FEBRUARY 20, 2009
After the first day of wrestling, Covington sits in third place overall at the thirteen-team Covington Division III wrestling tournament. Troy Christian leads the field followed by Brookville. Versailles currently sits in fourth place, followed by Miami East.

Seven of Covington’s ten competing wrestlers advanced to the semifinal round. Each of these seven wrestlers received a bye in the opening round, followed by a win in the quarterfinals. At 119 lbs, Matt Breisch earned a pin over Tyler Barga of Versailles before Sam Angle (125) gained a 17-1 technical fall over Jordan Cavin of Versailles. At 135 lbs, Tyler Tebbe advanced with a 34 second pin over Aaron King of Dixie, followed by Andrew DeHart’s 26 second pin over Zach Banks of Tri-County North at 145 lbs.

Josh McMillion (152) then scored a first period pin over Cody Stone of Arcanum, before Jake Jennings (160) earned a 15-5 major decision over Josh Liles of Arcanum. At 189 lbs, Josh Shefbuch advanced with a bye after a National Trail wrestler withdrew due to the flu.

Three additional wrestlers are alive in the consolation brackets. At 130 lbs, Brandon Flora fell in his opening bout to Troy Christian’s Michael Graham then advanced with a bye in consolation bracket. At 140 lbs, Cory Ely dropped a tight 2-0 overtime decision to Reed Pyers of Miami East, but bounced back in the consolations with a 7-1 victory over West Liberty-Salem’s Dalton Wilbur. At 171 lbs, Aaron Devenport also dropped a tight match, 2-1, to Brookville’s Corey O’Conner, but then advanced with a bye in the consolations.

Wrestling resumes on Saturday at 10:30 am with the semifinals and third consolation round being wrestled simultaneously. Finals will be at 6 pm.

FEBRUARY 21, 2009
Covington finished up in sixth place overall with 112.5 points after the second day of wrestling at the Division III sectional tournament. The Buccs advanced six of their ten wrestlers to districts with another two finishing up as district alternates.

Both Matt Breisch (119) and Andrew DeHart (145) advanced to the finals. Breisch won his semifinal bout with a 4-3 upset over no. 2 seed Britt Wooten of West Liberty-Salem, before dropping a 9-3 decision to state-placer Jordan Hancock of Troy Christian. DeHart earned an 11-3 major decision over Dixie’s Dustin Chatterton in the semis before dropping an 8-4 decision to another Troy Christian state-placer, Chris Burns, in the finals.

Jake Jennings advanced to districts with a third-place finish at 160 lbs. Jennings fell in the semifinals to two-time state champion Zach Toal of Troy Christian before rebounding with a 10-5 decision over Nick Wright of Brookville. Jennings then won his final bout by injury default over Tyler Bey of Versailles.

Finishing in fourth place for the Buccs and earning the final district berths in their respective weight classes were Sam Angle (125), Josh McMillion (152) and Josh Shefbuch (189). Angle dropped his semifinal bout to Pawlos Campbell of Troy Christian before advancing to districts with a come-from-behind 4-3 victory over Nick Wirrig of Tri-County North. He then dropped a tight 4-2 decision to Jon Hutchinson of Dixie in his final bout.

McMillion dropped his semifinal bout to Thomas Fullenkamp of Versailles before rebounding with a 7-5 decision over Jacob Schlater of Tri-County North in the consolation semifinals. He then lost his final bout 6-4 to Jon Wright of Miami East. Shefbuch fell to Sam Akins of Troy Christian in the semis before earning a pin over Versailles’ Devin Oliver to advance. He was leading his final bout 9-0 over Connor Domsitz of Brookville before getting caught in a cradle and pinned, to take fourth.

Both Brandon Flora (130) and Tyler Tebbe (135) finished up in fifth place as district alternates. Flora dropped a 5-3 decision to Nick Lipinski of Brookville in the consolation semifinals before finishing up with a 5-3 victory over Seth Maurice of Triad. Flora finished up his sophomore season with a 12-13 record – wrestling up one weight class from his natural weight.

Tebbe dropped his semifinal bout to Garrett Harris of Miami East to send him to the consolation semifinals versus Tyler Drew of National Trail. Tebbe was leading the match that would have sent him to districts, but got caught in a headlock and pinned. He then rebounded with a quick 55 second pin over Aaron King of Dixie to take fifth. Tebbe finished his sophomore campaign with a 29-11 record.

Losing in the third consolation rounds – one short of placement – were Cory Ely (140) and Aaron Devenport (171). Ely dropped his match to Brookville’s Brendan Osborne to finish up his sophomore season with a 26-14 record. Devenport fell to the no. 1 seed Corey Thompson of West Liberty-Salem, who was upset in the quarterfinals. Despite wrestling up two weight classes from his natural weight – and giving up nearly twenty pounds – Devenport finished his junior season with a solid 23-12 overall record.

The Southwest Division III District tournament will be held on Friday and Saturday, February 27 and 28.