MatHawks dominate Region 2 tourney for 19th title in 25 years

“I’d be lying if I said this weekend wasn’t a little nerve racking. With it being my first year as the head coach you want your team to come in and perform. They did a great job with that,” LaRue County coach Elijah Zwiep said. “When talking to the wrestlers, I just told them to focus on their matches and supporting their teammates whenever they were between matches and that the team race would take care of itself. I was pretty confident going into the weekend primarily because we had a really good week of practices.

“The wrestlers have done a good job this year responding to constructive criticism, too. They understand that the majority of things that are covered in practice are things that we as coaches see in matches and are things that we really need to work on. Their focus through the season on some of those little things are what have really made a difference as far as improvement is concerned.”

Heady won the title at heavyweight and was joined by Brock Gross at 126 pounds, Breyden Whorton at 132, Matthew “Chico” Ball at 150 and Conner Lambert at 175.

Charlee Greenwell was runner-up at 138, Westin Brown took second at 145, Lincoln Miller was second at 215, Bradley Laughner placed third at 165 and Joey Lucas took third at 190.

“I was real proud of our guys,” Heady said. “I knew we’d come out and dominate like we always do. We had a bunch of people in the finals, and Coach told us it felt like a LaRue County dual. I think we did a good job.”

The MatHawks won their third region championship in a row, showcasing that they are still the team to beat in Region 2.

LaRue County also won every year from 1999 to 2007 and then again from 2010 to 2013. A three-peat started in 2017, with another one beginning in 2021.

“With Brock, Breyden, Chico and Lambert, those guys are our trusty veterans. I’m very proud of their efforts and especially their leadership in the room this season. They are all returning placers so in whatever capacity, when those guys address the team, the team listens. They’ve earned that respect through their hard work and by leading not just through words but by leading by example,” Zwiep said. “Hopefully this positive momentum can carry into next week. Winning a region title gives you a pretty good opportunity to win two matches to start off semistate because you are a 1 seed from your region. The only difference is the competition is a little tougher and the stakes are a little higher. I’m excited to see these guys take care of business.”

Up next for the MatHawks is the semistate round, which is set for Saturday at Atherton High School in Louisville.

Wrestling starts at 9 a.m. and placement matches are expected to start at 5 p.m. The top eight finishers at each weight move on to the final round of the state tournament.

“We have to turn it up a little more in practice,” Zwiep said. “We’ll keep the intensity high by drilling hard and letting the wrestlers do a lot of flow wrestling. Letting them work on things they feel like they need to work on as well as doing some things we as a coaching staff see that we need improvement. We’ll also do some reps of live wrestling every day. Hopefully we can have them hitting on all cylinders come Saturday.”

Finals matches

126 pounds: Gross picked up a major decision victory over Meade County’s Nolan Link, winning 10-0.

132: Whorton was absolutely dominant in beating John Hardin’s Brendan Nagle, picking up a 16-0 win.

138: Ohio County’s Garrison Messer pinned Greenwell in 3:58.

144: Meade County’s Tyler Lattin topped Brown 6-0.

150: Ball held on for a 2-1 victory over Ohio County’s Gunnar Arnold.

175: Lambert pinned Hart County’s Kaden Shive in 3:32.

215: John Hardin’s Austin Silva pinned Miller in 143.

285: In arguably the match of the night, Heady pinned Nelson County’s Aaron Goff in 5:17. Heady led 3-0 when he secured the victory, turning Goff and pinning his shoulders to the mat.

“I thought I was gonna have to ride him out that whole last minute,” said Heady, who avenged an earlier loss to Goff. “I knew if that happened that he was gonna get up. Turning him over, it was surreal. I don’t even remember most of it.”

Zwiep knew Heady was a bit nervous going into the finals matchup, but Heady didn’t let the nerves get to him in the end.

“Jake was a little nervous because he had previously lost to Goff,” Zwiep said. “We had a gameplan going into the match based off of how Goff wrestled Jake at sectionals. Working that gameplan in the first, scoring coming up from bottom in the second period and then finishing the game plan in the third were the keys to that match.

“Jake did a great job in those closing seconds of being intentional in every position and movement he made. Keeping pressure forward on top, controlling hands, breaking Goff down and then eventually turning him. I was excited for Jake in those closing moments, I was just telling him he had plenty of time to work in little bits to finish the match. It was a great ending to a great tournament wrestled by our wrestlers.”