Day 1: Friday, February 17, 2006 – COVINGTON
After the first night of competition at the Division III Covington sectional, the Buccs sit right in the middle of the pack, currently in eighth place with 42 points. Versailles is leading with 98.5 points followed by Dixie with 87 points. Covington advanced four wrestlers into the semifinal round, three of their four seeded wrestlers and one additional wrestler.

At 112 lbs, no. 4 seed Jordan Tebbe advanced with a bye and a second round pin over Cody Ruppert of Brookville. He will face the no. 1 seed Jon Gulley of Tri-County North in the semifinals. At 135 lbs, Richie Watkins, the no. 4 seed, lost an 11-7 decision in the second round to Aaron Coons of Versailles, a wrestler he dominated two weeks ago. Watkins, who is battling the flu, did his best in the match, but didn’t have much in the tank. He was forced to forfeit his first consolation bout due to his illness, and finished his season with a 17-11 record.

The two remaining seeded wrestlers took care of business with first round byes followed by second round pins. At 189 lbs, Logan Brown recorded his 100th career pin in his victory over Zach Frantz of Lehman. He currently has 29 for the season and is on pace to break his school record 31 single-season pins he earned as a sophomore. No. 2 seed C.J. Potter (275 lbs) also advanced to the semifinals with a first period pin over Mike Williams of Twin Valley South. He faces Mike Treon of Versailles next.

At 215 lbs, Jake Wise generated some excitement with his second round upset over the no. 4 seed Jeff Ward of Lehman. Wise, who earlier in the season was pinned by Ward, wrestled a solid match and earned a 5-1 victory. Jake will face Bill Heilman of Miami East in the semifinals.

Six additional wrestlers are alive in the consolation rounds. At 145 lbs, Bobby Wiltshire dropped a tight 7-5 decision to the no. 2 seed David Lowe of Northridge, before winning his first consolation bout by pin over Kyle Nies of Twin Valley South. Logan Hall (160 lbs) and Brian Ely (171 lbs) both drew the no. 1 seeds, Zack Ziegler and Blaine Klaus of Mechanicsburg, dropping their bouts 8-1 and 12-6 respectively.

At 140 lbs, Justin McMillion earned a first period pin over Bill Langley of National Trail before falling in the second round, 9-2, to the no. 3 seed Trent Barga of Versailles. McMillion then rebounded with a pin over John Carey of Stivers. Jake Jennings (119 lbs) and Quentin Layman (125 lbs) fell to the no.1 and no.2 seeds in their weight classes then advanced to the second round of consolations with byes.

Freshmen Sam Herron (103 lbs) and Cody Swabb (130 lbs) didn’t have the luck of the draw and found their seasons come to an end. Herron lost his first match to the no. 2 seed Josh Cummins of Dixie before falling to the alternate seed Jordan Deady of Triad. Swabb lost his first bout to the no. 3 seed Nick Moore of Dixie before losing his next match to the no. 4 seed Bryce Dudley of Tri-County North.

Wrestling resumes on Saturday at 10:30 am. The finals, set to begin at 6:00 pm, should provide plenty of action as this sectional boasts seven returning state placers and eleven returning state qualifiers ˆ more than the other three sectionals that feed into the Southwest District combined.

Day 2: Saturday, February 18, 2006 – COVINGTON
IAfter the final rounds of wrestling at the Covington Division III Sectional, the Buccs finished in seventh place out of fifteen teams with 118 points – a respectable finish given the quality of teams competing compared to the other three sectionals feeding into the Southwest District tournament. Troy Christian took home the championship with 223 points followed by runner-up Versailles with 172 points. In all, eight of Covington’s thirteen wrestlers placed in the top five – four advancing on to the District tournament as competitors and four others as District alternates.

At 189 lbs, Logan Brown won his second consecutive sectional championship with a solid 8-4 victory over Russ Beisner of Versailles and improved his season record to 44-0. He won his semifinal bout with a pin over Dustin Saum of Dixie. At 275 lbs, C.J. Potter also competed in the finals, but dropped an 8-2 decision to Adam Salyers of Mechanicsburg to take second place. Potter pinned his semifinal opponent, Mike Treon of Versailles, to advance to the finals.

Also qualifying for Districts with fourth place finishes were Jordan Tebbe (112 lbs) and Brian Ely (171 lbs). Tebbe lost his semifinal bout to no. 1 seed Jon Gulley of Tri-County North, but qualified to Districts with a 23-10 major decision over Daniel Davis of Northridge. He lost his final match to Cody McGillvary of Miami East, 12-6.

After falling to the no. 1 seed in the opening round, Ely battled back through the consolation rounds with a 32 second pin over Jerrod Clack of Tri-County North and a 9-3 decision over no. 4 seed Steve Wampler of Brookville. Ely then forfeited his final bout to Jake McGillvary of Miami East due to an injury.

Four additional Buccaneer wrestlers fell just short of qualifying to the District tournament. At 119 lbs, freshman Jake Jennings won a hard-fought 5-4 decision over Tony Ewers of Brookville before dropping his consolation semifinal match in a tight 5-3 overtime decision to D’angelo Marshall of Stivers – their school’s first District qualifier. Jennings then became an alternate as a fifth place finisher with a 5-0 victory over Tyler Drew of National Trail.

At 145 lbs, Bobby Wiltshire battled through the consolation rounds with a pin over Kyle Nies of Twin Valley South and a 7-4 decision over William Moore of Miami East. In his consolation semifinal bout, Wiltshire dropped a back-and-forth 6-4 decision to Chris Parker of West Liberty Salem. He then won his fifth place bout and became an alternate with a forfeit over Kyle Kueterman of Versailles. Wiltshire finished his senior season with a 36-11 record.

Logan Hall, wrestling at 160 lbs, also finished in fifth place as an alternate with a second period pin over Tyler Church of Miami East. In the consolation bracket, Hall defeated Mike Crowley of Twin Valley South then avenged an earlier season loss with a 5-2 victory over David Coons of Versailles. Logan then dropped his consolation semifinal match by fall to no. 2 seed Tyler Wilson of Dixie.

At 215 lbs, Jake Wise almost made it into the championship finals, but lost his semifinal bout in overtime to Bill Heilman of Miami East, 4-2. He then dropped his consolation semifinal bout to the no. 1 seed Michael Wagner of Triad before earning a fifth place finish with a 4-2 victory over Jeff Ward of Lehman.

Earlier in the day, freshman Quentin Layman (125 lbs) just missed placing in the tournament as he dropped an up-and-down 7-6 decision to Ben Freytag of Lehman. At 140 lbs, Justin McMillion was also one win from placing, but dropped his final consolation bout to no. 1 seed Kyle Rutan of Mechanicsburg, 6-4.