There was a moment of ‘whoa’ this morning as two newcomers entered the gladiator’s arena. There were more moments of ‘whoa’ that followed, but directed at those two Warriors during battle.

Cavan Tom and Derek Morrison admitted they noticed their surroundings upon entering the Allen County Memorial Coliseum Saturday morning for the IHSAA Fort Wayne Semi-state. What quickly turned to business became a lot of ‘whoa’ reactions from the two and their fans as a pair of state tickets were punched.

Looking around the arena ahead of his first matchup against Fort Wayne Snider’s 144-pounder, Kendi Quoi, Tom noticed the bright lights and the thousands of fans looking on. But walking on the mat was a different story, as he went to work and tuned out the uncommon noise. However, Tom found himself in deep trouble, trailing 8-1 in the third period to Quoi, who was the one seed in the pod. With time running out, Tom and Quoi got moving and Tom found the window he needed to get Quoi into a bundle and into a pinning combo. But the clock kept ticking as Tom tried desperately to get the pin, which he got at 5:47 to save his season.

“This wasn’t bad at all for my first time here,” Tom said. “I was a little mentally defeated after the regional as I was coming back from being sick and had lost some muscle. But I came back here and made some progress right away and kind of settled in.”

In the ticket round against Corbin Goshert of Wabash, a huge reversal off bottom in the third period gave Tom a 5-1 lead, which Goshert’s reversal in the waning moments was too little, too late as Tom was able to celebrate his first state finals appearance with his brother, Dylan, in his corner.

“It feels pretty good,” Tom said of advancing. “(Dylan) doesn’t talk too much about his own accomplishments, he’s just happy to see me do well. When I got through my ticket match, he said he wasn’t crying, but he was.

Tom’s shot at a semi-state title ended quickly in the semi-finals as Prairie Heights stud Brody Hagewood teched Tom, 16-1, but the Wawasee sophomore returned to form with a pin of Jacob Unger of Cowan to finish third in his first semi-state tournament.

“I feel really good about placing third here and getting to state,” added Tom.

It was a somewhat similar trail for Morrison in his maiden voyage at the semi-state.

The junior 215-pounder opened his day with an impressive 16-1 tech fall of Jake Boots of Bluffton, then lined up against Snider’s Ethan Leal in the ticket round. Much like Tom’s matchup against Snider, the clock was ticking on Morrison against his Snider opponent. A Leal takedown in the third period tied the matchup at 4-4, and the pressure was now on Morrison to respond. And the junior did, just six seconds after Leal hit his tying takedown, Morrison rolled out into a reversal to take a two-point lead with less than a minute to go. Morrison let Leal go with just a few seconds remaining, and then danced backwards as the clock hit zero to earn his first trip to Indy.

“I felt like my emotions today were just ‘next match up’ mentality,” Morrison said. “I knew what I needed to do. I know what I do. Just do what I do. I needed to punch that ticket, and I did. Let’s go.”

While the ticket round was a big deal for Morrison in accomplishing the day’s first goal, his biggest reaction was at the 1:13 mark after pinning North Miami’s Hartley Hoover in the semi-finals, who was highly ranked and had 41 wins to his name at that point. Morrison let out a huge scream of accomplishment, knowing he was heading to the finals. But that barrier to success in the 215 bracket the past month has been Northridge’s Travis Henke, who Morrison drew for the fourth time in four weeks, and for the fourth time in a row, Henke put away Morrison for a championship, this time with a pin at 2:31, leaving Morrison as a two-seed for the state finals next weekend.

“Henke’s had my number, I know,” laughed Morrison, admitting Henke’s recent reign in their head-to-heads. “If we have to go again, at least I’ve seen him enough to know what he does. I gotta make some adjustments.”

The day also featured a third Wawasee wrestler making his third straight semi-state appearance. Cameron Senter entered the 120 bracket with aspirations of avenging his sophomore year slip-up at the semi-state, but drew a very tough Levi Johns of Bluffton in round one. A sluggish start from Senter had Johns getting a takedown in just 24 seconds, and it went downhill from there. Senter generated no offense as Johns proved on Saturday to be the better competitor in a 16-0 tech fall to finish Senter’s season at 34-7 overall. Johns would go on to upset Delta’s Ayden Bollinger in the championship to win the semi-state 120 title.

“All three of the kids who wrestled today, they all started as Viper kids and came up together,” said Wawasee head coach Jamie Salazar. “You know they have been through the battles, they know how to win. To see two of them get to the state finals today is special, and hats off to Cam, he had a great season as well.”

Fort Wayne Semi-state
Allen County War Memorial Coliseum

120 – Cameron Senter (34-7) place is unknown and scored 0.0 team points.

• Champ. Round 1 – Levi Johns (Bluffton) 37-2 won by tech fall over Cameron Senter (Wawasee) 34-7 (TF-1.5 3:06 (16-0))

144 – Cavan Tom (33-10) placed 3rd and scored 15.0 team points.

• Champ. Round 1 – Cavan Tom (Wawasee) 33-10 won by fall over Kendi Quoi (Fort Wayne Snider) 30-5 (Fall 5:47)
• Quarterfinal – Cavan Tom (Wawasee) 33-10 won by decision over Corbin Goshert (Wabash) 39-8 (Dec 5-3)
• Semifinal – Brody Hagewood (Prairie Heights) 43-3 won by tech fall over Cavan Tom (Wawasee) 33-10 (TF-1.5 2:16 (16-1))
• 3rd Place Match – Cavan Tom (Wawasee) 33-10 won by fall over Jacob Unger (Cowan) 16-8 (Fall 2:59)

215 – Derek Morrison (35-6) placed 2nd and scored 19.5 team points.

• Champ. Round 1 – Derek Morrison (Wawasee) 35-6 won by tech fall over Jake Boots (Bluffton) 27-8 (TF-1.5 2:09 (16-1))
• Quarterfinal – Derek Morrison (Wawasee) 35-6 won by decision over Ethan Leal (Fort Wayne Snider) 22-9 (Dec 6-5)
• Semifinal – Derek Morrison (Wawasee) 35-6 won by fall over Hartley Hoover (North Miami) 42-2 (Fall 1:13)
• 1st Place Match – Travis Henke (Northridge) 38-0 won by fall over Derek Morrison (Wawasee) 35-6 (Fall 2:31)

Wawasee’s Derek Morrison celebrates after punching his first ticket to the IHSAA State Finals.