'Cats beat Waynesville for Raytown title
The Neosho Wildcats wrestling team is on pace to have a record-shattering season.
On Saturday, the Wildcats wrapped up a two-day weekend in Kansas City by claiming the championship of the 14-team Raytown South Tournament.
It is the third team championship in three tournaments for Neosho.
In previous weeks the Wildcats won the Missouri Duals in Jefferson City and the Neosho Tournament.
"I'm proud of our effort and how we battled," said Neosho coach Jeremy Phillips. "As a coach I want to see us win every match, but I know it's important to take these losses and learn from them so we peak when it matters."
Neosho racked up 395 points to defeat Waynesville, which had 350 points, to claim the championship. Carthage and Ozark rounded out the top four.
Ironically, the four teams are all in the same district and will have to battle to send wrestlers to state in February.
Other teams in the tournament included: Washington, Branson, Raytown South, Wichita Kapaun-Mt. Carmel, Ozark, Belton, Kansas City O'Hara, St. Charles West, Pacific, Labette County, Kan., and Savannah. With such a deep field, more than 50 wrestlers competing were state ranked in either Missouri or Kansas.
Neosho had three individual championships, two coming from freshmen.
Freshman Carter Boatright (103 pounds) went 7-0 on the day and capped off his championship with an 8-5 win over Washington's Spencer Neptune.
Boatright improved to 20-0 on the season with the win.
Fellow freshman Blake Stauffer (140) went 8-0 in the tournament and won all eight of his matches by a pin. Senior Brandon Russow (145) went 7-0 and won his championship after pinning John Howell of Kapaun Mt. Carmel.
Four wrestlers sustained losses in the round robin action, but bounced back to place high. Trevor Hughes (112) went 4-1 on the day and ended with a 3-2 victory over a wrestler from Labette County.
Justin Hutchins (119) went 5-1 on the day and ended up wrestling against a very familiar foe in the third-place match - teammate Payne Hatter. Hatter, a non-scoring wrestler, went 5-1. In the place match, Hutchins pinned Hatter to win.
Taylor Maus (135) sustained his first loss of the year - to Class 5A runner-up John Hagan of Kapaun Mt. Carmel. He bounced back and finished 5-1 to claim third, winning with a pin over an O'Hara wrestler.
Brandon Crandall (160) was upset by Branson's Adam Johnston in pool play - he defeated Johnston at the Neosho Tournament - and had to bounce back to capture third place. Crandall won 9-7 over Jonathan Truman of Kapaun Mt. Carmel.
Tyler Curtis (125) and Dallas Smith (130) both had fourth place finishes for Neosho.
Curtis, a transfer from McDonald County, and Smith were both 5-2 on the day. George McKinney (285) went 3-3 on the day to capture fifth place.
Jason Ruzic (152) and Ryan Padilla (171) both took seventh place and Xavier Morrison (189) placed eighth.
"Again, I think it is evident what this group has put in and this championship is a testament how good this group is," said Phillips. "Truthfully, I think we struggled a little bit with consistency and wasn't at our best for the duration of the tournament. But remember, we came here for the competition. We lost some tough matches, but again it was evident of the character of our kids on how they bounced back.
"I think we are moving in the right direction, but we have a lot of work to do to get to the top at the state tournament. We lost some matches to district opponents and you can't do that. Four of the top 16 teams came from our district - that just shows how tough our district is."
Neosho will wrestle Joplin Thursday in a make-up of a match that was canceled last Thursday due to a power outage at Joplin High School. Joplin will wrestle Carthage at 5:30 p.m. and then wrestle Neosho following that dual.
Neosho Daily News