Braxton Alexander goes cross body during his 138-pound championship match with Mishawaka’s Gabriel Weeks at the Penn Regional Saturday. (Photos by James Costello)

MISHAWAKA — When Wawasee senior Braxton Alexander rolled his ankle early in his 138-pound championship match at Saturday’s Penn Regional, his coach had an unpleasant flashback to last year’s semi-state.

Alexander took a nasty spill on his head in the ticket round of that tournament and wound up injury defaulting out when the mandatory concussion protocol he underwent exhausted all of his injury time. As the athletic trainer came over to check on Alexander at Saturday’s regional final, Wawasee coach Frank Bumgardner immediately thought back to that heartbreaker. And he could tell by the look in his wrestler’s eyes that he was thinking of that moment, too.

“Absolutely I had a flashback. Immediately,” said Bumgardner. “I saw the look in his eye, and I know that he had it also. He had the look in his eye that he remembered whole-heartedly, and he didn’t allow the trainer to look at him very closely. We didn’t want to take the time, didn’t want the trainer to have any say in it whatsoever. Let’s get through this match, try and keep everything in our hands as much as possible and then see what the outcome looks like.”

Turns out the outcome looked pretty good.

Alexander survived a 3-3 first period with Mishawaka’s Gabriel Weeks, then used an early escape and a late takedown in the second period to open up a 6-3 advantage headed into the final period. After riding Weeks through the most of the period and with time winding down on what looked to be an inevitable Alexander decision, the Indianamat.com fourth-ranked Wawasee senior rolled his opponent to his back and got a pinfall in just under the buzzer to finish off a perfect three-pin day with a regional title.

“Early on he hurt his ankle. At that point he was wrestling extremely well all week and today, scored a ton of points, was very dominant, and his mindset had to shift from being dominant to now let’s win,” explained Bumgardner. “Let’s do what we have to do to go win this match against a very tough opponent from Mishawaka. I think that last little flurry there, he held good position, he settled his hips, and he got the pin.”

Geremia Brooks scores a takedown against Penn’s Nate Hadary Saturday.

Alexander’s was one of two championships and nine total semi-state qualifying performances for Wawasee at Penn as the Warriors wrestled their way to a runner-up finish with 137.5 points behind the team champion Kingsmen’s 157 score. Alexander’s younger brother Jace made the finals at 120 pounds, securing a win over Penn rival Vince Sparrow — whom he had lost to three times this season prior to Saturday — in the semifinals before falling to Culver Military’s William Finnearty in the championship. Dylan Tom made the 106-pound final with a pair of pinfalls before suffering a second period technical fall to CMA’s Brennen Cernus. Geremia Brooks earned the Warriors their first championship at 132 pounds, pinning his way to the final before dominating Penn’s Nate Hadary for a 12-4 decision. Garrett Stuckman collected a pinfall and a tech fall on his way to the 145-pound title bout but came up a takedown short of winning his team a third straight championship via 14-12 loss to Penn’s Jeffrey Harper in a fast-paced finale.

The Warriors earned four other berths to next weekend’s East Chicago Semi-State as Isiah Faurote finished third at 152 pounds, Alex Castro placed fourth at 182 pounds, Damien Rodriguez was fourth at 195, and Hagaen Slusher finished third in the heavyweight standings.

A runner-up team finish, two individual titles, five finals berths and nine semi-state qualifications. Not a bad haul for the Warriors.

“We performed extremely well today. We had some matches that we would like to have back, have some different results, but we performed phenomenally,” Bumgardner said. “The effort was there each and every time out. The passion was there. It’s a tough tournament. It really is. It’s pretty deep. Hat’s off to Penn for hosting a good regional, and they performed very well today, too.”

Warsaw earned itself a trio of semi-state berths with two runners-up and one third-place performance Saturday.

Warsaw’s Brandon Estepp avoids the takedown of CMA’s Braden Welch during the 160-pound finals.

Jacob Bass earned a 16-3 major decision opposite Plymouth’s Fernando Rebollo in the 145-pound consoles for third place there, while Jose Grimmet made the finals at 152, and Brandon Estepp made the 160-pound finals, although both ultimately settled for runner-up honors at Penn.

“They’re not necessarily everyday drill partners, but they spend a lot of time together and when we can put people in groups, it helps them. But I think it’s just in general we’ve had a core of people that work hard, they spend a lot of extra time, and you’re seeing that payoff,” said Warsaw coach Kris Hueber. “We had a couple others that we thought had some good chances but just didn’t quite wrestle well enough right out of the gate. When you’ve got to win one to advance it’s pretty imperative to wrestle well right away. It’s not the day that we thought we could have, but it’s still not a disappointing day.”

Warsaw’s three semi-state berths is two better than last year’s haul. With a total of nine wrestlers still alive headed into Saturday’s regional round, Tiger wrestling seems to be trending upwards.

“We got nine guys in. We had six last year. We had three the year before that, so we’re seeing the growth,” Hueber said. “As much as I don’t want baby steps — we want to get this thing going —  but we feel good about where we’re heading.”

Triton and Tippecanoe Valley both saw their seasons close for all but one wrestler at Penn, meanwhile.

Triton’s James Snyder smiles to himself after winning the 195-pound Penn Regional title.

James Snyder won Triton a title at 195 pounds, collecting a pinfall and 5-2 decision on the way to the finals, where he handed Penn’s Rockne Hurley just his second loss of the season by a convincing, 12-7 margin.

“I figured if I attacked him, he couldn’t attack me. I know he’s more of a Greco-style wrestler — he likes to throw a lot — so I didn’t want to get tied up with him. I just shot from far and tried to take him down that way,” explained Snyder of his game plan in Saturday’s final.

Snyder’s run to a regional title was made all the more impressive by the fact that, up until about a week before the state series, he was still wrestling at 182 pounds. He’s giving up as many as 15 pounds to opponents in his new weight class, but it actually seems to have given him an advantage.

“I’m weighing at, like, 180. They’re a lot heavier, but they don’t have as big of a gas tank so it helps me out,” Snyder said.

“We talked weeks ago trying to make the decision on 195. It just came down to we weren’t guaranteed to win every match through sectional, regional, semi-state, whatever, but I knew and we both felt that he would be in every match,” explained Triton coach Matt Arvesen. “It would be at least close, and we were not going to be a far-and-away loser to anybody. James is just so athletic. He looks even better at 195 because of his athleticism.”

Valley freshman Drake Montelongo made the finals in his first-ever regional foray, clinching a 6-1 decision over Penn’s Brayden McMillen to make the finals before losing via second-period pinfall to Mishawaka’s Brodie Fogarty in the 113-pound championship. It wasn’t quite the finish Montelongo wanted, but it was certainly nothing to sneeze at, either. And of course he survives to wrestle another day in East Chicago.

Tippecanoe Valley’s Drake Montelongo picks up MIshawaka’s Brodie Fogarty in the 113-pound finals.

“I’m happy with it. I wish I would’ve gotten first, but I went out there and competed with him,” said Montelongo.

Down the road at the Goshen Regional, NorthWood’s two entrants won a pair of championships Saturday.

Jaden Miller won a major decision in the first round to make the New Haven Semi-State, then kept rolling with a pair of pinfalls on the way to the 170-pound title. Jake Lone did the reverse, collecting a pair of pinfalls in the first two rounds at 182 pounds, then clinching an 11-1 major decision in the finals.

Next Saturday’s New Haven Semi-State is scheduled for 8:30 a.m., while the East Chicago meet is slated for 10 a.m. ET. Top four finishers at both tournaments earn the right to advance to the IHSAA State Finals Feb. 15.

“We just need to get healthy right now, kind of recover, see what the draws look like and then get right back to preparing. But we think we’ve got an opportunity for a really good weekend next week,” said Bumgardner.