NEW CASTLE — North Montgomery’s Drew Webster became the first Charger wrestler to win two semi-state championships on Saturday, by defeating Franklin Central’s Deshawn Young in the 220 pound final at the New Castle IHSAA semi-state.
“It’s awesome,” North Montgomery coach Bryce McCoy said. “Obviously North Montgomery wrestling has been a staple in the area for many tears, and it’s just a great accomplishment for anyone that has come out of the county.”
For a second straight season, Webster entered the finals with three-straight pins under his belt, and held on for a close victory in the finals. The senior defeated Young 1-0 on Saturday with an escape in the third period as the only points of the match.
“It was mostly the same,” Webster said about the path to his second-straight title. “but main difference was experience and I wasn’t as nervous before all the matches. Last year I’ll be pretty honest, I was pretty nervous before every match. I was more calm and collected today.”
Last year Webster pinned Young in the second round of the semi-state, so he expected the Franklin Central senior to want to wrestle the entire match on his feet.
“I feel like he knows how good I am when I get on top of somebody,” Webster said. “On our feet he wasn’t doing much, and there wasn’t much I could do either, besides get that escape.”
Young let Webster up to start the third period, but never threatened to score a take down, despite the entire match being wrestled from the neutral position.
Webster’s brother, Tanner, became North Montgomery’s first semi-state champion in 2017 by winning at 170 pounds, while Drew has won both of his at 220.
“It means a lot to me,” he said. “My older brother being the first to win a semi-state championship and then me to win two, it’s pretty nice and pretty cool experience for me to be able to accomplish something like that.”
Webster entered the semi-state final with nine pins in nine postseason matches, and McCoy feels like a close win will help heading into the state finals.
“I think it was a bit of a reality check and I think it will help him stay motivated and focused going into next week,” he said.
Webster is now 41-0 and will start his quest for a state title on Friday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
North Montgomery’s Dawson McCloud (182) saw his senior season come to an end with a second-round 5-0 loss to eventual semi-state runner-up in Indianapolis Lutheran’s Hayden Filipovich. McCloud defeated Hamilton Heights’ Kolton Myers with a second period fall in the first round.
Also at 182, Southmont’s Riley Woodall won his opening match with a second period fall over Pendleton Heights’ Colin Gillespie, before falling to eventual semi-state champion 6-2 in Perry Meridian’s Aiden Warren in the second round.
Ty Welliever pulled out an upset win by fall over Perry Meridian’s Jujuan Dale in the first round at 170, but fell by fall to eventual semi-state runner-up Bradley Harrington of North Central in the second round.
At 106 Southmont’s Kion Cornelius lost by fall to eventual state qualifier Evan Dickey of Indianapolis Cathedral, while Dillan Lauy lost by fall in the first round to eventual semi-state runner-up at 126 in Warren Central’s David Person.
