For wrestlers around the state, there is but one simple goal heading into Saturday’s regional tournaments. As former Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis would say, “Just win, baby.”

That is all it takes this weekend, win and you are in. 16 regional wrestling tournaments will start up this Saturday morning and those that are prepared enough to earn a win in the first round will punch a ticket to one of four semi-states across the state next weekend.

Tippecanoe Valley, Triton, Warsaw and Wawasee will send their regional qualifiers to Rochester to meet with the advancing wrestlers from the Mishawaka sectional. Meanwhile, Whitko and NorthWood will take their chances at the Carroll and Goshen regional tournaments, respectively.

Rochester’s regional feeds into the East Chicago Central Semi-State along with Logansport, Crown Point and Calumet. Goshen and Carroll converge with Peru and Jay County at New Haven for next Saturday’s fun.

One thing local coaches have in common is the thought that the mental rigors of regional week is the most challenging thing.

“Oh, it’s mental,” stated Wawasee head coach Frank Bumgardner. “It’s mental. You’re going to wrestle a guy, obviously its ones and fours and twos and threes, you know what you’re going to get. Bottom line, win one match and move on. You get so focused on one match that you forget its an entire tournament. It’s not just one match, it’s three. You want to win all three to set yourself up for semi-state. You have to have long-term vision.”

“I think a big part of it is mental,” admitted Warsaw head coach Kris Hueber. “We have to two guys going in as four seeds, so they’re going to start the day out wrestling a champion. You just have to know that you’ve got the talent and ability to be able to go through, especially our guys, if they wrestle a good, quality match. We have to focus this week on getting sharp on technique and having the right level of intensity.”

Aside from the mental drain, there’s also an extra physical taxation that sometimes gets overlooked.

“More than anything, there’s another week,” explained Kyler Kearby, Tippecanoe Valley head coach. “Just having that extra week is something our guys aren’t used to. There’s a mental block, sure, but we have kids that just want to get out there and wrestle.”

NorthWood

The Panthers sent seven on to the Goshen Regional last Saturday at Memorial, including five that were in finals.

NorthWood had Jacob Chupp (145), Garrett Griffin (152), Jake Lone (160), Mike Edwards (170) and Michael Leonard (195) in finals.

Chupp (14-11) holds the top seed at 145 and wrestles Westview’s Marcus Yoder (33-9) to start his day. Leonard (20-9) is the top seed at 195 for NorthWood. The senior starts his day with Lakeland’s James VaillanCourt (23-9).

Edwards (14-7) has the No. 2 seed at 170 and starts out with Josiah Hand (9-13) of East Noble on the bottom half of the bracket.

NorthWood also advanced Hunter Warren (126) and Andrew Miller (220).

Tippecanoe Valley

The Vikings advanced three to the regional round, including Haley Hoover, the program’s first female regional qualifier.

Hoover (15-21) has her work cut out for her as she will start her day with top-seeded Evan Light (31-6) of Penn.

Jordan Owens (15-25) received the No. 5 seed at 138 and will take on Mishawaka’s No. 4 seed Jacob LaPlace (25-8). CMA’s Aaron Brooke holds the bracket’s top seed with a 28-5 mark. Penn’s Trace Manspeaker is the No. 2 seed.

At 182 Tyler Manuszak (23-12) will grapple with top-seeded Austin Faulkner (29-6) of Mishawaka.

Triton

Triton has seven wrestlers spread throughout Saturday’s regional, including three sectional runners-up from last week in Connor Pitney, Nate Riggins and James Snyder.

Pitney (22-14) takes on Mishawaka’s Dylan Fogarty (20-15) at 106. Riggins (25-11) will compete at 113 against Matt Cysewski (25-14) out of St. Joe. Snyder (23-6) enters as the No. 1 seed at 170 pounds and will start his day against Clay’s Amere Dozier (16-4).

The Trojans also boast regional qualifiers in Bryce Swihart (120), Malachi Greene (126), Marcus Brown (132) and Cam Scarberry (195).

Warsaw

Kyle Hatch leads Warsaw’s charge into the regional in search of his third individual title. Hatch holds the top seed at 152 with a 40-0 mark. He will start his day by wrestling Washington’s John Loftus (32-11). Hatch could see either Joseph Walker of Mishawaka in semis or a familiar face in Wawasee’s Raymon Torres. Riley’s Kassius Breathitt (28-2) will hold the No. 2 seed on the other side of the bracket.

Jose Grimmett (8-20) will rep the Tigers at 132 and wrestle top-seeded Preston Risner (22-10) out of Penn to start his day. Christian Taylor (23-15) will wrestle for the Tigers at 145. Taylor will start his day with Haden Hensley (17-3) of Penn.

Wawasee

The Warriors sent 10 on from last week’s sectional at Plymouth. The Warriors had two individual champions in Ricardo Romo (106) and Braxton Alexander (120). Both will have the odds in their favor of moving on this week.

Romo (32-5) holds the No. 2 seed at 106 and will wrestle Juwan Dockery (26-8) of Washington to start his day. Alexander (34-3) will be the No. 2 seed at 120 and take on Terrance Jones (13-17) of Riley in the opening round. Penn’s Tanner DeMien (23-4) holds the top seed at 120.

Geremia Brooks lost his sectional title match, as did Jeremiah Dilley. Both will look to end this week with a ticket to semi-state. Brooks (16-1) has the No. 3 seed at 126 and wrestles Taylor Taft (13-20) of Mishawaka first while Dilley (28-9) holds the No. 4 seed at 220 and wrestles Clay’s Jared Horban (31-5) to start the day.

Garrett Stuckman (113), Raymon Torres (152), Jeremiah Ponsler (160), Alex Castro (182), Damien Rodriguez (195) and Elisha Tipping (285) represent the rest of Wawasee’s semi-state hopefuls.

Whitko

Isaac Walters was the lone Wildcat to advance at last week’s sectional. Walters, a sophomore boasting a 23-7 record, will start his day taking on Eli Parrett (28-11) of Huntington North. Walters would most likely see No. 2 seed Jaxson Savieo (28-9) in the second round and top-seeded Stephen Nix (34-3) of Dwenger. Nix defeated Walters in last week’s sectional title match.