By JACOB MOORE, for The Democrat
Lane Mullins set a goal prior to this wrestling season: to qualify for the semistate round of the tournament.
Saturday, following a season full of unprecedented challenges, the junior heavyweight met that goal and competed in the Jasper semistate.
Overall, it was a bittersweet day for Brown County wrestling. On one hand, Mullins’ loss officially brought the season to a close. On the other, given the path he had to travel, Mullins progressing that far in the tournament represented a triumph.
The COVID-19 pandemic obviously affected every school, but few teams were hit as hard as the Eagles. Understandably, multiple wrestlers did not come out for the team out of concern for high-risk family members. Then, early in the season, a handful of wrestlers left the team when coaches had to quarantine. But the most direct effect was in lost matches.
First, Brown County had to cancel the tournament it annually hosts, costing wrestlers five matches. Next, Brown County was scheduled to compete at a tournament at Columbus East in December. Unfortunately, per standards set by the state, Brown County was under “red” status at the time. Based upon that, Columbus East barred the Eagles from participating, eliminating five more matches.
But the most disappointing loss of matches came in January. Due to contact tracing following a dual meet, the team would be forced to miss the Western Indiana Conference Tournament. “I felt like I was going to do well,” Mullins said, “but then we got quarantined and weren’t able to go.”
There were other cancellations, but just those three cost wrestlers up to 15 matches. For Mullins, those matches would have provided critical experience. This was his first season at heavyweight, a class traditionally dominated by upperclassmen and including wrestlers up to 285 pounds.
At 240 pounds, Mullins was sometimes wrestling opponents who outweighed him by nearly 50 pounds. “Everything was against us,” Mullins said, adding: “You need mat time to figure out what you need to work on.”
After a regular season record of 5-5, Mullins began an impressive postseason run with a second-place finish at the Jennings County Sectional on Jan. 30. That qualified Mullins for the regional tournament in Jeffersonville on Feb. 6 along with teammates: Hunter Funkhouser at 182 pounds and Brandon Phelps at 160 pounds.
In the first round of regionals, Funkhouser and Phelps each came up short against an opponent from Jeffersonville. Meanwhile, Mullins faced an unfamiliar opponent in Salem junior Jimmy Gibson. Not only had Gibson and Mullins never wrestled each other, but as Head Coach Josh Sparks said, “We couldn’t get any film on him, so we had no idea what we were getting into.”
Gibson came out aggressively and attempted to throw Mullins in a headlock. Mullins was able to slip out of the headlock and secure a takedown and a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period. Gibson had the choice of starting position for the second round and chose neutral, meaning both wrestlers would be on their feet as at the beginning of the match. Again, Gibson attempted a headlock and again Mullins ducked his head out of Gibson’s grasp and secured a takedown.
Leading 4-0 in the third period, Mullins would extend his lead to 5-0 with an escape. Now desperate, Gibson attempted a shot. As with the earlier headlock attempts, Mullins countered the shot and secured a takedown en route to a 7-0 victory.
In the second round, like Funkhouser and Phelps before him, Mullins would take on a Jeffersonville Red Devil. In this case, that was 31-0 senior Matthew Munoz. Munoz is a physically dominant wrestler and would grapple Mullins into a front headlock and ultimately earn a pin. Munoz would go on to win the regional title.
This put Mullins into the third-place match against Corydon Central junior Seth Johnson. Less than a minute into the match, the wrestlers were locked up and Johnson would push hard into Mullins. Mullins responded with a high-risk/high-reward takedown known as a lateral drop.
In a lateral drop, rather than push back against an aggressive opponent, a wrestler suddenly embraces the momentum and pulls the opponent toward himself while torquing hard to one side. A lateral drop makes for a dramatic visual and results in a wrestler being put suddenly on his back. Which wrestler that is depends on how well the move is executed.
Mullins executed the move in textbook fashion and pinned Johnson 52 seconds into the match, earning a third place regional finish.
At semistate, Mullins took on Jasper senior Quade Popp. At the end of the first round, Popp led 4-1. In the second round, Mullins attempted a throw, but Popp slipped loose from Mullins’ grasp and was able to exploit the opportunity and earn a pin.
Looking forward, Sparks knows the team needs more numbers, but he is proud of the culture that’s been instilled. “Although small, our team has been built by hard-working, team oriented wrestlers,” he said.
As for Mullins, he intends to be a constant presence in Brown County’s weight room and looks forward to embracing a leadership role on next year’s team.
He’s also set a goal for next year. “I want to make it to the state finals.”
