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Frosh Holloway joins returnees Brady Beck, Deming, Brant Beck, Horn
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Rochester’s Brady Beck wrestles against Crown Point’s Paul Clark during their heavyweight title match at the East Chicago semistate. A matchup between the top two heavyweights in the IndianaMat.com rankings, Clark won 6-3 in an ultimate tiebreaker. By finishing second, Brady Beck qualified for state for the third straight year. (photo provided by Paul Deming)
EAST CHICAGO — The first two rounds of a wrestling semistate are about determining who will make the IHSAA state finals.
The last two rounds are about seeing who is positioning themselves well for the state finals. And it’s a little bit about setting up a rivalry for an even bigger match in a week’s time.
Therefore, there might be two headlines coming from the East Chicago semistate Saturday.
First, the Rochester wrestling team made history by advancing five wrestlers to state.
Second, Rochester has now joined the rivalry between Crown Point and Penn that usually manifests itself when it comes to East Chicago.
How much more history is yet to come?
Rochester’s Brant Beck (165), left, squares off against Lake Central’s Emilio Tirado in the semifinals of the East Chicago semistate Saturday. Beck was leading 23-8 when the match ended by technical fall in 4:47. Beck would go on to finish in second place and advance to the IHSAA state finals. (photo provided by Paul Deming)
The five Rochester wrestlers advancing to state include Brant Beck, who was second at 165 pounds; Brady Beck, who was second at 285; Layne Horn, who was third at 126; Alex Deming, who was fourth at 215; and Grant Holloway, who was fourth at 106.
The top four in each weight class advanced to state, which will be held at the Ford Center in Evansville this Friday and Saturday. There were 16 wrestlers in each weight class at the start of the day.
Brady Beck and Deming are headed to state for the third straight year. Horn and Brant Beck are headed to state for the second straight year. Holloway is a freshman.
Rochester sent four wrestlers to state in 2022 and 2023, which was the previous school record.
Rochester’s Layne Horn (126) faces off against fellow sophomore Kristian Tapia of Portage in the ticket round of the East Chicago semistate Saturday. Horn won by fall in 1:53 and would go on to finish in third place and qualify for state. (photo provided by Paul Deming)
“We’ve got plenty to work on this week,” Rochester coach Clint Gard said. “We got five qualifiers, which is nice and the most we’ve ever had in school history, and we still have a ton to work on, so that’s a good thing, I think.”
Four other Zebras participated at semistate but did not advance.
D.J. Basham (132) lost his first-round match at semistate and was eliminated.
Wyatt Davis (150), Declan Gard (175) and Colin Weiand (190) all won their first-round matches but lost in the second round and were eliminated.
Basham and Weiand are seniors whose prep wrestling careers ended.
As a team, Rochester scored 83.5 points and finished in third place. Crown Point won with 257, and Penn was second with 98.
Crown Point advanced 12 wrestlers to state and will be among the favorites to win the state title. The Bulldogs are aiming for their third straight state title.
Horn, Brant Beck, Deming and Brady Beck all suffered their first losses of the season.
Horn, Brant Beck and Brady Beck all lost to wrestlers from Crown Point.
Deming lost to Hanover Central’s Jayden Bartoszek 4-3 in the semifinals and to McCutcheon’s Cole Chicoine in the third-place match.
Rochester freshman Grant Holloway points to the Zebra fans at the East Chicago semistate following his win by fall in 2:27 over Rensselaer’s Kolby Robinson in the ticket round. Holloway qualified for state less than two months after undergoing knee surgery. That’s assistant coach Derrick Holloway, Grant’s father, in the background. (photo provided by Paul Deming)
This marked Rochester’s first trip back to the East Chicago semistate after a six-year absence. Rochester was assigned to the Peru sectional, which fed into the Fort Wayne semistate from 2018-23. They won the Fort Wayne semistate each of the last two years.
They also gained recognition after winning the Class 1A team state duals in December.
“We’re all here to wrestle, and we’re all here to try to move ahead and get better and win matches,” coach Gard said. “I think coming to this semistate and placing third isn’t too bad. … We had a good showing. We didn’t have a great showing. But this is a heck of a tough semistate. So we’re going to have to get better to compete with Crown Point, do some things differently with them. And that will be our goal. We’re not just going to come in here and settle for second, third, fourth place, at least while I’m still coaching.
“We’re going to have to get better. We will.”
Grant Holloway
Holloway began his day with a 16-1 technical fall over fellow freshman Julian Deluna of Hanover Central. He got a takedown and a near fall in the first period to take a 5-0 lead and got a takedown on a counter in the second period to make it 7-0.
He let Deluna back up for an escape before a takedown and a two-point near fall to make it 11-1.
A reversal and a three-point near-fall in the third period ended the match in 4:17.
Holloway then dominated Rensselaer’s Kolby Robinson in the ticket round. Robinson came in with a 44-2 record, but Holloway got an early takedown and five points worth of near falls in the first period to make it 7-0.
He then bundled up Robinson 27 seconds into the second period. After the official slapped the mat, an elated Holloway jumped up and pointed with both index fingers to the Rochester cheering section.
Holloway had advanced to state less than two months after undergoing knee surgery for a torn meniscus.
“He’s just small right now, but I thought he wrestled well against the first two kids,” coach Gard said. “We thought he had a really good draw, and it worked out for him. He wrestled well.”
Holloway then lost to Lake Central’s undefeated Mason Jones by fall in 30 seconds in the semifinals and by fall in 1:43 to rival Alonzo Chantea of Plymouth in the third-place match.
Normally the playground of freshmen and sophomores, Jones and Chantea were the only two seniors in the 106 field at East Chicago.
Layne Horn
Horn made state as a 106-pound freshman last year and goes again as a 126-pound sophomore.
Horn qualified for state by controlling each of his first two opponents from the top position and getting first-period falls: John Glenn’s Josh Chapman lasted 1:42 and Portage’s Kristian Tapia 1:53 before Horn got to his wing maneuver combined with a half-nelson.
Horn then lost to Crown Point’s top-ranked Landon Hawkins in the final, giving up a reversal in the third period and losing 2-0.
Horn could not get an escape as Hawkins clung to his torso from the top position. The match remained scoreless until Hawkins got his reversal.
“Layne gave up kind of a silly reversal there in the third period,” coach Gard said. “So zero-zero, we go down in the second period, they ride us out, not really trying to turn us, not really trying to break us down at all. And then they go down on us, and he gets a reversal. You watch them, and that’s kind of how they wrestle, and a lot of kids fall into that. So we’ve got to do a better job of scoring points early and not allowing them to use that philosophy or whatever you want to call it.”
Horn then bounced back to beat Penn’s Dylan Bennett 3-0 in the third-place match. Horn also beat Bennett by decision in the regional final at Penn a week earlier.
Brant Beck
An energetic dervish, Brant Beck, a sophomore, began his day by ending Highland senior Hunter Sopkowski’s prep career with a fall in 52 seconds, as Sopkowski appeared to roll right into the fall.
Brant Beck then defeated Chesterton sophomore Lucas Anderson and Lake Central junior Emilio Tirado in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, winning both by technical fall. Brant Beck would give each wrestler an escape just so he could take them down again and pile on the back points.
His championship match against Crown Point’s top-ranked Anthony Rinehart was scoreless in the second period before Rinehart got an escape and a takedown and won 3-0.
Rinehart’s first three matches on the day had ended in first-period falls, but Brant Beck and Rinehart engaged in a battle of careful positioning on the mat.
“He wrestled well,” coach Gard said of Brant Beck. “The kid from Crown Point is a tough kid. … We get called for stalling in that match, and we’re the ones taking all the shots. That young man is ranked number one in the state, and he never took a shot on us, but we get called for stalling. It makes no sense. So it is what it is, but we also got to take him down. The shot that we did hit on him was the wrong shot. We had head outside single, and we needed to keep head inside single. There are a lot of things our guys could have done better, and they will do better next week.”
Alex Deming
Deming dispatched with Merrillville’s Terrelle Elmore by fall in 3:07 in the first round before a harrowing ticket match against Lowell’s Aidan Abad.
Deming got an escape in the second period before Abad got his own escape in the third period to tie the match.
With Abad seemingly able to sidestep all of Deming’s shots, Deming finally caught up to Abad and earned a takedown with six seconds left for a 3-1 win.
But Hanover Central’s Bartoszek got to Deming for a late takedown to break a 2-2 tie, and he hung on to win 4-3.
In the third-place match, Deming got first takedown against Chicoine, but the second-ranked Chicoine escaped and got a takedown to lead 3-2. Deming, ranked fifth, got an escape to tie the match, but Chicoine repeatedly attacked Deming’s legs and got three takedowns in the second period and another in the third and wound up winning 12-7.
“Bullheadedness,” coach Gard said of Deming. “Not being coachable, being bullheaded. Just bound and determined he’s going to beat that kid at his own game and not making changes during the match. And that’s what we talked about after: You hear me telling you and giving you suggestions on what you need to do, but yet you keep doing the same thing. You’ve got to be coachable. You’ve got to listen. You’ve got to make those changes on the fly. It’s no different than a football game. The offense is doing something to you, and your defense has got to make those adjustments. If the defense is doing certain things, then your offense has got to make adjustments. Well, it’s the same thing in a wrestling match.”
Brady Beck
In the semistate final against Crown Point’s top-ranked Paul Clark, Brady Beck, ranked second, gave up an escape and a takedown in the second period and fell behind 3-0 before getting an escape late in the second period to get within 3-1.
After an exhausting third period where Clark tried to ride him out, Brady Beck slid out from under Clark and got on top for a reversal to tie the match 3-3.
Two controversial non-calls followed shortly thereafter. Gard thought Brady Beck deserved additional back points for a near fall, but after a brief conversation with Gard and then with each other, did not award the points.
Gard also thought Brady Beck deserved a takedown in the first overtime, but officials determined that Clark stayed in contact with Brady Beck and did not award the points, and the match stayed tied.
After a scoreless second overtime, Clark started from the bottom position in the ultimate tiebreaker overtime and got an escape. Then with both wrestlers nearing exhaustion, Clark got a takedown to win 6-3.
“They missed a near fall, and they missed a takedown,” coach Gard said. “These officials were terrible. That’s all I’m going to say. I don’t normally blame the officiating, but that was ridiculous. In multiple matches today, and not just our kids – I mean, multiple kids – they’re cheating them because they don’t know the rules, because they don’t understand the rules, and they don’t know positioning, and they don’t understand positioning. You’re going to end up stealing matches from kids, not just our kids, but a bunch of kids got matches stolen from them today because referees don’t understand positioning. They don’t understand what stalling is, and they don’t understand where to put themselves in position.”
Brady Beck overwhelmed Merrillville’s Raymond James by fall in 1:54 in his first-round match.
He then got a first-period takedown and a second-period escape and rode it to a 3-0 win over Hanover Central’s pesky Collin Foy in the ticket round.
He then handed Highland’s Aramis McNutt, a smaller, muscular heavyweight whom Brady Beck guessed weighed about 230 pounds, 5-2 in the semifinals. Brady Beck trailed 1-0 in the second period before getting a takedown and then adding another escape and takedown in the third period to hand McNutt his first loss of the season.
Wyatt Davis, Declan Gard, Colin Weiand
Davis made quick work of Harrison (West Lafayette)’s Carter Heriges in the first round, quickly turning and pinning him and pinning him in 21 seconds.
In his ticket match, Munster’s Christopher Bohn attacked Davis’ legs repeatedly for takedowns and won 6-1.
“Since the end of December, he’s hasn’t practiced a whole lot, and it shows when you get to this level,” coach Gard said of Davis, noting that he has been battling illness. “The kid, he’s a talent. He’s a crazy talented kid. … There’s a lot in there, and you see glimpses of it every once in awhile, but I think he’s going to have to be a little more committed to what we’re doing. And like I said, he doesn’t have to do everything, but … for me, I wonder how much better he would have been today with better practice habits, and he did get sick and some other things, but that’s something he’s got to work on. I’m not going to browbeat him over it.”
Declan Gard went quickly to the offensive against Frontier’s Griffin Prickel, exchanging two early escapes for takedowns and leading 4-2.
He got another takedown in the second period to make it 6-2. He got yet another takedown in the third period and then was awarded a penalty point when Prickel was cited for stalling to complete his 9-2 win.
In his ticket match, he lost by technical fall 21-4 to Hobart’s undefeated and top-ranked Aidan Costello in 3:56.
“Got to get bigger and stronger,” coach Gard said of Declan. “We’ve talked about going to 190, but he may stay at 175, but he’s got to get stronger and obviously make that jump. But I know he’ll do the work, and I think next year, you’ll see a different kid just like you saw this year.”
Weiand (190) gave up first takedown to New Prairie’s Aiden Ziegler but got an escape and a takedown to lead 3-2 after one period.
Ziegler got an escape in the second period to tie the match after two periods before Weiand wrangled free for an escape and added a takedown for insurance to win 6-3.
In his ticket match, Weiand lost 1-0 to Hobart freshman Aleksandar Tatum.
The match was scoreless after two periods with Tatum riding Weiand from the top position and putting his forearm on Weiand’s neck to keep him from escaping.
To start the third period, Tatum chose the bottom position, so Weiand chose neutral, giving Tatum a one-point escape but betting he could get a takedown later.
It never came as Tatum held on for the win.
Weiand lost in the semistate ticket round for the second straight year.
“Colin didn’t just stick with the game plan,” coach Gard said. “He got out of his game plan a little bit. He didn’t do enough in that first period. The stuff that he did in the third period, he should have been doing in the first period. And he’s kind of notorious for that. He starts slow. We got rode out with legs in the second period. We knew they were coming. We’ve been working for the last month on leg defense, and he didn’t wrestle well in that position. You allow that kid to do that when we haven’t scored any points in the first period.”
D.J. Basham
Participating in his first semistate after winning the Penn regional, Basham lost by fall in 1:49 to River Forest’s Michael Turner in the first round.
Turner attacked Basham’s legs for two takedowns and an early 4-1 lead before executing a cradle and pinning him.
“D.J. had a great senior season,” coach Gard said. “Regional champ. I felt like he could have given more today. I don’t think that was his best wrestling for whatever reason. But he’s a great story. The kid started as a freshman and just wasn’t very good the last two or three years. He really came into his own this year, and with a little bit of work in the offseason and doing some things that he normally doesn’t do, it was a big switch for him. Hopefully, that tells something to our younger kids: If you want to put in some time and effort, you can change your seasons around pretty darn quick. … Hopefully, he can be a great example for the other kids.”
Willis Dennis
Dennis, a senior and Winamac’s only semistate qualifier, lost to Valparaiso sophomore Luke Reid by fall in 2:35 in the first round at 138.
Dennis gave up three takedowns and two near falls totaling five back points to fall behind 11-2. Reid then got an escape and a takedown before pinning Dennis to end the match.
Dennis finished his senior season 24-15.
EAST CHICAGO WRESTLING SEMISTATE RESULTS (TOP 10 TEAMS): 1. Crown Point 257, 2. Penn 98, 3. ROCHESTER 83.5, t-4. Lake Central 67, t-4. Mishawaka 67, 6. Hobart 65.5, 7. Merrillville 63.5, 8. Plymouth 47, 9. Harrison (West Lafayette) 37.5, 10. Lowell 33, t-35. Winamac 0
ROCHESTER INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
106 – Grant Holloway – fourth
def. Deluna (Hanover Central), 16-1, technical fall, 4:27
def. Robinson (Rensselaer), fall, 2:24
lost to Jones (Lake Central), fall, 0:30
lost to Chantea (Plymouth), fall, 1:43
126 – Layne Horn – third
def. Chapman (John Glenn), fall, 1:42
def. Tapia (Portage), fall, 1:53
lost to Hawkins (Crown Point), 2-0
def. Bennett (Penn), 3-0
132 – D.J. Basham – did not place
lost to Michael Turner (River Forest), fall, 1:49
150 – Wyatt Davis – did not place
def. Heriges (Harrison (West Lafayette)), fall, 0:21
lost to Bohn (Munster), 6-1
165 – Brant Beck – second
def. Sopkowski (Highland), fall, 0:52
def. Anderson (Chesterton), 20-4, technical fall, 4:09
def. Tirado (Lake Central), 23-8, technical fall, 4:07
lost to Rinehart (Crown Point), 3-0
175 – Declan Gard – did not place
def. Prickel (Frontier), 9-2
lost to Costello (Hobart), 21-4, technical fall, 3:56
190 – Colin Weiand – did not place
def. Ziegler (New Prairie), 6-3
lost to Tatum (Hobart), 1-0
215 – Alex Deming – fourth
def. Elmore (Merrillville), fall, 3:07
def. Abad (Lowell), 3-1
lost to Bartoszek (Hanover Central), 4-3
lost to Chicoine (McCutcheon), 12-7
HWT – Brady Beck – second
def. James (Merrillville), fall, 1:54
def. Foy (Hanover Central), 3-0
def. McNutt (Highland), 5-2
lost to Clark (Crown Point), 6-3 (ultimate tiebreaker)
WINAMAC INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
138 – Willis Dennis – did not place
lost to Reid (Valparaiso), fall, 2:35
EAST CHICAGO SEMISTATE INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONS
106 – Mason Jones (Lake Central), 113 – Gavin Lewis (Crown Point), 120 – Gavin Jendreas (Crown Point), 126 – Landon Hawkins (Crown Point), 132 – Hayden DeMarco (Chesterton), 138 – Clinton Shepherd (Crown Point), 144 – Zar Walker (Mishawaka), 150 – Wesley Harper (Penn), 157 – Adrian Pellot (Merrillville), 165 – Anthony Rinehart (Crown Point), 175 – Aidan Costello (Hobart), 190 – Kenneth Bisping (Lowell), 215 – Will Clark (Crown Point), HWT – Paul Clark (Crown Point)
ROCHESTER FIRST-ROUND STATE MATCHES
106 – Grant Holloway vs. Jensen Boyd (Delta)
126 – Layne Horn vs. Cody Rowles (Jay County)
165 – Brant Beck vs. Levi Abbott (Cowan)
215 – Alex Deming vs. Jackson Weingart (Indianapolis Cathedral)
HWT – Brady Beck vs. Isaiah Coolman (Leo)
Photos by Paul Deming
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