NEW MARKET — It was just their second home meet of the season and it was also the last for Southmont wrestling as they hosted South Vermillion on Tuesday.
With it being their last home meet of the season Southmont celebrated their six seniors in Noah Benge, Eyan Endicott, Gerald Hutson, Collin Martin, Zayden Dunn, and manager Taylor Grino for senior night as the Mounties were able to defeat the Wildcats 57-21 to improve to 12-1 on the season.
“Our seniors really brought it tonight,” Southmont coach Jamie Welliever said. “This is the last time that they are going to wrestle in their home gym so they keyed up for this and they led the way for us. I told the underclassmen that its their job to make sure that these seniors have a night to remember.”
All four varsity seniors in Benge (120), Hutson (138), Martin (220), and Dunn (Hwt) all were victorious in their respective matches. Dunn’s match took double-overtime, but he was still able to come out on top with a 3-2 win. Endicott received a win via forfeit and Grino according to Welliever “kept a perfect score book”.
“South Vermillion is a very good team,” Welliever said. “They’ve done well this year so I thought we came out and wrestled really well. After the long weekend at Calumet I wasn’t quite sure how we’d come back, but I can’t complain one bit.”
Southmont’s lone loss on the season came against a very talented Westfield team over the weekend. Besides that, Southmont is looking like they’re poised to make some real noise as the season continues as they get contributions from everyone throughout their lineup.
“These kids are simply just doing what we’ve been practicing on,” Welliever said. “They come out and want to get better. If it’s a specific technique they learn and then go and execute in a match. That’s a lot easier said then done because you don’t always get a whole team of guys who buy in. This group is willing to keep pushing themselves to do the coaches thinks best for them.”
Thomas Woods for the Mounties fell at 113 while Jeffrey Pine lost a 7-6 decision at 126. Kaden Newgent was defeated at 152 and Max Musick fell at 160. Despite those four losses, Southmont was able to win their other ten on the night including Brier Riggle at 110, Maddox Cade at 132, Marlin Williams at 145, Elijah Neal at 170, Tyler Davis at 182, and Wyatt Woodall at 195 to go along with the four seniors who also picked up wins.
“They’re really starting to see everything pay off on the mat,” Welliever said of his squad. “Everyone just really feeds off of everyone else. Our younger guys who have had success see the path that our seniors have paved and we’re in a really good spot right now.”
Southmont will look to make three-straight county titles when they return to action Saturday morning at North Montgomery for the county meet.
“That’s one of this teams goals again,” Welliever said. “We’re heading in the right direction and hopefully we can keep everyone healthy and go and compete and see what happens.”
