I have to say that I appreciated the readiness of our Kansas team. Congrats to the coaches for their preparation. In spite of all the talk about selections, those that were mentioned battled!
170 - Blaine Hill started us off with a typical all controlling 7-0 win. I can't tell you how many times I've seen this kid dominate from whistle to whistle. He did it again vs. a 49-3 state champion that he made look entirely average. Blaine just started wrestling in 9th grade and has a huge upside at the next level!
182 - Reese put another show on. I am always afraid to text or look away during his matches, dare I miss an incredible crowd pleasing throw. His taller opponent wrestled at a higher weight for Park Hill South this year and can't be faulted for "only" losing 13-3 to one of our all-time KS elite.
195 - Alex Stockton did his job! He was up against the undefeated Newman signee, Hashem Omari, a 156 career winner from Oak Park. The guy has an almost unstoppable front headlock attack and the nails tough Stockton lost a 5-2 decision, robbing MO of their lofty expectations at this weight.
220 - One of the most exciting matches of the night. Colton Bonner, sporting the trademark tattoo and blond hair, got into a bear hug extravaganza in a match featuring two 40+ match winners. There were at least 4 awesome scrambles, which you don't normally associate with this upper weight. Bonner pulled out a critical 5-2 win.
285 - Missouri's Evan Boehm is a mountain. He is 141-12 on his career and heading to MU as one of their top Offensive line recruits. His legs were as large as my stomach and our own 2X State champion had his work cut out for him. In the early going Eric worked his trademark two on one series and hung in there with the hulk, doing a great job at one point to avoid back points. Although the match ended in a fall, I thought Eric came ready to wrestle and appreciated his effort.
113 - A late addition to the team, Taylor Smith from Spring Hill was evenly matched up with another 35 match winner in Kyle Montalto from Blue Springs South. Taylor was in on several shots and just came up short in a 4-3 loss that was competitive throughout.
120 - What can you say about Austin Hood? The kid is arguably the best we have in Kansas. With a 150-13 career record and a storage shed full of hardware, we all smelled pin points and that's exactly what we got. I'm gonna miss that kid. Austin, "We gotta have you in OKC on the Junior Team"!
126 - Andrew Morgan had an incredible year. We all knew he was talented his first three years and was fun to watch. This year he put it all together, won 43 matches and a State Title. I think the Fargo success catipulted this kid to a new level. His opponent was a stealth 29-12 SQ who was very stingy. We needed this 2-1 win!
132 - Bo Pursel, our rare air 4X champ, was on cruise control up 7-1 (should have been 10-1) and the great equalizer happened. A cradle that was tighter than a 2 dollar steak. Thank you Bo for fighting through that disaster and pulling out the 7-6 win.
138 - Christian Service came to wrestle and was not intimidated by the 187 match winner from Kearney. At one point he had the KS faithful on their feet with potential back points. He lost a 10-1 decision but his effort was appreciated.
145 - Rory Haug had some great scrambles and should not be disappointed by an 11-5 loss to a kid like 152 match winner and 2X state champ Greg Hegarty. Rory's an awesome kid and his state title this year was a welcome site and a just reward for years of hard work.
152 - We are now used to Connor Middleton's close matches. This one ended as predictable as the other 169 wins of his. He won... Baker got themselves a gem with this kid. Solid, solid, solid.
152 - I have got to hand it to Trevor Hendrickson. In spite of the chatter during the week, the kid laid it all on the mat, tying the match with 30 seconds to go before giving up a TD in the last 10 seconds to a 52-2 Lees Summit West kid. Nice work Trevor!
160 - Jesse LeMay is flat out fun to watch. I've watched this athletic kid from when he was a squirt in kids, turning into a beast in HS. His opponent, Morgan Fitzgerald was a 176 match winner that expected bonus points that would have won the dual for MO, being down by three going into the final match. LeMay gutted out a very close loss that preserved the VICTORY over Missouri.
We were biting our nails at the TIED final score after seeing that we had both won 7 matches, both had one pin each and both had one major decision each. The tiebreaker came down to the Unsportsmanlike call against the MO HWT against Mason.
Kansas closed the gap in the All-Time series to 12-8 in Mo's favor. CONGRATS TO THE KANSAS METRO CLASSIC TEAM!!!!!
