble Sectional with 280 points. Second-place Westview had 138.

Now they win by 32 and 43 points in the regional. Carroll was ranked No. 18. Homestead wasn't ranked. But winning two yawners in the regional, for Pete's sake? What in the name of Hulk Hogan is going on here?

What's going on is the Midas Touch. The Warriors have it.

John Merchant (140 pounds) is out with a bone chip in his elbow. DeHart shuffles his lineup. He moves Darrell Carr to 140 and plugs in Tyler Cline in Carr's vacated 135 spot. All Cline does is overcome a 13-6 deficit by pinning Carroll's Dusty Runkle in the last two-minute period.

Cline's win pushed Wawasee ahead 23-4.

"I thought there were a couple of turning points in the Carroll match," DeHart said. "One was Tyler Cline coming back to win his match."

Cline then pinned Homestead's Bryan Puls in the championship.

"We expect that out of the young kids," DeHart said. "Cline steps in for us as a sophomore. Once they get in the lineup, it's up to them to make the most of it."

Then there is heavyweight Jamie Salazar, a first-year sophomore wrestler. He knocked off Westview's Kevin Gall, who is ranked No. 15 in the state, in the sectional.

At the regional, he pinned Carroll's Bryan Cass and pinned Homestead's Jacob Haugh. He was 14-11 before these wins. Now all he's missing is the S on his chest and the cape on his back.

When DeHart talks about Salazar, he beams like the dad who has been handed the all-A report card from his boy.

"I'll tell you who is really wrestling well now," DeHart said. "Salazar is wrestling well."

Of course, DeHart always has the old standbys. Chet Wortinger (103), Travis Coy (112), Kevin Carr (125), Darrell Carr (140), Jason Carr (145), Shaun Belin (152) and Rob Burke (160) went 2-0 at the regional. They are a combined 192-27 this season.

Burke wrestled in the match that clinched Wawasee's regional championship. When he pinned Homestead's Ryan Schott, he gave Wawasee a 44-9 lead and with four matches left, mathematically eliminated any Homestead chance to catch Wawasee.

DeHart was offtarget figuring the win over Carroll, but he hit the bullseye on this one.

"I knew where we were at pointwise," DeHart said. "I knew Burke was wrestling a key match."

Winning the Churubusco Regional means the Warriors are alive as individuals and as a team. Wrestling has two postseasons. You see how far your team can go, and you see how far individuals can go.

On Saturday, the Warriors wrestle in the regional for individuals at Carroll (Allen) High School. Each wrestler is out to try to get to state. Some may make it, some may not. Those who do well at the regional go on. Team scores are not tallied.

On Wednesday, the Warriors (13-3) wrestle Bellmont in the Huntington North Semistate. This is their reward for beating Carroll and Homestead. This is the team part of the postseason. If Wawasee beats Bellmont, the whole team advances to state. If Wawasee loses, the whole team is done for the season.

No matter what the team does, Wawasee could still have wrestlers alive in the individual postseason tournament.

Bellmont is ranked No. 2 in this week's poll. Wawasee wrestled them early this season and lost by 12. The 12 points were two forfeits that cost the Warriors six points each. On the mat, the Warriors wrestled them to a draw.

Rest assured, Wawasee will not have any forfeits this time. The Warrior wrestling team is peaking now, in the postseason.

"We've gotten better every week," DeHart said. "Our kids have exploded. They are like sharks in water after blood. They just believe...they just believe."