Pair of Platte County freshmen record important wins in season-opening dual

With about half the expected lineup unavailable, Reggie Burress didn’t take any chances on the outcome of the season-opener.

Platte County’s veteran coach heavily lead into two promising freshmen in big spots, and Cade Crawford and Hank Marriott came through with victories essential to a 51-27 victory over visiting William Chrisman in Wednesday’s dual at Pirate Fieldhouse. Both went deep into the third period while facing key situations in the top, bottom and neutral positions and came away with well-earned victories for the Pirates, who might not have the full complement of contributors until after the holiday break due to the football team’s run to a state championship.

Crawford even went up a weight class to 113 pounds.

“With Crawford, we wrestled him at 113 because you didn’t know what it was going to be like. We didn’t know how that dual was going to shake out,” Burress said after the win over William Chrisman. “We’ve got a lot of football kids not in yet so Crawford’s going to wrestle 113 tonight, and he did a good job. I knew that was the two best kids William Chrisman had available, and our two freshmen beat them.”

Platte County (1-0) went into the matchup with only two of seven returning state qualifiers in the lineup, and neither sophomore Jaxson Shute nor senior Evan Maccuish had a match. The Pirates benefitted from six forfeits, totaling 36 team points, while giving up only one with no one to fill the 285 spot.

In addition to Shute (120 pounds) and Maccuish (157 pounds), Platte County junior returning starters Liam Franksen (132) and Jackson Woolsey (138) also took forfeits.

William Chrisman ultimately won four of the seven head-to-matches but trailed 39-0 before recording the first of those. The Pirates bumped Crawford in a move that paid off, allowing freshman Lennon Fitzpatrick to take a forfeit at 106.

Platte County sophomore Justice Martin also recorded a pin at 165, while senior Zach Olson (175), junior Peter Tremain (215) and freshmen Taylor Doyle (150) and Max Shuey (190) received looks in the lineup. None project right now as regular starters but built experience that could be important especially in the transition for returning state qualifiers senior Darrell Smith, juniors Grant Fadler and Cole Johnson and sophomore Jack Johnson expected to make up the majority of the middle weights plus juniors Quinn Lightle and Cooper Hammontree in the upper weights.

While Olson, Tremain, Doyle and Shuey took losses, the expected members of the varsity lineup were loud and vocal in support of their less-experienced teammates.

“You could hear it couldn’t you? That was nice,” Burress said. “Everybody wants everybody else to succeed on this team.

Crawford went the full 6 minutes and came away with a 7-6 decision while giving up significant weight to William Chrisman’s Cameron Russell, who fell behind 6-0 just moments into the match.

After scoring the initial three-point takedown, Crawford earned three more on a near-fall situation — but didn’t maximize the full four under new high school scoring adopted this year in an effort to increase offensive action. However, he gave up a reversal late in the first period and scored his final point on an escape in the second.

Russell put Crawford to his back for four points in the second but came up short of forcing overtime after being unable to gain an escape in the third period. Crawford rode him out for the entire 2 minutes.

“(Crawford) has a lot of poise, and he will do what he’s asked to do in every situation,” Burress said. “He’s going to fight as hard as he can in every situation. He’s very coachable.”

At 126, Marriott came out on the right end of two different scrambles, the first allowing the first period to end scoreless. He then spent the entire second period in the top position and turned William Chrisman’s Rony Guardiola to his back for two points in the closing seconds.

Marriott then dominated the third period with an escape, takedown and turn to eventually score the pin with just 10 seconds left in the match.

“He’s good at scrambling,” Burress said of Marriott. “I’m very proud of him. He’s a freshman in one of those tough weight classes, but he did a great job.”

After forfeits for Franksen, Woolsey and sophomore Waylon Moppin (144), Platte County led 39-0 when Doyle came to the mat for a varsity debut. He led 3-1 against William Chrisman’s Sam Hilton after a bizarre sequence where he gave up a penalty point for an illegal knee padding but scored the first takedown.

Doyle also ended up with the second takedown before Hilton reversed him to his back for a pin in the first period.

Martin followed and went scoreless into the second period with William Chrisman’s Elias Kroesen, who chose bottom and ended up turned to his back and pinned in 2 minutes, 44 seconds. Olson and Shuey were both pinned before Tremain went back and forth with Logan Perrin, who won a 9-6 decision to help the Bears close with four straight wins.

Tremain came up with a late takedown to close within three points but couldn’t come up with a turn to potentially tie the score or win.

“Justice did a nice job. He really did,” Burress said. “Just staying after it and getting that win, and Olson fought hard that first period and just doesn’t have that experience, and Shuey and Doyle are young.”

Platte County also started 1-0 in Suburban Conference White Division action but does not have another dual until the 2025 portion of the season.

Council Bluffs Classic

Maccuish turned in an impressive run in the 157-pound bracket to place third for shorthanded Platte County over the weekend at Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Wresting up a weight class from where he likely ends up, Maccuish finished second in his pool but recorded back-to-back tight decision victories to reach the semifinals. He dropped a 13-2 major decision to Bennington (Nebraska) senior Kyler Lauridsen, a three-time state champion who went on to win the tournament with a fall in the finals.

Maccuish came back with a solid 10-3 decision over Rylee Brown of Fort Dodge (Kansas) in the third-place match.

Shute (seventh, 120) and Maccuish were Platte County’s lone medalists with Fadler the only member of the football team to make his season debut. The Pirates scored 112 1/2 points and finished 31st out of 41 teams in a high-quality field.

Fadler wrestled up at 150 and won the consolation bracket.

Shute finished first in his pool and won three of his first four matches by fall in addition to a 7-6 decision over Waukee Northwest (Wisconsin)’s Grayson Manning. However, Shute dropped his quarterfinal to Rudy Rodriguez of Grand Island (Nebraska) in the quarterfinals and lost a rematch with Manning on the backside.

Overall, Shute went 5-2 and closed with a pin against Logan Refsnider of Totino-Grace (Minnesota) in the seventh-place match. Shute’s losses were to the third- and sixth-place finishers in the bracket.

Maccuish’s three pool matches included a 17-10 decision loss to Brenden Ging of Plattsmouth (Nebraska) plus two wins by fall. Maccuish outlasted Judah Larson of Brandon Valley (South Dakota) for a 12-8 decision with the key stretch a six-point move late in the first period and then adding a key takedown late in the second.

In the quarterfinals, Maccuish survived a couple of scrambles in overtime and came up with the winning takedown in a 1-minute sudden victory period against Ryder Kruse of Lincoln East (Nebraska) for an 11-8 decision. Maccuish forced overtime with an escape at the 11-second mark of the third period.

Ging ended up medical forfeiting out of the tournament after his win over Maccuish in pool.

Making a season debut, Fadler also went 5-2 with losses to the third-place and 12th-place finishers in the Gold Bracket. He won the final four matches with a medical forfeit and two major decisions sandwiched around a pin in the consolation semifinals against Jayden Harter of Atlantic (Iowa).

The major decisions were by dominating scores of 9-0 and 11-1.

Crawford also reached the Silver medal rounds for Platte County and finished fifth. He went 4-1 in bracket matches with four pins, the final three after losing a 13-7 decision in quarterfinals.

The two wrestlers to beat Crawford in pool went on to finish third and ninth in the Gold Bracket.