Junior High Wrestles in Junior Panther Classic
The junior high wrestling team performed well at the Junior Panther Classic Wrestling Tournament in Phillipsburg on Saturday, February 11. The young Indians scored 107 team points to place 9th in the fifteen team tournament. Several Indians placed in the top four positions including: Kobe Tice - 1st at 105; Garin Cooper -3rd at 120; Tyson Poling - 4th at 138; Shadryon Blanka - 2nd at 152; Jesse Baxter - 4th at 160; and Colton Neitzel - 1st at 215.
Plainville won the team championship scoring 162.5 points. Phillipsburg was second with 149 and Hill City third with 132. The remainder of the team placing were: 4th (tie) - Hoxie 128, 4th (tie) - Decatur Community 128, 6th - Norton 113, 7th - Russell 110, 8th - Smith Center 108, 9th - St. Francis 107, 10th - Oakley 76, 11th - Republic County 75, 12th - Rawlins County 58, 13th - Trego Community 45,, 14th - Stockton 43, and 15th - Osborne 20.
Individual Results for the St. Francis wrestlers are below.
105 - Kobe Tice (9-3) placed 1st and scored 24.00 team points.
Champ. Round 1 - Kobe Tice (ST. FRANCIS) 9-3 won by fall over Brayden Wallace (STOCKTON) 5-7 (Fall 0:21)
Quarterfinal - Kobe Tice (ST. FRANCIS) 9-3 won by fall over Aidan Hockman (HILL CITY) 6-5 (Fall 0:55)
Semifinal - Kobe Tice (ST. FRANCIS) 9-3 won in sudden victory - 1 over Trey Grismore (PHILLIPSBURG) 12-1 (SV-1 5-3)
1st Place Match - Kobe Tice (ST. FRANCIS) 9-3 won by decision over Ashton Dowell (HOXIE) 10-3 (Dec 5-4)
110 - Caleb Todd (3-9) scored 1.00 team point.
Champ. Round 1 - Joel Ford (PHILLIPSBURG) 5-4 won by fall over Caleb Todd (ST. FRANCIS) 3-9 (Fall 0:48)
Cons. Round 1 - Caleb Todd (ST. FRANCIS) 3-9 won by decision over Matthew Hafliger (TREGO) 3-8 (Dec 9-5)
Cons. Round 2 - Ethan Hamilton (PLAINVILLE) 10-3 won by fall over Caleb Todd (ST. FRANCIS) 3-9 (Fall 0:21)
115 - Eli Mills (2-9) scored 0.00 team points.
Champ. Round 1 - Tyler Schoenberger (OAKLEY) 7-6 won by fall over Eli Mills (ST. FRANCIS) 2-9 (Fall 0:39)
Cons. Round 1 - Eli Mills (ST. FRANCIS) 2-9 received a bye () (Bye)
Cons. Round 2 - Nathaniel Davis (RUSSELL) 5-6 won by fall over Eli Mills (ST. FRANCIS) 2-9 (Fall 1:50)
120 - Garin Cooper (8-5) placed 3rd and scored 16.00 team points.
Champ. Round 1 - Garin Cooper (ST. FRANCIS) 8-5 received a bye () (Bye)
Quarterfinal - Garin Cooper (ST. FRANCIS) 8-5 won by fall over Jonathan Temaat (OAKLEY) 3-9 (Fall 2:02)
Semifinal - Aidan Baalman (HOXIE) 12-1 won by fall over Garin Cooper (ST. FRANCIS) 8-5 (Fall 2:00)
Cons. Semi - Garin Cooper (ST. FRANCIS) 8-5 won by fall over Bryce Peter (OBERLIN) 7-5 (Fall 2:41)
3rd Place Match - Garin Cooper (ST. FRANCIS) 8-5 won by decision over Jacob Kirchhoff (SMITH CENTER) 10-3 (Dec 3-0)
138 - Tyson Poling (11-2) placed 4th and scored 11.00 team points.
Champ. Round 1 - Tyson Poling (ST. FRANCIS) 11-2 won by fall over Nolan Hughes (PHILLIPSBURG) 6-6 (Fall 1:42)
Quarterfinal - Tyson Poling (ST. FRANCIS) 11-2 won by decision over Isaac Washburn (HOXIE) 5-6 (Dec 4-0)
Semifinal - Griffin Kugler (SMITH CENTER) 8-4 won by fall over Tyson Poling (ST. FRANCIS) 11-2 (Fall 0:55)
Cons. Semi - Tyson Poling (ST. FRANCIS) 11-2 won in sudden victory - 1 over Nolan Hughes (PHILLIPSBURG) 6-6 (SV-1 5-3)
3rd Place Match - Chayse McChullough (PLAINVILLE) 8-4 won by decision over Tyson Poling (ST. FRANCIS) 11-2 (Dec 6-3)
152 - Shadyron Blanka (9-2) placed 2nd and scored 18.00 team points.
Quarterfinal - Shadyron Blanka (ST. FRANCIS) 9-2 won by fall over Aiden Wicker (NORTON) 4-6 (Fall 1:53)
Semifinal - Shadyron Blanka (ST. FRANCIS) 9-2 won by fall over Taylor Showers (REPUBLIC COUNTY) 5-4 (Fall 3:01)
1st Place Match - Gavon Uehlin (OBERLIN) 11-1 won by fall over Shadyron Blanka (ST. FRANCIS) 9-2 (Fall 0:48)
160 - Jesse Baxter (10-4) placed 4th and scored 15.00 team points.
Champ. Round 1 - Jesse Baxter (ST. FRANCIS) 10-4 won by fall over Toby Cassaw (RAWLINS COUNTY) 1-9 (Fall 0:19)
Quarterfinal - Brandon Baker (HOXIE) 8-6 won by fall over Jesse Baxter (ST. FRANCIS) 10-4 (Fall 2:29)
Cons. Round 2 - Jesse Baxter (ST. FRANCIS) 10-4 received a bye () (Bye)
Cons. Round 3 - Jesse Baxter (ST. FRANCIS) 10-4 won by fall over Preston Bearley (RAWLINS COUNTY) 2-7 (Fall 0:26)
Cons. Semi - Jesse Baxter (ST. FRANCIS) 10-4 won by fall over Tyler Moresco (RUSSELL) 7-5 (Fall 0:38)
3rd Place Match - Brandon Baker (HOXIE) 8-6 won by fall over Jesse Baxter (ST. FRANCIS) 10-4 (Fall 0:56)
215 - Colton Neitzel (6-5) placed 1st and scored 22.00 team points.
Quarterfinal - Colton Neitzel (ST. FRANCIS) 6-5 won by fall over Caleb Woods (HILL CITY) 3-3 (Fall 2:04)
Semifinal - Colton Neitzel (ST. FRANCIS) 6-5 won by decision over Charlie Timmons (SMITH CENTER) 10-1 (Dec 5-0)
1st Place Match - Colton Neitzel (ST. FRANCIS) 6-5 won by fall over Sam Jimenez (OBERLIN) 5-4 (Fall 2:21)
Coach Dylan Loyd submitted the following comments.
"This past week was a really busy one for our junior high wrestlers. Thursday night we traveled over to Atwood to compete against some schools we haven’t yet seen this season. The young men battled tough and really showed improvement in just a short week. Friday, we came back and had to correct a couple of mistakes before we took off to Phillipsburg on Saturday. This group of young men continue to impress me. Just in a two day span the growth and improvement shown was very impressive. I’m going to spend the majority of this write up speaking about the performance this group put on in Phillipsburg. You look at the team scores and see that we finished in 9th place out of 15 total teams. This tournament has always proven to be very tough and this year was no different. The thing that’s very impressive was we had by far the smallest team there and were able to put up over 100 points in this tournament. Had we had a couple more guys being in the top 3 would have been a very possibility. This group finished outside the 3 by a mere 25 points, Hill City took 3rd with 13 wrestlers to our 8.
Individually, Kobe Tice really had a great week. I remember Coach Gabel years ago, always talking about the importance of having a tough lightweight to get things rolling. Kobe did just that on Saturday, he was very dominant and wrestled tough in every situation. He started off each round with a bang and that got the whole team rolling. He continues to improve each week and mentally I think he is starting to figure out how good he can be. Caleb Todd has grown leaps and bounds in the past week. He won 3 tough matches this week and has shown improvement every time he steps out on the mat. He is very coachable and listens to any critique we throw his way. He has come a long way from where he was at the beginning of the season. Eli Mills did well again and really does a great job of battling every match. The thing I really enjoy about this young man is that he has no fear. Right now, he doesn’t have a lot of experience and still doesn’t quite yet know what to do in certain situations, but he is learning. You couple with the fact that he is fearless and you have a pretty good combination. I’m proud of how far he’s come. Garin Cooper is a battler and just a fierce competitor. He wasn’t feeling his best on Thursday and lost a couple of good tough matches. He was able to rebound and wrestled extremely well on Saturday. For him to get 3rd in a tough weight shows how tough he is. You know what you’re going to get with Garin every day because he has proven that he is going to work hard and do what’s asked of him. He has come a long way and I look forward to watching him continue to climb the ladder. Tyson Poling continues to roll! He has had a great season up to this point and really has a unique style that is fun to watch. He has an unbelievable feel for the sport and a great sense of mat awareness. Saturday he let a couple of matches slip through his fingers a bit, but it took courage for him to rebound from a tough semi-final loss to come back and get on the medal stand. Shadyron Blanka had a dominant week, every one of his wins came by fall. He has a lot of experience and is exceptional when he wrestles on the mat. Right now, he is having a little mental block when it comes to wrestling on his feet that he needs to overcome. We all know how good this kid is and how good he can be. He beat a couple of very mature looking kids this weekend with ease and that shows what this kid is capable of doing. Jesse Baxter has had just a terrific season up to this point! Last year he didn’t wrestle with a whole lot of confidence and I haven’t seen that kid this year. He has more than doubled his wins from a year ago, with still 2 competitions left. For him to get on the medal stand at Phillipsburg took a lot of guts. He was dominating his quarterfinal match where he got caught in a bad situation and ended up getting pinned. It’s hard for any competitor to overcome a loss like that but he stormed his way through the backside and punched a ticket to the medal stand. Colton Neitzel has proven to me how tough of a competitor he is and was able to teach us all a very valuable life lesson. Colton battled a kid from Smith Center in the semifinals who had pinned him twice in the first 30 seconds earlier this season. This kid is a very tough, well put together kid who many are intimidated by, and I can’t blame them. Colton went out there and flat out worked the kid and just wanted it more! Watching that we all learned a very valuable life lesson- that being no matter what the obstacle and the odds you can never count yourself out! You stay positive, you work hard, and you simply believe in yourself you can accomplish anything. Very, very proud of this group!!"
St. Francis will compete at home on Thursday, February 16, against Decatur Community, Greeley County, Hoxie, Rawlins County and Wichita County. Wrestling begins at 4:00 p.m. in the St. Francis High School Gymnasium.