Collins comes back for fifth-place state finish

By Bob Fenske, editor@nhtrib.com

Maybe Charles City coach Dave Williams put it best Saturday.

“You want to end on an odd number,” he said, after Comet junior Caden Collins closed out the season with an impressive 14-5 major decision fifth-place win over New Hampton/Turkey Valley’s Jacob Reicks in the Class 2A state wrestling 182-pound match.

“At state wrestling, odd is good,” Williams said.

It was for Collins, who didn’t crack the Charles City lineup, at least full time, until this season.

“I wanted it to go higher,” Collins said, after avenging a loss suffered to Reicks in last week’s district tournament. “But winning the last match, I’ll take it. … Hopefully, next year, I can get into the top-three, maybe higher.”

Collins came into the state tournament ranked seventh, and after opening the tournament with a dominating decision on Thursday, he pinned 10th-rated Austin Roos in just 19 seconds Friday morning to earn a trip to the semifinals.

The dream of a state title ended Friday night at the hands of Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont’s top-ranked Sage Walker, who scored a 17-1 technical fall to send Collins to the consolation round.

“That was tough, I’m not going to lie,” Collins said. “To get that far and lose, it was a little tough mentally, but the guy was good. I mean like really good.”

It took Collins a while to regain his footing as he lost Saturday morning’s consolation semifinal match, but that gave him a chance to take on Reicks.

“I like Jacob a lot. He’s a great kid, but yeah, I wanted that one pretty bad,” Collins said. “I knew I just had to wrestle my match — last week I just got caught — and knew I had to send a message right away.”

He did, getting a takedown 30 seconds into the match and turning Reicks twice in the period to take an 8-0 lead into the second period. The lead would eventually grow to 13-0 and then survived a scary moment in the match’s final minute as the Chickasaw took Collins to his back.

Collins, though, survived and closed out a banner season in which he went 33-8.

“Caden’s a great lesson for every kid,” Williams said. “He kept working, he kept training and when his opportunity came, he made the most of it.”

The only other Comet to survive the state meet’s opening day, sophomore heavyweight Chase Crooks, fell in his second round consolation match as Gilbert’s Jacob Torresi won a 6-0 decision in a match that was closer than the final score indicated.

Throw in sophomore 220-pounder Tino Tamayo, and Williams will welcome back three state tournament wrestlers in 2020-21.

The Charles City coach also wanted to laud the three seniors — Bronson Forsyth, Eliott Sinnwell and Jack Sindlinger — on this year’s squad that went 14-7 in duals, finished second at the Northeast Iowa Conference tournament and just missed a trip to the state dual tournament.

Sindlinger qualified for the state tournament, Sinnwell lost a heartbreaking 7-6 decision in a true-second district wrestleback and Forsyth beat two state placewinners.

“Three guys who gave us four hard-working years, they’re going to be tough to replace,” Williams said. “We do have a lot of guys coming back, but these seniors, it’s not just what they did on the mat, but they helped us so much. They’re leaving with our program on the upswing, and they had a lot to do with it.”

FRIDAY QUARTERFINAL
182 – Caden Collins pinned Austin Roos (Benton), 0:19.

FRIDAY SECOND-ROUND CONSOLATION
285 – Jacob Torresi (Gilbert) dec. Chase Crooks, 6-0.

FRIDAY SEMIFINAL
182 – Sage Walker (Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont) tech. fall Collins, 17-1.

SATURDAY CONSOLATION SEMIFINAL
182 – Payton Vest (South Tama) pinned Collins, 3:47.

SATURDAY FIFTH-PLACE
182 – Collins maj. dec. Jacob Reicks (New Hampton/Turkey Valley), 14-5.