Keller DeSpain
A late withdrawl from Saturday’s Columbus North Duals might have cost the host Bull Dogs a chance to defend their own title.
Whiteland pulled out of the eight-team tournament on Thursday, leaving North scrambling to find a replacement. The Bull Dogs ended up inviting Ohio powerhouse Harrison to the event.
North and Harrison both dominated their first four matches before meeting in the final match of the day. The Bull Dogs won six matches against Harrison in a 45-31 defeat.
“I think we wrestled to our potential for the most part,” North coach Matt Joyce said. “We had some spots against Harrison that I’d like to get back because of a couple of mistakes that we made. But that’s why we invited them. We want tough competition here at this tournament. It’s not very fun if you know you’re going to win your own tournament all the time.”
The Bull Dogs beat Guerin Catholic and Madison by identical 69-12 scores before downing Lafayette Jeff 51-24 in their final pool match. Columbus North then beat Bloomington North 63-15 to set up the match against Harrison.
Justice Thornton
Against Harrison, the Bull Dogs got pins from Justice Thornton (132 pounds), Keller DeSpain (170), Jose Ramirez (182) and Cody Thurnall (285). Joseph Cloud (120) won a major decision, and Liam Phillips (160) won by decision.
“There were a lot of surprises today,” Thornton said. “I’m really happy with the way that Harrison meet went. It was close. I think we’re just going to work on what we messed up, correct it and come back next year and hopefully beat them.”
Thornton and DeSpain, both juniors, went 5-0 for the day.
“As a team, we wrestled pretty well,” DeSpain said. “There’s a couple things that we could have done better, but we did pretty well.”
Cloud, Jason Shuey (138), Asher Ratliff (145), Phillips and Thurnall all went 4-1 for the day. Nolan Riley (106), Liam Curfman (113), Bryce Hawkins (126), Josiah Green (152) and Ramirez all went 3-2.
“Justice Thornton is always tough,” Joyce said. “Jason Shuey, outside of that last match, he wrestled tough all day. Keller DeSpain and Jose Ramirez, they’re both just firing those upper weights off, which is awesome to see.”
The Bull Dogs travel to crosstown rival Columbus East on Wednesday.
“A couple of our guys have to watch weight, but I think we’re going to be ready,” Thornton said.
“I feel pretty confident about my match, and I can probably say the same about most of my teammates,” DeSpain added.
Meanwhile, Brown County finished eighth in the tournament. The Eagles fell to Harrison 82-0, Bloomington North 72-9, Western Boone 72-0, Madison 66-0 and Guerin Catholic 54-3.
Aaron Woodrum (170) won two matches for Brown County. Jackson Reed (195) scored a pin against Bloomington North.
