Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
His nemesis again got the best of him.
Carr is 41-2 this year. Both losses came to East Chicago Central's Billy Maldonaldo.
Maldonaldo beat him 4-2 early in the regular season.
Maldonaldo beat Carr 3-2 in the state championship match. Maldonaldo won the state championship last year in the 130 weight class. He went 41-2 en route to winning the state title this year.
Carr wrestled Maldonaldo six times since the seventh grade. Maldonaldo went 4-2 against Carr.
Carr, who has a 113-10 record since his sophomore year, finished seventh at last year's state finals.
Darrell's brother, Kevin, also wrestled in Saturday's state finals. He finished fourth, losing a 5-2 decision to Edgewood's Donald Whiffen in the 125-pound weight class. Whiffen entered the state competiton with a 35-3 record.
Kevin is 41-3 this year and 81-12 over the last two years.
Beech Grove's Steve Bradley, who was 38-0, won the state title in the 125 weight class. Like Maldonaldo, he won a state title for the second straight year. Bradley won the state championship in the 119 weight class last year.
Kevin, a sophomore, has placed at state both times he's been there. He placed fifth as a freshman.
Wawasee's Shaun Belin also wrestled in the state finals in the 152 weight class. Belin, 38-3, lost a 7-4 first-round decision Friday to Mishawaka's Jason Berndt and did not place. Berndt improved to 42-1 with the win over Belin.
All three Wawasee wrestlers will return to state with the whole Warrior team next Saturday. The Warriors are still in the running for the team state title after upsetting No. 2 Bellmont 31-30 two weeks ago in the semistate match.
Wawasee, ranked No. 12 in the last coaches' poll, faces Carmel, ranked No. 3, in the first round of the Saturday state finals.
John Kopnisky and Todd Wright have given Carmel its first individual wrestling champions in 18 years.
Kopnisky, who finished third in the state last year, finished out a perfect 41-0 season with a 6-3 victory over Zionsville's Shane Wagner in the 160-pound final Saturday at Market Square Arena.
Moments later at 189 pounds, Wright rallied from a 3-1 final-period deficit to score a 6-4 decision over Warren Central's Richard Clevenger.
It had been even longer since Pendleton Heights had an individual champion. When Donny Sands edged Center Grove's Joey Strausburg 8-4 for the 145-pound title, it marked the first state champion in any sport in the history of Pendleton Heights.
At 125 pounds, Beech Grove's Steven Bradley won his second consecutive state championship with a 5-1 victory over Decatur Central's John Leavell.
Bradley finished the season 38-0, and has now won 85 consecutive matches over the last two seasons.
Southport's Joe Willis became that school's first individual state champion since Jeff Pollak in 1978 when he defeated Madison's Dustin Bentz 5-2 in the heavyweight finals. Willis finished the season 36-0. Kopnisky was the other local wrestler who finished the season unbeaten.
In the 140-pound final, Cathedral's Eric Sakon edged Roncalli's David Himes 6-4 for the championship. Sakon (42-3) broke a 4-4 tie with a two-point takedown with 35 seconds remaining in the match.
At 130, Plainfield's Brian Smiley scored a 10-5 decision over Hammond's Adam Johnston.
Other individuals who were crowned state champions included a pair of defending champions. Portage's Leroy Vega defended his crown at 112, while East Chicago Central's Bill Maldonado improved to 41-2 with a victory at 135.
Northwood's Gary Schmucker won at 103, Princeton's Josh Hardy took the title at 171 and Fort Wayne Dwenger's Anton Talamantes took home the 215-pound state crown.
