Warrior wrestlers smash Smoky Valley and Hoisington, drop heartbreaker to Hillsboro
Sports reporter
It's never fun for to lose to anyone, especially your rival. But with convincing victories against Smoky Valley and Hoisington Thursday, and a hard-fought loss to Hillsboro, Marion-Florence Peabody-Burns wrestling coach Chad Adkins is happy with his team's performance.
"I couldn't expect much more effort than what I got tonight," Adkins said. "This is a very hard working bunch of kids."
In the opening match against Hoisington, the Cardinals spotted MFPB 30 points because of open weight classes. Last year it was the Warriors spotting the points. Thursday MFPB filled 13 of 14 classes.
Sophomore Charlie Holub got the Warriors on the right foot in the first match at 135 pounds. He pinned Brad Harting in just one minute, 44 seconds.
After freshman Mark Kukuk received six points for an open at 140, junior John Barr III pinned William Leiker in 2:47 to up the Marion lead to 42-0.
The Warriors pinned their next five opponents to grab a 72-0 lead. Gavin Moore 1:11, Ben Leppke, 00:38, Casey Nelson 00:46, Anthony Jones 00:52, and Adam Depler 1:47 all finished off their opponents in the first period.
Heavyweight Hunter Spencer was pinned in the final match of the night. But Adkins thought the sophomore who wrestled his first ever varsity match hung tough.
In the end MHS was victorious 72-6.
"They wrestled hard, but were rusty," Adkins said. "It was a good job for the first dual of the year."
Smoky Valley presented a tougher challenge in the second match, but MFPB did away with the Vikings, 57-21.
Hank Collett, Kukuk, Barr III, Moore, Leppke, and Nelson all picked up pins in the match. Depler defeated his opponent, Mickael Baker in a hard fought 4-3 match. Depler was down 3-1 heading into the third period, but forced Baker into three stalling penalties, leading to Depler's second victory of the season.
The final match-up of the night was the marquee between the Trojans and the Warriors. Both teams were 2-0 and filled 12-of-14 weight classes.
After each team had an open to start the match, the 119 match pitted MFPB's Riley Ross against one of Hillsboro's six seniors, Chris Jensen.
Ross and Jensen battled the entire six minutes, with Ross recording a takedown with just nine seconds left in the second period to tie the match at three. He dominated the final period recording a takedown and three back points to win the match 8-3.
Collett pinned Mathew Brown in the 125 match-up in 3:33, before Nicholas Mueller pinned Thomas McGee in the first period, to cut the MFPB lead to 15-12.
Holub came back with a pin of Tyler Jones in 3:37, but Hillsboro's Eric Cress took care of Kukuk in 1:24.
Barr III battled the full time with Grady Stultz at 145, before taking the match 11-4.
With Marion leading 24-18, Warrior senior Gavin Moore faced senior, and 2005 state-qualifier Matt Brown at 152.
Moore started off with a takedown with fire in his eyes, but Brown bounced back with a reversal and eventually pinned Moore in 2:30.
After taking a year off from wrestling, Moore finished 2-1 on the night.
With the match tied, Leppke dropped his first match after two pins, falling in 1:11 to senior Andrew Bina.
But Marion's top-two wrestler reclaimed the lead for the Warriors. Nelson, who just missed out on a state appearance a year ago, dispatched Jacob Yoder in 36 seconds at 171, and state-placer Depler did the same to Josh Kenny in just 26 seconds.
MFPB had a 36-30 lead with two matches left. Unfortunately, it was youth vs. experience, as James and Spencer fell to the Shaw brothers Kurtis and C.J. with pins in the first period.
At the end of the final match Adkins stood clapping, knowing he team gave a valiant effort.
"This was a very good dual for us," he said. "We saw some things we need to improve on and we will do so. I am looking forward to a great year. Warrior wrestling is headed in the right direction."
The varsity squad will wrestling at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Hesston invitational before taking a break until January.
Junior varsity will be in action Friday at the Council Grove invitational, and Saturday against Hillsboro.
Results:
MFPB 72, Hoisington 6
103-open. 112-Richmond (M), open (H). 119-Ross (M), open (H). 125-Collett (M), open (H). 130-McGee (M), open (H). 135-Holub (M) p. Harting (H), 1:44. 140-Kukuk (M), open (H). 145-Barr III (M) p. Leiker (H), 2:47. 152-Moore (M) p. Rodie (H), 1:11. 160-Leppke (M) p. Unger (H), 00:38. 171-Nelson (M) p. Zamarripa (H), 00:46. 189-Jones (M) p. Beckham (H), 00:52. 215-Depler (M) p. Shives (H), 1:47. 275-Reinhardt (H) p. Spencer (M), 1:23.
MFPB 57, Smoky valley 21
103-Mitchell (S), open (M). 112-Richmond (M), open (S). 119-Ross (M), open (S). 125-Collett (M) p. Coney (S), 00:53. 130 Crowther (S) p. McGee (M) 1:30. 135-Lackey (S) d. Holub (M), 7-0. 140-Kukuk (M) p. Miller (S), 2:46. 145-Barr III (M) p. Train (S), 1:23. 152-Moore (M) p. Henry (S), 1:52. 160-Leppke (M) p. Nuss (S), 1:24. 171-Nelson (M) p. Kelsey (S), 1:08. 189-Depler (M) d. Baker (S), 4-3. 215-Spohn (S) p. Jones (M), 1:01. 275-Spencer (M), open (S).
hillsboro 42, MFPB 36
103-open. 112-open. 119-Ross (M) d. Jensen (H), 8-3. 125-Collett (M) p. Matthew Brown (H), 3:33. 130-Mueller (H), p. McGee (M), 00:36. 135-Holub (M) p. Jones (H), 3:37. 140-Cress (H) p. Kukuk (M), 1:24. 145-Barr III (M) d. Stultz (H), 11-4. 152-Matt Brown (H) p. Moore (M), 2:30. 160-Bina (H) p. Leppke (M), 1:11. 171-Nelson (M) p. Yoder (H), 00:36. 189-Depler (M) p. Kenny (H), 00:26. 215-C. Shaw (H) p. Jones (M), 00:20 seconds. 275-K. Shaw (H) p. Spencer (M), 00:29.
