Royals at Wrestling State: Andrew Irick

Mitchell Brooks

For the second straight year, Senior Andrew Irick was competing in the IHSAA Wrestling State Championship. In 2019, Irick finished in 4th place at 220 pounds. His first match of championship weekend was on Friday, Feb. 21 against Franklin Community’s Jacob Johnson, a sophomore who was 32-9 on the season. Irick won the match by major decision after 3 periods. 

Coming off a dominant 14-4 round one win, Irick was looking to continue his win streak against Western’s Braydon Erb on the following morning. This match against Erb was a rematch of the Semi-Finals from the North Montgomery Holiday Duels, a tournament from just two months prior. 

A takedown by Irick with 21 seconds left in the third period on Saturday gave him a 3-1 lead over Erb. Erb finished the match with an escape to make the final score 3-2, with Irick advancing on to the semi-finals, a match against the undefeated Dorian Keys from Brownsburg.  Keys was the 2019 State Champion at 285 pounds.  

The semi-final was a hard-fought match for both competitors. After not being able to break a 1-1 tie, Keys and Irick had to go into overtime, and eventually an Ultimate Tiebreaker. In the Tiebreaker, Irick started on bottom and scored an escape to give him the 3-2 victory. Irick’s only loss earlier in the season was to Keys.  

Irick would face Cathedral’s Holden Parsons in the championship, and they needed extra time once again. After two escapes in the first three rounds, the score was tied 1-1 going into overtime. 38 seconds into the overtime period, Parsons had a takedown on Irick to win the championship. Irick finished his senior year as a second-place finisher at 285 pounds with a record of 37-2. Irick plans to wrestle at Indiana University for the next four years.