KHSAA state meet: Ultimate tiebreaker highlights big day for Central Kentucky wrestlers

Central Kentucky showed out during the KHSAA Boys/Coed Wrestling State Championships.

Wrestlers from area schools went 6-1 during the 14 division finals held Saturday afternoon at Kentucky Horse Park’s Alltech Arena, and the lone loss came in the closest match of the day — and at the hands of another wrestler from the region.

Harrison County junior George Dennis defeated Boyle County sophomore Kaygen Roberts 3-2 for the 144-pound title in an ultimate tiebreaker period — the longest a scholastic match can go.

Dennis, who won his second state title in a row (he was last year’s 120-pound champ), finished 39-0 on the season thanks, in part, to keen awareness of the rule book. In the 30-second ultimate tiebreaker period, if neither wrestler scores, the offensive wrestler — the one on top, or in control — at the end of the period will be awarded the tie-breaking point. Since Dennis scored the first points in regulation, by rule, he had the choice to begin the final period on top. So all he had to do was keep Roberts from scoring.

Of course, that was easier said than done.

“I’ve known my opponent Kaygen for a long time,” Dennis said. “Him and his coaches, Kyle Terry and Seth Lucas, they just had the perfect game plan for me. They really neutralized my offense. … That presented a super unique challenge. Kaygen really wasn’t close to much offense, but his top was solid, which surprised me.”

Roberts’ teammate Paul McClure closed the afternoon with a thrilling victory in the heavyweight bout. Trailing Pleasure Ridge Park’s Tucker Roth 7-3 with about 40 seconds left in the third period, McClure suddenly reversed his rival and pinned him on the edge of the circle.

It also proved consequential in the final team standings, pushing Boyle County narrowly ahead of Ryle for the fourth-place trophy.

“Going into the third and you’re down 3-7, it’s like, ‘All right, I can try to cut him and take him down or I can try to turn him,’” said McClure, a senior who fell in the quarterfinals last year. “The corner’s saying, ‘Cut him, cut him, cut him,’ and I’m saying, ‘No, we’re gonna ride him out and we’re gonna find it.’ … He ends up splitting his legs with my leg, so I just stick it in, grab onto his head and arm and just rip it.

“It’s the state finals, what else are you gonna do? … That low to that high is unreal.”

▪ Harrison County sophomore Jackson Wells kicked off Central Kentucky’s big day with a technical fall, 19-4, over Union County junior Jaxson Mayberry for the 113-pound title. Wells, the champ last year in 106, finished 34-0 on the year. After receiving his medal, he walked over to a row of referees near the competition mat and shook hands with all of them. Wells recently became a junior official.

“Since I started officiating, I’ve really built a bond with about 75% of them,” Wells said. “It really opened my eyes to what officials have to go through, having the coaches in your ear, focusing on the wrestling, so I really respect those guys.”

He enjoys the job, which he says is well-paying; he’s eager to spend his savings on gas money for his 2004 Ford Ranger once he gets his driver’s license in the coming months.

▪ Ethan Davis of Grant County also stayed unbeaten at 40-0. He closed his senior season with a 9-1 decision over John Hardin’s Christian Delos Santos (last year’s 113 champ) in the 120-pound division.

“It was hard. Every match came with a heavier burden, that’s for sure,” said Davis, who fell to Harrison County’s Dennis in the same division last season. “In my semifinals match, I felt it big time.”

Davis defeated Trinity’s Roman Valera by an 8-5 decision in that round and avenged his finals loss later in the day.

“Getting second last year, that made me want it even more,” Davis said. “It was nice to come back and be at the top of the podium, for sure.”

▪ Corban Nance, a junior out of Anderson County, took gold in the 126 weight class. He kept Union County rival Brennen Clifford scoreless in a 7-0 decision. Nance was quick to credit his father and head coach, Jerry Nance, for developing him into a champ after consecutive top-eight finishes the last two years.

“He’s pushed me,” Corban said. “In practice, when I didn’t necessarily feel like working hard, he’d say, ‘You have what it takes.’ And that definitely showed up here.”

▪ Woodford County senior Isaac Johns moved up a weight class but finished with the same result, this year taking the 150-pound title. Soon after securing a 7-0 decision over Johnson Central junior Ryan Smith, Johns ran toward Woodford’s cheering section and did a “Lambeau Leap” into a throng of Yellowjackets.

“We planned that beforehand,” Johns said with a laugh. “I said, ‘Everybody get into the first few rows, I might get a team point taken away or something like that,’ but I wanted to jump in and celebrate with them. Woodford County has a long history of wrestling, and they support it a lot.”

Matney on the mat

The most touching result of the day, by far, came in the 165-pound division. Dalton Matney, a junior from Johnson Central, pinned Oldham County’s Miller Brown — who won the 150-pound title last year, was 28-0 this season and was ranked No. 1 in the weight class by Kentucky Wrestling Forums — near the end of the first period.

Matney, who was ranked No. 2 and finished 47-3 on the season, is the son of the late Jim Matney. The elder Matney was Johnson Central’s football and wrestling head coach for 17 years, guiding the former to two state titles, before dying from COVID-19 in 2021.

“First of all, I want to thank God,” Dalton said. “Without Him and without my faith, none of this would be possible. I wouldn’t know where I’d be in this world. … All of this pressure, all of this surmounted to one thing, and it’s this state championship. I couldn’t be happier with how it ended.”

The Golden Eagles finished second in the team standings for the second year in a row and third time in four years. They’ve never taken the top trophy — Sheldon Clark, where Jim Matney coached for two decades before going to Johnson Central, is the only school from Eastern Kentucky to have achieved that distinction (doing so in 1994 and 1995) — but the program is continuing to knock on the door.

“I owe a lot to Jim Matney,” Johnson Central head coach Blake Gamble said. “We’re gonna keep trying to scale that mountain. But to help get his boy up at the top of that podium, I hope, for right now, that that’s enough.”

Union County repeats

Led by world-renowned twins Jayden and Jordyn Raney, Union County repeated as the team champion and added title No. 16 to its state-record total.

The Braves scored a state-meet record 305.5 points to do it, too. They’re the first team to achieve 300 points in a KHSAA state meet; Union County’s 2020 title team was the closest before Saturday (299).

Jordyn has won state titles for Union County every year since 2021, when he was in seventh grade. Jayden has done the same since he was an eighth grader in 2022. They’re considered top-10 recruits nationally and have Olympic aspirations beyond college.

Jayden had the easier go of the pair in Saturday’s finals, needing less than a minute and a half to pin his foe in the 132-pound bout. Jordyn took 4:34 to achieve his own fall in 138, but he kind of wrestled on one leg: He had UCL surgery on his right knee in September and didn’t compete in this high school season until Jan. 25. He spent less than 20 match minutes on the mat this year en route to a 12-0 record.

On Saturday, Jordyn sported a brace over his right knee that was about as thick as a winter blanket. He said he feels about 70%, health-wise.

“The recovery time is usually nine months,” Jordyn said. “It’s five months and three weeks today, so I cut it a little short, but I wanted to help make history. … We’re pretty pumped and excited.”

Jayden was named the most outstanding wrestler of the tournament. Cumulatively, he needed just 4 minutes and 12 seconds to win his five state-tournament matches.

“Union County has just elevated me and him to levels we thought we’d never hit,” Jayden said. “We have the most people here and that’s huge. You have all these people behind you, and you know — win or lose — everyone here’s cheering for you. I love it.”

2025 KHSAA Boys/Coed Wrestling State Championships

At the Kentucky Horse Park’s Alltech Arena

Orville Williams Outstanding Wrestler Award: Jayden Raney, Union County.

TEAM STANDINGS

(Top 10 plus Lexington teams’ finishes)

1. Union County 305.5; 2. Johnson Central 192.5; 3. Paducah Tilghman 170; 4. Boyle County 145; 5. Ryle 143; 6. Harrison County 106; 7. Oldham County 84.5; 8. Madison Central 68.5; 9. Walton-Verona 67.5; 10. South Oldham 65; 30. Frederick Douglass 33; 36. Lafayette 27.5; 43. Tates Creek 24; 46. Henry Clay 19.5; 60. Lexington Christian Academy 11.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

(Top four finishers and top eight medalists from Central Kentuckians listed; complete results available at KHSAA.org.)

106 — 1. Braxton Corbett, Union County; 2. Josh Waufle, Paducah Tilghman; 3. Bryant Brinkman, Ryle; 4. Talon Sanderlyn, Boyle County; 8. Aiden Ruiz, Tates Creek.

113 — 1. Jackson Wells, Harrison County; 2. Jaxson Mayberry, Union County; 3. Case Simmons, Paducah Tilghman; 4. Peyton Vowels, Meade County; 6. Deacon Cano, Great Crossing.

120 — 1. Ethan Davis, Grant County; 2. Christian Delos Santos, John Hardin; 3. Roman Valera, Trinity; 4. Jeremiah Pulliam, Paducah Tilghman; 6. Mat Wasson, Harrison County.

126 — 1. Corban Nance, Anderson County; 2. Brennen Clifford, Union County; 3. Zac Scott, Johnson Central; 4. Michael Smith, Scott; 8. Ethan Masters, Boyle County.

132 — 1. Jayden Raney, Union County; 2. Jonah McCloskey, Simon Kenton; 3. Kalob Wise, Moore; 4. Travis Votel, Highlands; 8. Austin Brinegar, Harrison County.

138 — 1. Jordyn Raney, Union County; 2. Landon Evans, Ryle; 3. James Morris, Johnson Central; 4. Emory Dix, Madison Central; 6. Anthony Condi, Frederick Douglass.

144 — 1. George Dennis, Harrison County; 2. Kaygen Roberts, Boyle County; 3. TJ Meyer, Walton-Verona; 4. Xavier Montanez, Dixie Heights; 5. Carson Nance, Anderson County; 7. Liam Gutierrez, Frederick Douglass.

150 — 1. Isaac Johns, Woodford County; 2. Ryan Smith, Johnson Central; 3. Hunter Jenkins, Union County; 4. Judah Carey, Boyle County; 5. Kayne Garrett, Scott County; 7. Ren Birk, Great Crossing.

157 — 1. Rider Trumble, Ryle; 2. Jake Dowdy, Union County; 3. Micah Thompson, Boyle County; 4. Tony Leader, Boyd County.

165 — 1. Dalton Matney, Johnson Central; 2. Miller Brown, Oldham County; 3. Jeremy Ray, Union County; 4. Carson Herbst, Madison Central.

175 — 1. Lucas Ricketts, Union County; 2. Zack McCoart, Johnson Central; 3. Ben Hall, Paducah Tilghman; 4. Wyatt Peterson, LaRue County; 8. Jeannoe Mangwele, Henry Clay.

190 — 1. DJ Wilson, Paducah Tilghman; 2. Darien Allen, Manual; 3. Cameron Vinson, Union County; 4. Seth Davis, Johnson Central; 7. Jeffrey Temprano, Lafayette.

215 — 1. Marcus James, Taylor County; 2. Luke Hyden, Walton-Verona; 3. Jack James, Paducah Tilghman; 4. Devin Allen, Manual; 6. MacDarland, Lexington Christian; 7. Brock Sexton, Harrison County.

285 — 1. Paul McClure, Boyle County; 2. Tucker Roth, Pleasure Ridge Park; 3. Austin Cummings, Union County; 4. Brady Adkins, Johnson Central; 6. Miles Hayward, Tates Creek.