Vandals top Shelbyville for fifth straight dual team state appearance

LITCHFIELD – Tuesday’s sectional wrestling match was everything that was expected – a tough battle that would likely be decided in the last few matches.

Standing in the way of Vandalia’s return to the dual team state tournament was Shelbyville, which had edged the Vandals, 32-31, earlier in the season.

This time around, two late match pins and stellar performances from several other wrestlers gave the Vandals a 31-24 victory over Shelbyville and their fifth straight trip to the state finals

It’s their 16th trip in the last 20 years and the seventh state tournament in eight years for coach Jason Clay.

The Vandals will face No. 1 Dakota, which advanced, as expected, with a 60-13 win over Lena-Winslow.

With Tuesday’s match at Litchfield starting at 220, the Vandals fell behind 3-0 on a 4-0 decision, 9-0 on a pin and 12-0 on a 4-2 decision.

After sophomore Chaston Womack picked up a forfeit win and junior Ryne Lipsey’s 10-2 major decision win, the Vandals were within two at 12-10.

Shelbyville increased its lead to nine, 22-13, with Wyatt Fox earning a 3-2 victory over junior Dalton Blankenship by scoring two points right before the end of the third period.

Shelbyville was up 25-13 when C.J. Runkel brought the Vandals within six with a pin at 1:27.

Vandalia narrowed the gap to three, 25-22, with senior Seth Purcell’s 6-4 win at 170, and Shelbyville led by only two after a point was deducted when the Rams’ coach argued for an illegal hold.

Purcell and Lucas Duckett have had quite the rivalry this season, with Purcell winning 3-1 during the Dec. 11 matchup, but Duckett winning 7-4 in the sectional championship bout.

Junior Jake Stewart then put the Vandals ahead for the first time, 28-24, at 182 with a pin in 1:40, then sophomore Bobby Bradley sealed the win with a 1-0 victory.

Clay said that the match did go exactly as he and his assistant, Matt Shroyer, had mapped it out, and that the Vandals were able to return to state due to some great individual performances.

The Vandals fell behind 12-0 after freshman Trevor Philpot fell in a 4-2 decision, but Clay said Philpot gave the team a big boost.

“I knew it would be close, and Trevor had lost to that guy earlier in a major decision, but, as a freshman, he’s come a long way,” Clay said.

Sophomore Luke Tessman also lost on Tuesday, but Clay said his performance was outstanding. “He saved us two points against a state placer (Garrett Brachbill), and that was huge.”

Clay then projected two of the next three, what he called “swing matches,” but they picked up only one, senior Rodney Tedrick’s 7-1 win over state qualifier Jared Finley.

“Rodney’s match was big," Clay said. "He was a slight underdog, but their guy got hurt at the state tournament and Rodney took advantage of that.”

Though taking a team to state tournament is nothing new for Clay, he still is thrilled to take a group to the finals.

“It’s exciting, because you are going through it with a new group of kids, freshmen who have never been there and some kids who haven’t gotten a trophy,” he said.

“We try to make it our goal (to win a state championship) every year, and some years, it’s not totally realistic.

“But this group coming in, we got everybody back and healthy, C.J. (Runkel) and Seth (Purcell) were back in, and we knew that we had a good mix of young kids coming in, we knew it was realistic goal for this team,” Clay said.

In preparing for Dakota, Clay said, “We want the kids to work hard, stay sharp … we’re going to do the same thing we do for every match.

“Coach Shroyer and I will look at all of the possible matchups. If a team has a strength, we’re going to work on that. They’re good at running arm bars on top, but so are our guys.

“Our kids will be up for the challenge. Their goal all season long was to be state champions, so if you’re going to be state champs, you’ve got to beat Dakota,” Clay said.

Tuesday, Feb. 25
Vandalia 31
Shelbyville 24
•106: Zack Stirrett (S) def. Philpot, 4-2.
•113: Womack (V) won by forfeit.
•120: Lipsey (V) def. Trevor Brown, 10-2.
•126: Brachbill (S) def. Tessman, 14-4.
•132: Jared Hicks (S) def. Adam Palmer, 6-3.
•138: Tedrick (V) def. Finley, 7-1.
•145: Fox (S) def. Blankenship, 3-2.
•152: Adam Hudson (S) def. Tyler Dagen, 3-0.
•160: Runkel (V) def. Ben Houska by fall, 1:27.
•170: Purcell (V) def. Duckett, 6-4.
•182: Stewart (V) def. Noah Applegate by fall, 1:40.
•195: Bradley (V) def. Caleb Cloe, 1-0.
•220: Andrew Mudgett (S) def. Kolton Etcheson, 4-0.
•285: Elliott Smithson (S) def. Kendrick Woolsey by fall, 1:59.