Caldwell County will send six wrestlers to the KHSAA State Wrestling Finals next week in Winchester.
The Tigers had one runner-up, two third-place showings, two fourth-place finishes and a seventh-place showing in the semi-state tournament Saturday at Union County High School. The top eight in each class move on to the Finals at George Rogers Clark High School.
Freshman Logan Brown at 106 pounds turned in the top showing for the Tigers.
Brown, ranked fifth in the state, rolled into the semifinals with a pin at 2:58 against Carson Clary of Oldham County and a 6-1 decision over Shayne Stilts of Louisville DeSales.
But Brown trailed No. 6-ranked Roman Valera of Central Hardin 11-6 in the closing seconds of the semifinal round. However, Brown gained the upper hand and pinned Valera with just 4 seconds left in the match to move into the championship.
No. 1-ranked Jayden Raney handed Brown his only loss of the day in the final, winning by pin in 1:05.
At 120, junior Collin Teutsch bounced back from a quarterfinal loss to the No. 2-ranked wrestler in that class to finish third.
Teutsch, ranked seventh, won his first match by pin before falling 18-9 in the quarterfinals.
Teutsch won three times in the consolation rounds, including a 12-9 decision over No. 4 Amari Hardin of John Hardin to get back to the third-place match.
Teutsch then edged No. 9-ranked Mason Davis of Louisville Valley 2-0 to claim third.
Riley Johnson, ranked fourth at 132, went 4-1 to finish third in his weight class.
Johnson, a senior, won his first two matches with first-period pins, but was then pinned by No. 5 Jeremy Ray of Union County at 2:58 in the semifinals.
Johnson pinned Petey Graham of Ohio County in 2:19 in the consolation semifinals, then claimed a sudden-death victory over No. 8-ranked Charlie Tucker of John Hardin, 11-9, for third place.
Colin Walls, ranked No. 5 at 175, reached the third-place match in his class before dropping a 6-3 decision to No. 7 Spencer Redwine of Paducah Tilghman.
Walls, a senior, rolled through his first two matches, winning by pin in just 17 seconds in his opener, then claiming an 18-2 decision in the quarterfinal round.
But Walls ran into No. 1-ranked Lane Kiser of Louisville Trinity in the semifinals and was pinned in 3:26.
Walls pinned No. 10 Brady Allen of Louisville St. Xavier in 3:51 to get back to the third-place match.
Sophomore Cole Sherill went 4-2 on the day to place fourth at 285 pounds.
Sherill, ranked 11th, was beaten twice by No. 5 Carter Guillaume of St. Xavier. After winning a 5-2 decision in his opener, Sherill was decisioned by Guillaume 6-1 in the quarterfinals.
Sherill won three straight matches in the consolation bracket, including a 4-2 sudden-death victory over Gabriel Kays of Trinity.
That earned Sherill his rematch with Guillaume in the third-place match, but the Tiger wrestler lost by 4-1 decision.
At 138, sophomore Timothy Nichols went 3-2 to place seventh.
After winning by pin in his first match, Nichols was decisioned by No. 6-ranked Cohner Mullins of Oldham County 7-3 in the quarterfinals.
Nichols took his next match by pin, but was then pinned by No. 5 Braedon Herron of North Hardin in 2:39.
In the seventh-place match, Nichols decisioned No. 8 Caige Clark of Ohio County 10-5.
Caldwell had one other wrestlers competing in Saturday’s semi-state, which included Regions 1-4.
Cofy Walls, a sophomore. went 1-2 at 126 pounds.
The Tigers had another wrestler qualify for semi-state. However, senior Dylan Walls was injured in last week’s regional championship match at 165 pounds and was unable to compete on Saturday.
Caldwell was fifth in the team standings at the semi-state tournament with 103 points.
Union County topped the team standings, qualifying 11 for the State Finals with 255 points. Paducah Tilghman was runner-up with 180 points, followed by Oldham County (135) and Louisville Trinity (117.5).
The KHSAA State Wrestling Finals are set for Feb. 25-26.
