Even more shorthanded than expected, Platte County struggled to an uncharacteristic 67th-place finish out of 75 teams in last weekend’s KC Stampede. The Pirates went into the two-day tournament with five open weight classes while still minus the majority of expected contributors who were part of the football team’s run to a Class 5 state championship just two weeks earlier and now dealing with injury concerns to freshman Hank Marriott (126 pounds) or junior Liam Franksen (132 pounds).
Platte County senior Evan Maccuish wrestles in a 150-pound match during the KC Stampede tournament Saturday at Bartle Hall in Kansas City.
Platte County and also went open at 113, 215 and 285.
In one of the midwest’s deepest tournament, the top 16 wrestlers were seeded in each bracket with the rest of the field randomly drawn into the bracket. The top eight earned medals, and only individuals who reached the quarterfinals or advanced to the fifth round of consolation bouts on Friday stayed in contention to reach the podium.
The remainder were placed into “hard luck” brackets on Saturday.
Platte County junior Evan Maccuish (150) and sophomore Jaxson Shute (120) both progressed to Day 2 in the championship competition but ended up one win shy of earning medals. The pair of returning state qualifiers also led the Pirates’ finishes a week earlier in the Council Bluffs Classic, another top tier tournament with a deep field.
A two-time state qualifier, Maccuish’s run showed the quality of competition at KC Stampede. He ended up drawn into preliminary matches and lost his opener, putting him in the consolation half of the bracket from the get-go.
Maccuish came back with six straight wins — five by decision and one by injury default to reach the sixth round of the consolation bracket. His results included a 1-0 decision over Noah Rogers of Willard with the one point coming on an escape with 1 minute, 37 seconds left in the third and final period.
Platte County sophomore Jaxson Shute wrestles in a 120-pound match during the KC Stampede tournament Saturday at Bartle Hall in Kansas City.
Needing a win to medal for a second straight weekend, Maccuish, who wrestled at 157 at Council Bluffs, went to his back in the second period of his bubble match with Daniel Acosta of Canyon Randall (Texas) to fall behind 2-0. Maccuish recorded the match’s lone takedown in the final minute of regulation to draw even at 3-3 only for Acosta to take an injury timeout while appearing to be out of breath rather than hurt.
Acosta then escaped with 9 seconds on the clock and held on for a 4-3 decision victory.
A returning state runnerup, Shute’s bracket featured seven former state champions and six other returning finalists. He recorded two wins before taking a 19-4 loss by technical fall against Staley senior Parker Leverknight, a 2023 state runnerup at 106 who injury defaulted out of last year’s Class 4 MSHSAA Wrestling Championships at 113.
Leverknight went on to finish third, while Shute won his next two consolation matches. He then fell behind Jacob Bond of Baylor School (Tennessee) 9-0 before storming back but coming up a takedown short of a win. Bond held on for an 11-9 decision win and placed eighth.
Platte County seniors Darrell Smith (157/165); juniors Cole Johnson (215), Quinn Lightle (285) and Cooper Hammontree (190) and sophomore Jack Johnson (175) have all yet to wrestle this season after the short run-up after football season. Smith placed fifth at state in Class 2 last year, while both Johnsons were qualifiers. Grant Fadler, a junior and like Cole Johnson a two-time state qualifier, wrestled both tournaments so far this year — the only football player for the Pirates to make his debut before the holiday break.
Fadler reached the 144 hard luck bracket consolation semifinals Saturday, going 2-2 on Day 2.
