Warsaw 138-pounder Kyle Hatch, far right, won the title at the Al Smith Invite Wednesday, his second consecutive title at the prestigious event. (Photo provided by Dave Anson)

MISHAWAKA – For the second year in a row, Kyle Hatch stood tall in the cave. Conquering the 138-pound bracket at the prestigious Al Smith Invite Wednesday, Hatch won his second class title at Mishawaka among some of the top talent the state of Indiana has to offer.

Hatch went 5-0 in total at the two-day tournament, needing 5:24 to finally pin Portage’s Kris Rumph in the semi-finals. The finals of the 138 bracket would pit the No. 6-ranked Hatch against Munster’s Jason Crary, who is ranked No. 3 in the state. Hatch, as he has done so many times before, used his patience to conquer. Scoreless into the third period, Hatch managed an escape to open the period, then shot and hit a takedown 53 seconds in, holding off Crary’s desperate attempts late to get the win.

Hatch moves to 22-0 on the season and the victory in the championship round is his 100th win in 114 career matches. Hatch won the 120-pound title as a sophomore and was fourth at 106 as a freshman.

Andrew Brock was also on the winner’s side of the 220-pound bracket heading into Wednesday, but lost all three of his matches. Brock lasted 2:35 with defending state champion Kobe Woods of Penn before a fall in the semi-finals. Woods would go on to win a 3-2 decision over Goshen’s Derek Paz for the title, the 57th straight win for Woods dating back to 2013.

Brock would lose by 5-3 decision to Maliq Carr of Lawrence North then pin fall three seconds into the second period to Garrett’s Blake Davis for a sixth-place standing. Brock is currently 19-4 on the season.

The third Tiger on the prowl was Kameron Hile, who would lose his two matches to finish eighth overall at 132. Hile would get the younger Crary brother, Cody, and lose by a 2-1 decision. In his final match of the day, Hile lost to Center Grove’s David Roth by a 5-2 decision. The two squared off in the first round of the tournament, won by Roth 4-2. Hile is currently 7-4 on the season.

Danville’s Elliott Molloy, ranked No. 2 in the state in the 132 class, moved to 23-0 overall after pinning Hobart’s Brendan Black at 4:23 to win the bracket.

Defending team state champion Penn had Woods and Drew Hildebrandt in the 120-pound class win titles to push the Kingsmen to 226 points and the team title. Portage was second at 191 and Columbus East finished third at 150.

Among notable area teams at the Al Smith were Prairie Heights eighth (132); Jimtown 11th (117); Garrett 12th (114); South Bend Riley 13th (104.5); Elkhart Memorial 14th (103.5); South Bend Adams 19th (77.5); Peru 22nd (73); Goshen, Mishawaka and NorthWood all tied for 23rd (69); Warsaw 26th (55); Rochester 30th (28); and West Noble 32nd (15).