North Montgomery has won the last three Montgomery County wrestling titles, but Crawfordsville and Southmont are both ready for their chances against a Charger team that is in the middle of a rebuilding season.
Looking for their first county title since 2015, the Mounties will look to do it with a complete team effort.
“We’ve just got to have a team effort out of all 14 guys,” Southmont coach Jamie Welliever said. “That’s what we’ve been working on all year, and that’s what we will continue to work on. If everybody contributes then that’s doing as good as you can. Hopefully all 14 come ready to go.”
Southmont is 11-2 on the season, and led by 12-1 wrestlers Noah Benge and Riley Woodall. Ty Welliever is 11-2, while Collin Martin is 10-3.
For North Montgomery, the 8-4 Chargers will look to defend their title for a third-straight year without a complete lineup, and with many first-year varsity wrestlers.
“We have mostly a full line-up, but we cannot give up pins and have to get pins from our more experienced guys to be able to overcome giving up some points to forfeits,” North Montgomery coach Bryce McCoy said.
A foursome of those experienced wrestlers enter Saturday undefeated on the season. Baydin Hall (120), Dawson McCloud (182), Jacob Braun (195), and Drew Webster (220) are all a perfect 12-0 on the season.
Hall will see Benge in the 120 pound matchup, while McCloud will meet Woodall at 182, and Braun will meet Martin at 195. Crawfordsville’s 8-4 Ethan Conkright will see Hall and Benge at 120, while 8-4 Ethan Patton will meet McCloud and Woodall at 182.
McCoy knows the Chargers will have to lean heavily on their upperclassmen to stay on top of the county.
“Our upperclassmen have been here before and have won the county so we just try to draw from their past success and use that to our advantage the best way we can,” he said.
Crawfordsville enters with an 8-4 record, and features a pair of 11-1 wrestlers in Clayton Owens (145) and Kalob Brown at heavyweight.
“We have to be ready to go for every match,” Athenians coach Chris Ervin said. “We need to be the aggressors, and we need to put two solid duals together back-to-back. They will both be tough opponents and we need to be ready to perform right away in the morning.”
While all three teams won at least 19 matches last season, each lost key varsity wrestlers, and the Athenians have the least to lose with a young team searching for their first county title since 2009.
“I think that some of our younger guys have some confidence due to their early season success,” Ervin said. “If they truly believe that they can compete, good things will happen.”
Last December, North Montgomery defeated Southmont 38-30 and Crawfordsville 50-18, while Southmont beat Crawfordsville 48-29.
Wrestling starts at 9 a.m. on Saturday at Southmont.
