RIVERSIDE, Mo. — Minus five starters, Platte County could have used any number of excuses for the regular season finale and turned the full attention to Class 3 District 4 competition. Instead, the Pirates ripped off a series of early pins on the road against Park Hill South on Wednesday and eventually cruised to a 49-24 victory.
Platte County sophomore Zack McCall works for a pin in the 165-pound match of a dual with Park Hill South on Wednesday in Riverside.
Platte County went in to the matchup at Park Hill South High School without freshman Gabriel Wittel (106 pounds), junior Shane Leary (132 pounds), sophomore Evan Maccuish (138 pounds), senior Peyton Nickel (150 pounds) and sophomore Darrell Smith (157 pounds) due to illness. However, a lineup moved allowed junior Kayr Gonzalez to take a forfeit for the Pirates at 126, while sophomores Montez Clemons (150) and Zack McCall (165) made victories debuts to seal the win early and more than double up the Panthers’ team score.
“We knew that we needed some big wins coming up from the JV, so we banded together and got the win,” said Platte County freshman Quinn Lightle, who took the mat for a 16-3 major decision at 195 pounds moments after fellow freshman Cole Johnson mathematically sealed the win moments earlier with a dramatic 1-0 decision victory at 175. “That’s like my favorite part of the sport, seeing guys come up, and they can get their job done. Hard work in practice pays off.”
Starting the dual at 106 pounds, Platte County immediately went behind 6-0 due to a forfeit with no reserve behind Wittel at that weight.
Platte County senior Alexander Escabi-Fullmer looks to turn his opponent in the 120-pound match of a dual with Park Hill South on Wednesday in Riversdie.
Park Hill South’s advantage lasted for 1 minute, 13 seconds of match time. Platte County junior Caden Hulett stuck Noah Kleinwolterink just after the midway point of the first period at 113 to tie the score. The next key moment came at 120 with Pirates senior Alexander Escabi-Fullmer building an early 7-0 lead.
Park Hill South’s Noah Bauer did not recover, and Escabi-Fullmer recorded the fall in 2:26 to put Platte County up 12-6.
“That helped,” Platte County coach Reggie Burress said. “I told him today, ‘You can get the fall; we have to have the fall from you.’ I thought he could, and he went out and didn’t quit wrestling.”
Noticing some changes Park Hill South made to the lineup, Burress then made a move and slotted Gonzalez in at 126 for Platte County to take the forfeit and increase the lead to 12. That pushed Pirates freshman Grant Fidler up to 132, and he came up with another pin — this one of GionCarlo Moreno-Mangum in 55 seconds.
With Leary and Maccuish out, Platte County junior Jack Woolsey received another spot start at 138, and he fought hard to avoid giving up maximum points. Instead of a pin, Park Hill South’s Dylan Taylor settled for a 17-1 technical fall that trimmed the gap to 24-11. The Panthers then inched closer at 24-14 with Connor Jackson scoring two takedowns in a 6-4 win over Platte County junior Draiden Chilcoat at 144.
Platte County sophomore Montez Clemons shoots in on his opponent during the 150-pound match of a dual with Park Hill South on Wednesday in Riverside.
“He’ll fight,” Burress said of Woolsey, who came up with pivotal wins in dual victories over Smithville and Blue Springs in January. “That was a big team point at the time.”
The 10-point lead looked tenuous, but Clemons, an athletic and rapidly improving first-year wrestler, impressed in his first true varsity match for Platte County. Nickell most recently held the starting spot but had shared it with fellow senior David Olson, who appears out for the season due to injury.
That allowed Clemons to take the call-up, and he came up with five double-leg takedowns against Trenton Parker at 150, the last sending Parker to his back for a pin with 17 seconds left in the second period.
“You’re seeing what I hope are things to come with him the next couple of years. I mean, good night,” Burress said.
With Smith out, Platte County senior Bryan Jennings slid down to his more natural weight of 157 and again saved critical team points with a 15-5 major decision loss that put Park Hill South within 30-18.
Platte County freshman Cole Johnson controls his opponent during the 175-pound match of a dual with Park Hill South on Wednesday in Riverside.
The next big swing came from McCall at 165. He scored both takedowns against Park Hill South’s Jane Safly and ended up with a well-earned pin in 2:51 to make it 36-18.
“Zack McCall, I looked at him today and said, ‘Hey, you’re getting in the lineup tonight. You’re getting in,'” Burress said. “There’s nobody else there to put in, and he came in and found a way to win.”
Platte County’s first win not by pin came at 175.
Park Hill South bumped Tobi Falubi up from 165 in one of the moves meant to help swing the result and make up for a key absence in the Panthers’ lineup. Instead, Johnson — one of the four regular freshmen in the lineup for the Pirates — came up with an escape to start the second period and then completed a full 2-minute rideout in the third period to earn a dramatic 1-0 victory.
“Once we got going, we got going,” Burress said. “We talked about stepping up. That’s a great rideout, and we just worked on that ball-and-chain yesterday, and he used it to his full advantage. If Cole Johnson will handfight and take you to deep water, you’re in trouble.”
Platte County junior Jake Fernandez works to turn his opponent during the 215-pound match of a dual with Park Hill South on Wednesday in Riverside.
With the dual result secured, Lightle endured a contentious matchup with Park Hill South’s Taylor Zehr at 190. Lightle led 6-3 with all three takedowns through the midway point of the second period. He then pulled away with Zehr picking up three unnecessary roughness penalties costing him a total of four points and leaving him one away from disqualification.
Lightle kept his cool and never reacted, calmly picking up another takedown and a turn late that led to three near-fall points and almost a pin.
“I was starting to get mad there at the end,” Lightle said, “but I knew if I fought back, that’s not the way I was taught to wrestle. I was taught to wrestle respectfully, and I think this shows that I broke him and that I won both in points and mentally.”
Platte County’s lead went all the way to 49-18 with junior Jake Fernandez’s 32-second pin at 215, and Park Hill South’s only pin came in the finale at heavyweight with Kiros Martin turning Pirates senior Mar’Ques Brown for the fall in the second period.
Platte County junior Caden Hulett works to turn his opponent in the 113-pound match of a dual with Park Hill South on Wednesday in Riverside.
However, the result sends Platte County into the postseason with momentum and continued optimism for a mostly youthful but resilient lineup short on overall experience. The Pirates placed third in last year’s Class 3 District 4 tournament but with a senior-laden roster.
Jefferson City and Kearney took the top spots, and while seventh-place Hannibal and eight-place William Chrisman moved out, this year’s 15-team field looks even more difficult. Helias, which finished top four in the Class 2 Missouri State Wrestling Championships last year, moved up, while Belton — one of the top teams according to Missouriwrestling.com rankings — moved back down and hosts the two-day tournament Friday, February 17 and Saturday, February 18.
Platte County returns only two Class 3 Missouri State Wrestling Championships qualifiers.
Fernandez enters as a two-time district champion — and a sectional champion under 2021’s unique two-step qualification format due to COVID-19 protocols, and last year’s 220-pound state champion before weight classes changed for this season. Hulett won the district title as a freshman but ended up second at sectionals and also placed second last year in District 4 — all results at 106.
Beyond the standout juniors, Brown brings the most postseason experience, placing fourth at districts in 2021 but going two-and-out at sectionals and going 0-2 last year at District 4. Other returning starters from last year’s postseason lineup include Escabi-Fullmer, Chilcoat and Jennings — all coming up one win shy of state qualification in their first district tournament.
Leary started as a freshman but didn’t advance out of districts, while Maccuish and Smith ended up squeezed out of a talented and bunched lineup at the lower weights as freshmen. Beyond that, the Pirates will have the four talented freshmen — Wittel, Fadler, Johnson and Lightle — fighting for state spots, while Nickell should make his district debut as a senior.
