Wrestling: Eye on the Prize
By BRANDON HURLEY
Sports Editor
JEFFERSON –
A trio of Greene County wrestlers have their sights set on qualifying for the prestigious individual state tournament this weekend.
Seniors Isaiah Yoder (182 pounds), Hunter Ruth (220 pounds) and freshman Garrett Tasler will compete in the Class 2A, district eight tournament Saturday in Webster City.
Ruth (30-3) is the lone Greene County wrestler with state tournament experience, as he qualified as a sophomore back in 2015. The senior drew the No. 2 seed at 220 pounds in this year’s district tourney and squares off against Pocahontas’ Tim Elliot (30-13) in the semifinals. Top-seeded Dominick Etherington of Algona (29-5) will square off against Webster City’s James Cherry in the opposite semifinal. Etherington is ranked No. 10 by the Predicament.
Greene County head coach Mark Sawhill isn’t too worried how Ruth will do Saturday, the senior is hitting his grove at the right time.
“He’s really wrestling well. He’s being aggressive and doing more shots than just the body,” Sawhill said. “He had a good double last weekend which really helped him out. If we can keep him on the offense it will turn out well.”
Yoder (38-8) drew the fourth seed and takes on top-seeded Mason Carpenter (32-9) of Clarion-Goldfield-Dows in the district semifinals. Second-ranked Tanner Vermaas of Woodward-Granger (43-2) squares off against Pocahontas Area’s Philip Minkler in the other semifinal.
“He has to go out there and open up on his feet,” Sawhill said. “He’s got a great attack but sometimes he doubts himself. That’s it. He needs to go out there with the attitude that he can beat anyone, and he can. Have a mentality that he’s going to dominate.”
Yoder could face Vermaas for the fourth time in three weeks in the championship match. The senior lost by a 10-5 decision in the section 15 championship Feb. 4 in the most recent tilt. If Yoder is aggressive, Sawhill believes he can finally pull out a victory.
“He needs to open up on his feet. He knows he can take him down, he just needs to do it,” Sawhill said. “He didn’t open up like we talked about. Hopefully, he can get a win over him. But we just need to win that first match, that’s the most important one he’s going to have.
Another crack at the highly-ranked Woodward-Granger wrestler wouldn’t be so bad either. The senior is also just two wins from 100 career victoies.
“I hope (Yoder) has one more shot at (Vermaas),” Sawhill said.
Tasler (25-20) drew the fourth seed as well and will square off against second-ranked Eric Faught of Clear Lake (36-1) in Saturday’s semifinals. Faught is ranked No. 1 in The Predicament’s rankings as well. Webster City’s Drake Doolittle (No. 1 in IA Wrestle’s rankings) awaits in the other semifinal as he takes on Garner-Hayfield-Ventura’s Austin Case (36-12).
“Garrett, with his draw, he has a tougher load against (two of the top) kids in the state,” Sawhill said. “Go hard and give it everything you got. Don’t go out there with a doubt in your mind that you can’t compete. Don’t go out there thinking you’re going to get beat. If you have that defeatist attitude, you might not even go. There’s always a chance and that’s the fun part about wrestling. You can do something goofy to win a match. Lay it all out on the mat.”
With a short tournament and each wrestler starting off in the semifinals, it’s nearly inevitable that someone likely will lose in the championship but still have a shot at state in the second place match. The top two place-winners in each weight class advance to the state tournament set for Feb. 16-18 at Wells Fargo Arena in downtown Des Moines.
“It depends on if we have a wrestle back or not. If you get second, you are facing a guy in the state tournament that won his district,” Sawhill said. “But that’s not a big deal. Once you get down there, the records are 0-0. We need to get into the finals and win that first match.”
District matches get underway at 12 p.m. Feb. 11 at the Webster City High School.
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