INDIANAPOLIS
Brayden Littell couldn’t stop smiling as he walked slowly out of the tunnel inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Saturday evening.
One minute the Center Grove junior was looking up at himself on the massive video board. The next he was wide-eyed taking in the building’s interior as the public address announcer blared his impressive wrestling credentials.
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The moment Littell worked so hard for had arrived, and he was about to make the most of it.
Dominating his 44th and final match of the season, Littell defeated Evansville Mater Dei sophomore Blake Boarman, 9-3, to become the 120-pound state champion at the state finals. The win made him the Trojans’ first wrestling champion since Sean Mappes won the 170-pound division as a senior in 2012.
Littell finished the season with a 44-0 record, an accomplishment made even more impressive by his program-record 30 pins.
“It’s definitely just something to take in,” Littell said of the pre-meet introductions. “This is probably the best experience I’ve ever had in my life. It’s definitely been kind of challenging. Just the way everybody reacted to my comeback or said who would beat me or who wouldn’t.
“It just really made me want to work harder every day in practice. Coach (Maurice) Swain made sure I was going harder in practice every day. It definitely helped.”
It was the second time in as many weeks Littell faced Boarman — he also defeated him, 6-2, in a semifinal match at the Evansville semistate.
“I was very comfortable after the first takedown because at semistate I got the first takedown and it kind of looked like I mentally broke him,” Littell said. “He had the same look on his face when I got that first takedown (Saturday). It was a little bit of weight lifted off my shoulders.”
Greenwood senior Nick Willham advanced to the state championship match at 195 pounds Saturday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. He fell short against top-ranked and undefeated Silas Allred of Shenandoah, 11-2.
Willham finished his senior season with a 36-3 record and a weekend he’ll never forget.
“I feel good, but I don’t feel great,” said Willham, who is undecided on his college choice, but plans to wrestle either at Indiana or Purdue. “Coming from getting sixth at sectional as a freshman (at 138) to be able to wrestle under the lights is huge. To finally get to do it was great. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Allred (35-0), a junior who has verbally committed to wrestle at Nebraska once graduated from Shenandoah, dominated his competition all season. His three wins at state leading into the 195 finale were every bit as convincing.
“I was just trying to get into him and get him down,” Willham said. “I wanted to make sure I scored first. Make sure I kept the score high with my points and try to dominate him. A lot of his matches ended quickly, so I don’t think he’s ever had a six-minute match.
“I figured if I tried to keep the pace high he would end up gassing out.”
Center Grove senior Peyton Pruett exited the fieldhouse with a fifth-place medal at 160 pounds, defeating Castle’s Robert Deters, 1-0. Pruett’s bid for a semifinal berth ended earlier in the day with a 2-1 loss to Brooks Davis of Perry Meridian.
The four-year varsity veteran demonstrated the ability to focus on the task at hand only a few hours after such disappointment.
“I mean, it really hurt. It hurt a lot. I can’t say that it didn’t,” Pruett said of the loss to Davis. “Me and him could definitely go back and forth on matches, but he just had the better day today. It’s tough, mentality-wise, but I know that’s not how I want to end my season, getting eighth.”
After the win, Pruett, stood and acknowledged the red-shirted Center Grove fans in one corner of the fieldhouse. Undecided as to whether he’ll wrestle in college, Pruett knows it could have been his last such competition.
“I’m so glad all the fans came out,” Pruett said. “It means a lot to see all that red in that corner, and I got to talk to all my family, which helped motivate me to push through the rest of the day.”
Roncalli had four wrestlers competing on Saturday. Alec Viduya reached the 132-pound final before falling to three-time champion Asa Garcia of Avon. Brayden Lowery lost to Littell in a 120-pound semifinal and wound up finishing third, the same spot earned by Bargersville resident Elijah Mahan at 170 pounds. Tyce Freije was fourth at 138 pounds.
The Rebels finished sixth as a team with 53 points. Center Grove was 14th with 26.
