KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Quinn Lightle’s varsity debut came in a potentially difficult spot.
Platte County junior Jake Fernandez works for a pin in the 215-pound match of a dual with Oak Park on Wednesday at Oak Park High School in Kansas City.
With Platte County down by 10 points in a dual Wednesday night, the 190-pound freshman took the mat needing a big result to keep hope of a victory alive. Lightle ended up gutting out a 2-0 decision thanks to a lone takedown, finishing with a tough rideout of Oak Park’s Cayden Redmond for the entire third period to secure the result. Given the Pirates’ rebuilt and mostly inexperienced lineup, there were no negatives too come out of the experience.
Even with a pin from Platte County junior defending state champion Jake Fernandez in the final match, Oak Park survived for a 37-36 victory at Oak Park High School, but Pirates veteran coach Reggie Burress knows the journey will be about where his team ends up.
“At this point in time, I’ll definitely take the individual win and him fighting through and holding good position against an upperclassmen,” he said.
Platte County (0-1) saw ups and downs with Fernandez, senior Draiden Chilcoat and junior Caden Hulett the only members of last year’s postseason lineup to take the mat in the season-opener. The Pirates were without seniors Bryan Jennings (165) and Mar’Quest Brown (285) unavailable due to injury.
Platte County freshman Gabriel Wittle grapples with his opponent during the 106-pound match of a dual with Oak Park on Wednesday at Oak Park High School in Kansas City.
Oak Park never trailed with the dual starting at 285 and Ever Melendez earning a first-period fall against Platte County sophomore Kameron Doyle, who received spot starts a year ago and could split time with Brown once he returns. The Pirates also had four freshmen in the lineup with Gabriel Wittel earning a pin at 106 to tie the team score 6-6 after two matches.
The first sign of trouble for Platte County came at 113 when junior Caden Hulett, a two-time state qualifier at 106, trailed from the outset and ended up pinned in the second period in his match with Jake Falder. Alexander Escaping-Fillmer, a senior in his second year with the Pirates, then took the lone forfeit of the night to tie the score at 12-12.
Oak Park then took the lead for good with Anthony Cherco earning a second-period pin against debuting freshman Grant Fadler at 126, and Jamison Tunstill, the most credentialed wrestler for the Northmen, dominated in a 13-0 major decision Shane Leary at 132. The matchups were difficult for two likely impactful starters for Platte County with Fadler bringing strong youth experience and Leary returning the lineup after being a starter in the lower weights as a freshman before being on, off and back on the team a year ago.
Platte County sophomore Evan Maccuish works for a takedown during the 138-pound match of a dual with Oak Park on Wednesday at Oak Park High School in Kansas City.
A big bright spot for Platte County came from sophomore Evan Maccuish at 138.
Squeezed out of a deep lineup late in the year as a freshman, Maccuish secured a takedown late in the second period to take a 4-2 lead over Adrian Aguirre. However, Maccuish nearly found himself on his back late in the third period before countering with a two-point reversal in the closing seconds to earn a 6-5 decision.
“He will keep fighting the whole time,” Burress said. “He’ll stay on you, keep fighting and good things happen when you do that.”
Chilcoat, who just missed a state berth last year, built an early 6-2 lead in his 144 match with David Toliver, who came all the way back to forge a tie at 10-10. Chilcoat returned to the leg attacks he worked early in the first period and ended up with a pin in the third period to pull Platte County within 22-21 on the scoreboard.
“One, he was hitting the shots at the beginning there great, and then he wanted to go and get out of his game plan and go upper body and gets thrown on his back,” Burress said. “He did fight off his back, got back to his feet and found a way to get on top.”
Oak Park won the next three matches to regain firm control. The run started with Platte County senior Peyton Nickell falling behind and ending up pinned 45 seconds into the third period, while Pirates sophomore Darrell Smith produced a pair of early takedowns at 157 but ended up reversed to his back and pinned in 1 minute, 8 seconds.
Filling in for Jennings, Kevin Taylor — a junior — hung close but dropped a 5-3 decision to Tamer Albataineh at 165. Nickell and Smith both have limited but significant varsity experience while Taylor received a first crack at the varsity lineup.
Platte County senior Draiden Chilcoat sends his opponent to the mat during the 144-pound match of a dual with Oak Park on Wednesday at Oak Park High School.
The results ended up big with the pins helping make the one-point difference at the end.
“Tonight, for whatever reason, some of them didn’t take what I say to heart and didn’t fight off their back when we needed them to fight off their back,” Burress said.
Platte County freshman Cole Johnson needed just 50 seconds for a pin at 175 in his varsity debut, bringing Lightle to the mat in a big spot. The grinding, high-intensity 2-0 decision brought the Pirates within 37-30, but barring an unlikely team penalty point scenario, the team result had been decided.
Fernandez ended up in the second period against Salazar but unsurprisingly finished with a pin in his first match since winning the 220-pound Class 3 Missouri State Wrestling Championships individual title last February.
Platte County junior Caden Hulett works against his opponent in the 113-pound match of a dual with Oak Park on Wednesday at Oak Park High School in Kansas City.
Council Bluffs Classic
Fernandez and Hulett — the only two returning state qualifiers for Platte County — reached the championship bracket of a deep tournament Saturday in at Mid-America Center. The Pirates finished 29th out of 41 teams but received a first two-day look at new contributors in a deep field.
With Iowa not switching over to the new National Federation of State High School Associations, the tournament used the old system.
Fernandez (7-1) entered at 220, the class for his 2022 state title, and he recorded three straight pins in pool wrestling to earn a No. 1 seed. He ended up with another pin in the first round of his bracket before earning a 3-1 decision over Christopher Wash of Mill Valley (Kansas) to guarantee a medal. The difference ended up being Fernandez’s takedown in the first period.
In the semifinals, Cy Kruse of Totino-Grace (Minnesota) pinned Fernandez in just 54 seconds on the way to maintaining his undefeated season and winning the individual title at Council Bluffs in dominant fashion. In the third-place match, Fernandez took a 2-0 lead with a reversal 17 seconds into the second period then earned the winning takedown with 16 seconds left in regulation after Alex Morris of Papillion-La Vista (Nebraska) tied the score with a pair of escapes.
Platte County freshman Cole Johnson works for a pin in the 175-pound match of a dual with Oak Park on Wednesday at Oak Park High School in Kansas City.
Hulett (3-4) went 1-1 in his two pool matches with a loss by technical fall to Washburn Rural (Kansas)’s Ethan Broxterman, who ended up finishing as tournament runnerup. In the championship bracket, Hulett lost his opening match by fall to Papillion-La= Vista’s Tyler Durden, who ended up placing seventh.
Into the consolation portion of the championship bracket, Hulett advanced with a medical forfeit, then dropped a pair of match by major decision to end up in the 11th-place match. He closed with a win after falling behind 2-0 against Tavean Miller of Kearney (Nebraska). Up 2-0 after a takedown in the first, Miller took down to start the second and ended up turned twice to fall behind 5-2, and Hulett went on to claim an 8-3 decision.
Platte County also saw five wrestlers place high in the consolation brackets, including runnersup in Smith (160) and Johnson (170).
Platte County sophomore Darrell Smith sizes up his opponent in the 157-pound match of a dual with Oak Park on Wednesday at Oak Park High School in Kansas City.
Smith went 1-3 in pool wrestling after opening with a 16-7 major decision but then won threes straight to reach the consolation championship. He racked up six takedowns in a 14-10 decision in the first round, pinned Zach Robbins of Treynor (Iowa) in the quarterfinals and put up six more takedowns in a 12-8 decision over Bryce Williams of Waukee Northwest (Wisconsin) in the semifinals.
Maddox Nelson of Underwood (Iowa) topped Smith (4-4) by major decision in the consolation championship.
Johnson ended up taking a medical forfeit in the 170 consolation championship match while trailing 13-2 to Gage Gunther of Omaha (Skutt). However, Johnson (4-3) continued a strong start to his freshman season after going 1-2 in pool. He bounced back with three straight pins to reach the championship.
Fadler (126), Maccuish (132) and Lightle (195) all ended up placing third in consolation brackets.
At 126, Fadler (3-4) went 1-2 in pool then looked strong in an 8-2 decision victory and then earning a second-period pin in the quarterfinals in what had been a tight 4-2 match with Miles Dismang of Olathe South (Kansas). Fadler bounced back from a semifinal loss with a 4-2 decision over Derrick Gregory of Lewis Central (Iowa). He built a 4-0 lead and then held on after giving up a late reversal.
Maccuish (3-4) made an even more impressive run after losing all three of his pool matches. In the opening round of the consolation bracket, he won a 12-6 decision the came a dramatic late takedown to take a 3-2 lead over Millard West (Nebraska)’s Imran Murad before then earning the pin with just 4 seconds left in the match.
After a semifinal loss, Maccuish pinned Missouri Valley (Iowa)’s Rush Knudsen to finish third.
Lightle (3-3) didn’t have a win in pool either, only a bye in the third round. He won three matches in the consolation bracket, all by fall and most notably with no time on the clock in a dominant third-place match win over Rafe Gayer of Treynor. Lightle didn’t trail in either of the other two matches he won, either.
