Fernandez, Shute wrap up individual titles at home tournament for 2nd-place Pirates

The hosts led for much of the two-day 52nd annual Platte County Invitational this past weekend.

Seeking the first team title since 2018, Platte County ended up without enough finalists, although freshman Jaxson Shute (106 pounds) and senior Jake Fernandez (215 pounds) earned individual titles. Still, the Pirates turned in a promising performance despite a key injury and an absence — both from the group of seven returning Class 3 MSHSAA Wrestling Championships state qualifiers — with four total medalists, seven the top four and 12 advancing out of pool competition.

Hannibal ended up first with 366 1/2 points thanks to six finalists and three champions, well in front of Platte County (327 1/2), which held off St. Michael the Archangel (314 1/2) and Helias (295).

“As a team, I think we all wrestled pretty well,” Fernandez said. “I think we put up a lot of points, and we did good.”

Platte County ended Friday night with six unbeaten wrestlers after six of seven rounds of pool competition — Shute, senior Caden Hulett (120), freshman Jack Johnson (144), junior Evan Maccuish (150), senior Shane Leary (157) and Fernandez. Hulett and Maccuish both came back from losses early Saturday to medal third. Johnson, Maccuish, Leary and sophomore Quinn Lightle (285) all reached the third-place match but ended up fourth.

Fernandez became a three-time champion of the Platte County Invitational, which hosted the largest field in the event’s history. Mid-Buchanan made the short trip down Interstate 29 this year, bringing the number of teams to 16.

“It means a lot to me, this being our home tournament. It definitely feels good to represent our school,” said Fernandez, who did not have a chance to be a four-timer because the format was switched to a dual tournament his freshman year due to COVID-19 regulations.

Fernandez opened with two byes then recorded first period pins in his five pool matches, the longest match lasting just 1 minute, 53 seconds. In the semifinals, he turned Mid-Buchanan senior Owen Stockbauer twice in the third period of a 6-0 decision, and in the final, Fernandez — a three-time state qualifier, two-time state medalist and 2022 state champion at 220 pounds — then faced Van Horn’s CJ Nelson in the finals.

A returning state medalist at 190, Nelson currently ranks No. 3 in the Class 3 Missouri Wrestling rankings — one spot behind Fernandez, who scored the lone takedown in an efficient 3-1 decision victory. He left the mat visibly frustrated but also acknowledged the importance of taking first place after entering at less than full strength due to recent illness.

“I think that kind of affected me,” said Fernandez, who finished third at state at 215 last season and continues to rank behind McDonald County senior Samuel Murphy — the 2023 state champion at 215. “Plus, I should’ve just finished those shots that I took and could’ve done a little better, but I’m happy with how it turned out.”

Shute continued a strong debut season with three wins over ranked opponents and another against the defending Class 3 District 4 champion at 106.

With only four pool matches, Shute had to knock off St. Michael the Archangel sophomore Landon Lane (No. 2 in Class 2) and Carthage junior Carter Putt (No. 5 in Class 4) just to reach the championship semifinals. He did so with a dominant 8-1 win decision against Lane and then holding off Putt by a score of 6-4 in Saturday’s first match.

In the semifinals, Shute rolled up a 14-3 major decision against Van Horn sophomore Mlondani Emoyi, last year’s champion in the district the two schools share, to set up a rematch. Lane had also beat Putt and then topped Helias’ Daemen Duemmel, the other pool winner, to earn another shot at Shute, who won a tighter 5-3 decision. He gave up the final two points in the closing seconds and otherwise controlled the action start to finish.

Shute became the Platte County’s second champion at 106 in this tournament in the past three years, following Hulett’s victory in the bracket two years ago.

“It’s awesome. I love watching Jackson wrestle,” Fernandez said of Shute, who ranks just No. 4 in Class 3 according to Missouri Wrestling with his only three losses to two of Class 4’s top state contenders and an out-of-state opponent in December. “He’s just always competitive. He’s always in the room working hard so it’s awesome to see him win.”

Hulett became a three-time medalist and matched last year’s third-place finish. He lost two incredibly tight decisions to Hannibal senior Reign Creech (3-2) in the final round of pool in their fifth career meeting and Excelsior Springs sophomore Cooper Collins (1-0) in the championship semifinals.

Hulett and Creech have matched up at state in two of the past three seasons plus another meeting in the 2022 Platte County Invitational. Hulett wont the first two, but Creech has evened the ledger, first in ultimate tiebreaker in the 113 bracket on his way to finishing third for a second career medal at state and then Saturday morning.

In the most recent meeting, Hulett gave up a reversal but used a pair of escapes to even the score at 2-2. The match appeared headed for overtime, only for the official to warn Hulett for stalling with 5 seconds left in regulation. This resulted in the winning point for Creech, who ranks No. 3 in Class 3.

Hulett still had a shot at the finals but gave up the lone point to Collins — No. 2 in Class 2 and a defending state champion at 113 — on an escape. Collins went on to pin Creech in the finals and win an individual title in this tournament for a second straight year.

“We’ve just got to get one more takedown in a match. Literally, he gets one more takedown and he’s winning those matches,” Burress said of Hulett, who lost a Platte County Invitational semifinal to Collins last year by a score of 2-0.

Maccuish earned his first Platte County Invitational after placing sixth at 138 as a sophomore. He won the third-place match in dramatic fashion.

Finishing second in his pool thanks to a second loss this season to eventual champion Greg Dillon of Blue Springs, Maccuish ended up with back-to-back losses after a 9-0 major decision for Hannibal’s Peyton Elliot in the championship semifinals. That set up the first meeting this season with sophomore Tristan Waters, a returning state finalist at 113 who is currently ranked No. 3 at 150.

The third-place match featured multiple entertaining scrambles, and Maccuish came out on top in two. In the final one, Waters ended up on his back and pinned in 5:01 in a notable result for the potential district foes.

“Big. Seeding-wise for districts, that’s huge,” Burress said. “I mean that puts (Maccuish) right there maybe for a chance to get a 1 seed. This opens a lot of opportunity.”

Leary and Johnson both went into the second day unbeaten and finished with three straight losses, while Lightle suffered a Day 1 loss against St. Michael the Archangel junior and two-time state champion Sampson Stillwell. He came back to place second in his pool before dropping his final two matches.

At 157, Leary ended as runnerup in his pool to Smithville senior Alex Hutchcraft, the eventual champion and tournament Most Outstanding Wrestler currently ranked No. 1 in Class 3 while in search of a fourth state medal and his first state title. He won a 25-12 major decision in the final pool match, and Leary dropped a 6-4 decision to Olathe North’s Vance Provost in the championship semifinals before being pinned 47 seconds into the third-place match.

Johnson, who missed time early this season due to injury, turned in the best tournament performance of his debut season in the 144 bracket. His loss in pool came to Hannibal senior Cody Culp, a multiple-time state medalist who is undefeated and ranked No. 3 in Class 3. Smithville junior Brennen Green, a returning state qualifier ranked No. 6 in Class 3, won a 13-2 major decision over Johnson, who was then pinned in the second period of the third-place match against Oak Grove’s Ryan Raney.

Lightle pinned Van Horn’s Jaylen Mitchell in Saturday morning’s final pool match to finish behind Stillwell, but in the championship semifinal, Blue Springs senior Conor Tingle won the second matchup between the two. The first went to overtime, but Tindle scored a pair of takedowns in the rematch on the way to a 5-2 decision.

Tindle currently ranks No. 3 in Class 4.

The bulk of qualifiers ended up Platte County’s undoing in the team title chase. Hannibal pulled away in the semifinal round thanks to six big-point victories.

“We just didn’t have enough finalists,” Burress said.

Platte County’s hopes of a team title faded when sophomore Cole Johnson suffered head and chest injuries early in a Friday 175 matchup with Belton sophomore Quentin Attebury, a returning sixth-place Class 3 state medalist. Johnson stayed in the match, but Attebury led 3-1 in the third period when he came up with a pin. Johnson started his next bout with the official instructed to immediately stop the match for a medical forfeit.

Cole Johnson could not wrestle the rest of tournament and injury defaulted to eighth.

In addition, Platte County junior Darrell Smith wrestled junior varsity at 165 knowing he could not compete Saturday in order to attend a family member’s funeral. Instead, senior Kevin Taylor continued to make strong contributions at that weight, having seen extended time with Smith out early in the year due to a knee injury.

Taylor lost his first two matches and won the next four to finish third in his pool. He then pinned Warrensburg’s Trace Marr in the consolation semifinal and ended up with a sixth-place finish after an 11-3 major decision loss to Carthage’s Lenny Escobar.

Platte County sophomore Grant Fadler, another returning state qualifier, faced perhaps the deepest bracket in the tournament. He finished third in his 132 pool with losses to multiple time state qualifiers and medalists Ryne Marcum of Excelsior Springs (6-2 decision) and Tristen Essig of Hannibal (third-period pin).

Fadler came back to win a 5-0 decision in the consolations semifinals over Mid-Buchanan’s Cooper Kirkham and lost the fifth-place match Will Burchard of St. James Academy (Kansas).

“I think we’re building a lot,” Burress said. “I think every year you see the progression of us getting better. We’ve got to have them believe in theirselves down the stretch. We believe in them. They’ve got to believe in themselves at times.”

Wittel’s sixth-place finish at 113 came after an 8-0 loss to Parker Lutz of St. Michael the Archangel. Ranked No. 2 in Class 2 and a returning state medalist at 106, Lutz led just 1-0 in the second period but pulled away late. Wittel also suffered a loss by fall in his final pool mach, which was wrestled on Friday night.

Locked into a consolation semifinal, Wittel dominated and pinned Bryce Hodgson of Belton in the second period and led the fifth-place match against Helias senior Parker Lock, a returning state qualifier at 113 and currently ranked No. 5 in Class 3. However, Lock pulled away late for a 10-6 decision victory in a matchup of potential district opponents.

Platte County sophomore Cooper Hammontree, a first-year starter at 190, also advanced out of pol and placed seventh, closing with a 1-0 decision over Thomas Bolling of Blue Springs. Hammontree won his first three matches Friday and went 4-4 overall.

“This is a great tournament for us,” Burress said. “As a team, we wrestled well. We got things going, saw some improvements we needed to see going to the stretch here.”

Platte County 74, Raytown 6

The Pirates dominated the first dual of a Suburban Conference White Division triangular Monday at William Chrisman High School in Independence.

Raytown gave up two forfeits — Shute at 106 and sophomore Liam Franksen — and only won one of the 12 contested matchups. The Blue Jays have no ranked wrestlers.

In addition to the two forfeits, Platte County also scored maximum points with pins for Wittel (113), Hulett (120), Fadler (132), sophomore Jackson Woolsey (138), Smith (165), Fernandez (215) and Lightle (285). The Pirates also recorded four technical falls in a span of four matches, including three straight for Jack Johnson (17-2 at 144), Maccuish (17-2 at 150) and Leary (21-3 at 157). With Cole Johnson still out due to injury, Taylor wrestled 175 and came away with a 17-2 technical fall.

Hulett, Fadler, Woolsey, Fernandez and Lightle all pinned opponents in the first period. Woolsey won his first match of the season as a first-year starter.

Platte County 65, William Chrisman 12

The Pirates pulled the sweep Monday night to set up the opportunity to win the Suburban Conference White Division over the next nine days.

William Chrisman led 9-0 after victories at 126 and 132 but won just one of the final 12 matches. Woolsey went 2-for-2 on the day and started a run of six straight victories for Platte County from 138 to 165 with a second-period pin. Jack Johnson (144) and Maccuish (150) also recorded pins while Leary (157) and Smith (165) took forfeits to push the lead to 30-9.

Taylor followed with a third period pin at 175.

Platte County closed with five more wins in a row including pins for Lightle (285) and Hulett (120), while Wittel rolled up points in a 16-1 technical fall at 113. Fernandez and Shute collected the final two forfeits for the Pirates.

With the win, Platte County sits at 2-0 in conference ahead of Wednesday’s dual with Grain Valley, which already owns a win over Belton. Platte County faces Belton next Thursday in a a home dual rescheduled from earlier this season after a postponement due to inclement weather.