Thursday, Feb. 02, 2012
KNOCKING OFF THE PANTHERS
Pirates keep Park Hill South from undefeated conference record
Stephanie Yeagle
syeagle@demo-mo.com
Print
E-Mail
AIM
ReprintThe Belton wrestling team had been waiting for the Jan. 31 dual against Park Hill South since last season.
Last year, Park Hill South edged the Pirates out of a conference title, and with the Panthers riding on a undefeated conference dual record this year, Belton was even more determined to clinch a victory at home on their senior night.
“It feels amazing,” Belton senior Kevin Estell said. ‘They came in and they wanted to beat us and get conference champs. But we had people pick up the pace and wrestle their butts off and we made an upset. It’s pretty amazing tonight.”
Starting out at 138 pounds, Austinn Goin pinned Park Hill South’s Ryan Proffit to give the Pirates six points, but in the next match at 145 pounds, Belton’s Brandon McKinney lost by fall to Adam Weatherly to tie up the score. Zuberi Muwwakkil (152) took down Panther Dillon Propes in just 53 seconds to put Belton back ahead at 12-6. Blake Mann (160) won a 3-1 decision over Park Hill South’s Alex Carpenter, but Belton’s Grant Whitney (170) was pinned to edge the Panthers closer at 15-12.
Then Pirate Anane Silvers (182) lost a 20-5 technical fall to Chase Gray to put Park Hill South above Belton at 17-15. Then Belton’s Sergio Ramos (195) lost by fall to Nick Gillespes, but Andruw Goin (220) won a 3-2 decision over Tyler Blyth of Park Hill South. And with Pirate Kevin Estell (285) pinning John Holden, Belton took over a 24-23 lead.
At 106 pounds, Belton’s Brian Sanders won by fall over Bradley Wright and Clay Stine (120) pinned Panther Garrison Ballam. Park Hill South’s Alex Fortuna pinned Joe Bedwell, but the Panthers forfeited the match at 126 pounds to make the score 42-29 with Belton at the advantage. In the final match of the night, Belton’s Robbie Jones (132) was pinned by George Barth to make the score 42-35.
With the victory, Belton ends the dual season with a 7-5 overall record and a 4-2 record in conference. Now the Pirates just have to prepare for the upcoming districts.
“We are still going to go into the wrestling room, work as much as usual, keep busting our butts in there,” Estell said. “We have a home tournament this weekend that hopefully we do well at. Hopefully we have people step up again like we did today, turn things around and get as many people through districts as we can and go to state.”
