Emrich wins one at state tournament

By Ryan Stonebraker
Sports Editor, Tipton Conservative

 DES MOINES - Tipton junior Ben Emrich reached the state tournament in Des Moines for the second straight season with a spot in the 120-pound, 16-man state bracket. There, Emrich faced two top-5 ranked opponents and won a match to wrap up a stellar season. Emrich was ranked #10 in class 1A at 120 and had 40 match wins going into the state meet. He was a sectional champion and district runner-up to qualify for the state meet last week at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
  Emrich began his state quest last Thursday with an opening match against Connor Lange of Missouri Valley. Lange was ranked #5 at the weight class and beat Emrich by a 4-2 decision.
Emrich broke a scoreless match open in the second period with a takedown for a 2-0 lead after two. Lange scored a takedown in the third period to tie the match at 2-2, and a late called 2-point nearfall gave him the narrow 2-point win. Lange lost in the quarterfinals to Brock Henderson of North Linn and then lost to #6 Tatem Bluml from Oakland, Riverside in the consolation round and was eliminated. Lange finished the season with a record of 40-4.
  Emrich faced elimination himself Thursday afternoon after losing in the first round. In the consolation round, he faced Trey Schuck from Sibley-Ocheyedan who lost to Henderson
in the first round by a 19-4 tech fall. In the match, Emrich won by pin in 3:44. Emrich claimed the match after leading 7-0 in the second period. He scored all seven points in the first period with a takedown and a 3-point and 2-point nearfall. He pinned Schuck with 16 seconds left in the second period. Schuck finished the season with a record of 39-10.
  That set up an interesting match for Emrich. Emrich had to wait for the quarterfinal round to take place to see his consolation opponent. There, he would face with the #1 guy at 120 (Brady Kyner of SE Warren) or the #2 guy (Gable Fox of Don Bosco). Kyner would beat Fox by a 7-1 decision. He would advance to the finals, where he lost to Henderson from North Linn. Kyner finished the season 52-1 with his only loss in the state finals. Against Fox, he broke open a 0-0 match after one period with a 4-1 point run in the second period. He scored a takedown with 1:20 left in the period and a 2-point nearfall eight seconds later. Fox would escape with 30 seconds left in the period and avoided getting pinned. Kyner started down in the third period and got an escape and a takedown to get the 7-1 win.
  Emrich had an incredible opportunity to face a top-2 ranked opponent. There, he fell behind Fox 4-0 early with a takedown with 1:06 left in the period and scored a 2-point near fall with 56 seconds left in the period. Fox scored the pin in 1:36 to end Emrich’s season.
  Emrich finished the season with a record of 41-6 with two of those losses at state. Emrich claimed his 100th match win of the season and qualified for the state meet for the second time. Fox went on to place third after pinning his next three consolation opponents including 4th ranked Will Portis from Rockford in the third place match.  Fox ends the season with a record of 32-2 with one of those losses to Kyner in the quarterfinals.



Tipton Results:
120 - Ben Emrich (41-6) - lost a 4-2 decision to Connor Lange (Missouri Valley) in first round; pinned Trey Schuck (Sibley-Ocheyedan) in 3:44 in consolation round; pinned in 1:36 by Gable Fox (Don Bosco) in consolation round.