For the first time in two years, Harrisonville High School won a Missouri River Valley Conference wrestling dual, beating Pleasant Hill 53-21 at home Jan. 24.</p><p>The Wildcats won nine of the 12 matches on the night, including five by pin.</p><p>&#x93;I was happy with the way the boys wrestled,&#x94; Harrisonville head coach Eric DeVenney said. &#x93;It&#x92;s always a tough dual with Pleasant Hill. The boys wrestled really well.&#x94;</p><p>Travis Britz got the Wildcats off to a good start in the 285-pound class against Tully Byrne. Byrne fought off a pin in the first period, but fell 6-2.</p><p>Jericho Harris earned the first pin of the night, dispatching Brandon Bray in one minute, 50 seconds in the 106-pound spot.</p><p>Putting the Roosters on the board, David Allen pinned David Barnett in 1:36 at 113 pounds.</p><p>Starting a string of four Harrisonville pins, Ben Spencer pinned Greg Brundage in the third period of the 120-pound bout. In the 126-pound match, Ty Cochran took care of Aaron Couch in 37 seconds. Kyle Hix reversed Dylan Lewis and pinned him in the second period at 132 pounds and Tyler Wood finished off Keegan Reed midway through the second period in the 138-pound slot.</p><p>At 152 pounds, Jessie Powell filled in for Brigham West for Pleasant Hill and lost to Joe Hunter 18-1.</p><p>Dillon Spears and Patrick Shands got back-to-back wins for the Roosters. Spears used six near fall points in the third period to come back from a 5-2 deficit to win 8-6 in the 160-pound contest. At 170, Shands pinned Dallas Sunde in 3:36.</p><p>Some controversy broke out in the last two matches after Harrisonville already had the team dual wrapped up.</p><p>Jarrick Fitzgearlds of Harrisonville led Cole Reeves 8-1 in the third period of the 182-pound bout, but Reeves started to make a come back and Fitzgearlds looked like he was out of gas. The official awarded Reeves two points after cautioning Fitzgearlds multiple times for failing to get on the line and DeVenney contested that it should only be one point. </p><p>The match stopped for several minutes as the DeVenney and the official examined the rule book. The Roosters complained that it was intentional to allow Fitzgearlds to catch his breath. </p><p>When the match resumed, Fitzgearlds held off Reeves for the remaining 10 seconds for a 9-6 win.</p><p>In the 195-pound match, Kace Beattie of Pleasant Hill appeared to have Marcus Roberg pinned, but Beattie only got near fall points to go up 7-0 before Roberg reversed him and pinned him at the 1:43 mark.</p><p>&#x93;I was very proud of (Roberg&#x92;s) come back,&#x94; DeVenney said. &#x93;Those two wrestled a one-point match in the conference tournament, so we knew it was going to be a close match. Kace had us on our back. Fortunately we were able to fight it off and flip him.&#x94;</p><p>Each team left one spot open: The Wildcats didn&#x92;t field a 145-pound wrestler and the Roosters left the 220-pound open.</p><p>Pleasant Hill head coach Jeff Wyatt declined to comment after the dual.</p><p>For more photos of the dual, visit <a href="http://www.demo-mo.com/sports/galleries/">www.demo-mo.com/sports/galleries/</a>.