In a battle of different strengths Jan. 17, Excelsior Springs beat out Harrisonville on the mat 41-36.
The Wildcats dominated the three heaviest weight classes, getting wins by pins in the first period in all three, but struggled on the lower end of the spectrum.
“They’re so good down low and (Excelsior Springs) coach (Joseph) Greim and I joked back and forth that if combine both of our squads and we’d have a really tough squad because he’s tough low and I’m tough high,” said Harrisonville head coach Eric DeVenney. “But it makes for a fun dual.”
All five Wildcat wins came by way of a pin. Travis Britz’s came the fastest, in 25 seconds, after picking Jake Buckallew up off the mat and setting him down on his back in the 285-pound weight class. Joe Schlechter pinned Mark Ingraham in 1:15 in the 220-pound bout and Marcus Roberg also got a first-period pin against Will Simpson.
Those three pins gave Harrisonville a 24-7 lead in the team scoring with Brance Neal losing 12-4 in the 160-pound slot and Blake Moreland coming up short in a third-period come back attempt at 170-pounds, 8-4. Down 8-0, Moreland got a reversal and put Devin Walker on his back, but couldn’t get the pin.
“The matches we were supposed to win, we won,” said DeVenney, “the matches we weren’t, we didn’t. I wish we would have flipped some of those that we weren’t supposed to win, but we wrestled hard.”
Then the Tigers came back to take the lead 25-24 with Harrisonville’s Jericho Harris out at 103 and pins of David Barnett and Ben Spencer in the 113 and 120-pound classes, both in the second period.
In the 126-pound match, Ty Cochran found himself down 4-1 in the second period, then reversed Shaun Bunyan and pinned him.
“Ty is a very dangerous wrestler,” DeVenney said. “He stayed focused and that’s the thing with Ty – he keeps coming at you and keeps coming at you and keeps coming at you. To people that don’t know Ty, that was surprising. If you know Ty, that wasn’t a surprise. He’s very aggressive and very persistent.”
Excelsior Springs picked up wins in the next three weight classes to seal the victory. Kyle Hix got pinned in 4:27 at 132-pounds, Tyler Wood lost 11-2 and Anthony Franco got pinned in 1:19.
Joe Hunter ended the night with a win for the Wildcats, pinning Tony Clinesmith in 3:18.