GALENA – Bedford North Lawrence’s Ethan Stancombe won three matches in dominant fashion to win the Hoosier Hills Conference championship at 157 pounds during high school wrestling action on Saturday.
Stancombe (17-2) rolled to the title with victories over New Albany’s Will McLaughlin (pin in 3:44), Jennings County’s Darrell Hicks (19-3 for a technical fall win) and Floyd Central’s Graham Ehringer (13-0 for a major decision) in the finale.
“Ethan was more focused than I have ever seen him,” BNL coach Mike Branam said. “I asked Ethan what he thought after his championship match, and his response was, ‘God was the reason I won today.’”
BNL’s Wyatt Philpott finished as the runner-up at 120. He topped Jeffersonville’s Jon Steele (17-1 for a technical fall) in the semifinal, then suffered a pin loss to Floyd’s Leblanc Phan in 3:56 during the championship match. Philpott pushed his record to 14-5.
“I am very proud of the entire team,” Branam said. “Even though the final scores don’t reflect it, every one of the boys wrestled some of their best matches. Although we didn’t plan on taking almost a month off from competition, I think it is what everyone needed. The break allowed them to heal, to learn, to improve, and to get hungrier. That was especially evident with Wyatt and Ethan.”
BNL finished seventh in the team competition with 61 points. Floyd Central won the crown with 258.5.
The Stars will host Mitchell on Tuesday.
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