Big schools send 14 on

FAIRFIELD - Plenty of Union area big school wrestlers had their hands raised at Fairfield High School in Saturday's Class 2A Sectional tournament. In all, 14 wrestlers between the big three kept their state tournament chances alive with a top-two finish.

The 106 pound bracket belonged to Dawson Townsend of Davis County, but Washington's Jack Kleese slipped into the next round with a second-place finish. Kleese won a back-and-forth semifinal battle against Fairfield's Peyton McCabe on a second-period pinfall, and didn't have to wrestleback after being pinned early in the championship match by Townsend.

The area sent two through at 113 pounds. Fairfield's Zach Westercamp earned the top spot with a pin in the semifinals and then an 8-2 win over Mt. Pleasant's Bowen Davis in the finals. Davis pinned Davis County's Drake Hamm in the first minute of his semifinal match and didn't have a wrestleback as Hamm took care of business in the consolation round.

Mt. Pleasant's Carson Coleman advanced at 120 pounds. Coleman beat Washington's Matt Collett on an 11-2 major decision in the semifinals, and gave top-seeded Taylor Huggins a good fight in the championship but fell 5-2 to settle for second.

Mt. Pleasant's Corbin Broeker came in to the 126 pound bracket as the top seed, and he cruised to a sectional title. Broeker had a second-period pin in the semifinals and then defeated Washington's Brandon Dickel in a 16-6 major decision to win the bracket. Dickel earned his spot with a 37-second pin over Solon's Jakobe Lahr in the semifinals.

Fairfield's Cohyn Roach defending his top seed at 132 pounds. There were only three wrestlers in the 132-pound class, so Roach had to hit the mat just once, defeating Davis County's Marcus Elam on a pin early in the second period.

Washington's Justin Simmering took the top spot at 138 pounds. He pinned Mt. Pleasant's Tyler Raub in the second period of their semifinal bout, and finished off Keokuk's Levi Boudewyn with a second-period pin in the championship. Raub earned a pin in the last 10 seconds of his semifinal and had a shot to wrestleback for the second spot, but Boudewyn pinned him in the second-place match.

Fairfield's Logan Adam took second at 145 pounds. Adam pinned Davis County's Austin Payne in the third period to advance to the finals, and then fell by pinfall to undefeated Hayden Taylor of Solon in the second period.

Fairfield put another wrestler through at 152 pounds, as Payton Cline pinned Mt. Pleasant's Chayse Irvins in the third period to advance to the finals. He was pinned in the first period by Zeb Gnida of Solon in the championship.

Washington's Ayden Frazer fell by one-point in perhaps the best match of the day in the 160 pound championship. Frazer fell 10-9 against Solon's Caleb Ebert, who pinned Fairfield's Caleb Heisel in the semifinals. That pitted Frazer against Heisel in the second-place match, which saw Frazer bounce right back with a 10-0 major decision to earn his spot.

Tyler Davis of Mt. Pleasant took second at 170 pounds. Davis pinned Keokuk's Corey Skinner in the second period of his semifinal match. He fell 13-4 against Jax Flynn in the finals.

The Union area was shut out at 182 pounds and 195 pounds. Mt. Pleasant's Samuel Carrasco took care of business in the 220-pound bracket, needing just one win to advance. Carrasco came in as the top seed and pinned Solon's Erich Karsten in 1:10 to punch his ticket to sectionals.

Much like Carrasco, Washington's Brayden Hartman needed just one win to move on, and he didn't waste much time in his match either. Hartman pinned Solon's Nash Altman in 2:27 to take the 285-pound championship.

All 14 wrestlers will be at Washington High School on Saturday for the district tournament. The top two wrestlers at each weight class from that district will get to show their stuff at the state wrestling meet in Des Moines later this month.