Cameron Senter is making his third straight semi-state appearance this weekend at the Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne. (Photo by Mike Deak)

For about 14 weeks, wrestlers have been grinding, sweating, bleeding, focusing and gearing for this weekend. All of the dreams the junior wrestlers that paraded into the Hardwood Teepee on Club recognition night are having now are absolute realities for three of our Warriors. It’s now officially ‘Go Time’.

Junior Cameron Senter is looking to reach his second IHSAA State Finals. Reaching the Big Show as a freshman, Senter qualified again for semi-state as a sophomore but didn’t get the two wins he needed to make a return trip. Senter knows what it’ll take to secure that second trip to Indianapolis, and has looked solid throughout the state tournament, recovering for third in the 120 bracket at the Goshen Regional after splitting his first two contests.

Senter’s classmate, Derek Morrison, has been on an upward track, taking the huge leap from potential as a sophomore to now a major player as a junior. His coming out party with his second place podium finish at the Al Smith Classic made waves around the area, and he kept on going. If not for the No. 3 wrestler in the state, Travis Henke of Northridge, having Morrison’s number the past three tournaments, the Wawasee 215 would be a top seed heading into the Coliseum. Henke is on the other side of the bracket, sooooo….

Cavan Tom is the third Warrior to qualify for the semi-state, the sophomore making his first trip to the third leg of the tour. Winning his first sectional title at 144, Tom made the semi-state with a win in the ticket round, but lost his next two to limp into the regional as a four-seed. He’ll have some work to do to check another box on the personal checklist.

Here’s a breakdown of the three brackets and what the three Warriors will have between them in their respective qualifying pod and a ticket to Gainbridge Fieldhouse next weekend.

120 Bracket
Cameron Senter (34-6) vs Levi Johns of Bluffton (33-2)
Braylon McIntire of North Miami (40-0) vs Chase Brickey of Fort Wayne Carroll (34-12)

There are a lot of big names in the 120 bracket, and three of them are all lumped together in the same pod. Senter, ranked No. 22 in the state at 120, is paired against No. 11 Johns. The Bluffton senior’s only two losses this season are to top-16 wrestlers, otherwise, Johns has been spotless. Senter couldn’t figure out Lakeland’s Qwenell Gabriel in the Goshen Regional, but rallied for a nice win over East Noble stud Kealan Fuller in the third-place match. If Senter beats Johns, likely awaiting will be McIntire, who is ranked No. 8 and hasn’t seen anyone with their hand raised opposite him this season. A potential rematch with Jimtown’s Cole Carper could come in the semis, and the only other state-ranked 120 is the top seed at Fort Wayne, No. 4 Ayden Bollinger of Delta, who is a state finalist and the paper favorite in the group.

144 Bracket
Cavan Tom (30-9) vs Kendi Quoi of Fort Wayne Snider (30-4)
Wyatt Mann of South Adams (28-10) vs Corbin Goshert of Wabash (38-7)

Tom’s season has been consistently inconsistent at times, and excruciatingly consistent in others. For example, his state tournament has been a tale of two cities, where at Elkhart Cavan went undefeated at 3-0 to win his first sectional title, only for a week later Goshen Cavan won his first match, then lost the next two place matches by a combined 18-3 score to place fourth, the last a 9-2 dud to the Jager Bute kid from NorthWood he beat a week before to take the sectional title. That going forward, Tom is paired with No. 21 Kendi Quoi, who has had a very good season that includes sectional and regional titles as well as a podium finish at the Al Smith. If Elkhart Cavan shows up, a state ticket is doable against either Mann or Goshert. Advancing to a championship match would likely go through Brody Hagewood of Prairie Heights, and a title shot would probably dangle either Wyatt Hoppes of Yorktown or Kam Pratt of Northfield.

215 Bracket
Derek Morrison (32-5) vs Jake Boots of Bluffton (27-7)
Ethan Leal of Fort Wayne Snider (21-8) vs Craig Rowley of Huntington North (13-6)

It looks like coach Jamie Salazar might have to get Bluffton onto the schedule, with a second Tiger now directly in front of Wawasee’s potential semi-state success model. Morrison has been as consistent as anyone this season, really his only blemishes on the record coming against Henke three times, a loss in the finals at the Al Smith to No. 6 Aidan Abad and to No. 12 Trey Dunning in a dual match. Otherwise, Morrison has been the aggressor, and brings that mentality against Boots, who lost in 39 seconds in the regional semis at Jay County and then needed a reversal in the final seconds to escape fourth place. Leal has a history of impressive wins, and Rowley has been limited by injuries this season. Notables in the adjoining pod include NorthWood’s Brady King and North Miami’s Hartley Hoover, and four state-ranked road graters are all positioned in the bottom half of the bracket to potentially all meet in the semis. This bracket is absolutely loaded with talent, a must watch.