Menu
Five Fort Scott wrestlers assured of State Tournament berths
FORT SCOTT -- Five members of the Fort Scott High School wrestling already know they're going to next weekend's Class 4A State Tournament at Salina, Kan. Six others will be looking to join them when the Fort Scott Class 4A Regional Tournament resumes late this morning at the FSHS gymnasium.
Fort Scott led the team standings after the first round but Pittsburg passed four teams during the quarterfinal round and remains on top with 138 points. Prairie View is second with 126.5 while the Tigers are third with 101. Chanute is fourth with 96 points.
"Our kids on the (consolation) bracket have got to come through and finish high," Fort Scott head coach David Brown said of his team's chance of winning the team title. "We've had a pretty good tournament so far. We've made some mistakes we'd like to have a second try at."
Juniors Victor Hughes and John Metcalf, and sophomore Jacob Durossette have qualified for State for the second consecutive year, although an injury kept Durossette from participating last season. Senior Dane Cummings and sophomore Jerad Heckman will be going for the first time. Each will wrestle in the championship match of their respective weight classes tonight.
Senior Christian Tavenaro, juniors Tyler Sharp, Cody Bunn and B.J. Wilson, and sophomores Cole Stewart and John Hughes are still alive in consolation but are in danger of being eliminated if they lose before advancing to the consolation finals. The championship and consolation finalists advance to State.
Heckman (34-13) pinned his first two opponents in the 126-pound class, Iola's Kaleb Mock and Ottawa's Hunter Peoples. In the semifinal, Heckman defeated Pittsburg's Brett Cobb, 8-3, avenging two close regular-season losses.
"He found a way to dominate in the match (against Cobb)," Brown said. "And that's pretty much a testament to his work ethic. He's been pretty focused, knowing that there's several people in that bracket he has to work hard to beat."
Heckman, the third seed, will take on top-seeded Austin Hood of Louisburg in tonight's final. Hood (38-0) won last year's Class 4A State title at 119 pounds, advanced through his side of the bracket with a pin and two technical falls.
Durossette (28-5), the top seed at 132, took much the same course to the final that Heckman did. He pinned Louisburg's Austen Scott and Iola's Cody Conner before taking a 10-5 decision over Pittsburg's Jacob Woods in the semifinal. Tonight, Durossette faces Prairie View's Jace Roy (40-8), the No. 2 seed, in the final.
"He rolls through kind of the way we thought he would," Brown said. "He'll face a pretty good kid from Prairie View."
Victor Hughes, the top seed at 138, drew a first-round bye then needed just 59 seconds to pin Anderson County's Ryan Alley in the quarters. In the semifinals, Hughes beat Chanute's Jared Fiscus 1-0, scoring the only point on a second-period escape. Hughes maintained control throughout the third period, making sure Fiscus didn't gain control with a couple of disorienting slams to the mat in the final 10 seconds.
"Vic had a pretty tough match with Fiscus, which it always is," Brown said. "A 1-0 match is not unusual out of Vic. He was on task. And he's able to dominate from the top, which will serve him well if he chooses to go on in college, because that means points in college."
Hughes (42-3) will take on Osawatomie's Andrew Cannon (16-4) in the final tonight.
Metcalf, the No. 2 seed at 170, pinned Osawatomie's Zak Higgins in the first round, then dominated Columbus' Seth Sullivan, 11-3, in the quarters. Metcalf (41-11) took a 4-1 decision over Pittsburg's Brendan Maxwell in the semis. Tonight, Metcalf will take on Paola's Dylan McKinney (6-1), a two-time State qualifier who missed most of the season with an injury.
"John wrestled some of his best matches technique-wise and with energy," Brown said. "Hopefully, that pays off when he faces (McKinney) tonight.
Cummings (24-5), the top seed at 195, spent less than 5 1/2 minutes on the mat the entire day. His longest match was his first one, where he pinned Osawatomie's Tyler Daniels in 4 minutes, 25 seconds. He needed just 15 seconds to pin Iola's Denton Christian in the quarters and 33 seconds to stick Chanute's Josh Smeed in the semis. Tonight, Cummings will face Columbus' Gavin Houser (30-11), the No. 2 seed whom he has already defeated twice this season.
"Now, it's a matter of wrestling a kid he's beaten twice and hopefully, he's not going to get complacent with that and dominate and come away with a championship," Brown said.
Stewart (23-19) opened the tournament at 106 by pinning Osawatomie's Tyler Williams in 90 seconds. But he ran out of gas during the quarterfinal against Independence's Caleb Jesse and was unable to rally back, dropping into consolation with a 3-2 loss. Today, Stewart will wrestle Chanute's Jayson Ports (6-18) in his first consolation match.
John Hughes (29-17), third seeded at 152, drew a first-round bye, then pinned Louisburg's Curtis Lemke in the quarters right as the first-period buzzer sounded. But he was defeated in the semifinal by Coffeyville's Derek Frost, 8-3.
Since Hughes lost later in the bracket than Stewart, he falls to the consolation semifinal. He will have to wait two rounds before he finds out who his opponent will be for that match.
Bunn (18-19) also drew a first-round bye at 160. But he lost his quarterfinal match to Iola's Devin Culler on a technical fall. Bunn faces Labette County's Shea Cox, a freshman who is 1-10 this season -- and that win came on a bye in consolation -- in his first match today. Bunn will have to win his first two matches in order to go to State.
Tavenaro (30-16) pinned Anderson County's Tim Cornett in just 30 seconds in the first round at 182. He went on to pin Parsons' Matt Martinez in 2:25 in the quarters. He faced top-seeded Brent Koehn of Pittsburg in the semifinals, dropping into consolation on a 7-4 decision.
Tavenaro will begin his day in the consolation semifinal, waiting two rounds before he knows who his first opponent will be.
Wilson (22-17) drew a first-round bye then was pinned by Prairie View's Matt Kellerman in the quarters. He fell to the second round of consolation, where he drew a bye, and will begin his day in the consolation quarters against the winner of a match between Labette County's Kyle McLellan (21-11) or Ottawa's Franklin Windler (10-22).
The only Tiger wrestler who is out of the tournament -- Fort Scott did not enter anyone at 113 or 285 -- is sophomore Caleb Gazaway, who went 0-2. Gazaway was promoted to varsity when Race Kastl was injured and had limited varsity experience. He drew the No. 2 seed, Coffeyville's Blayne Kimmel, in the first round and was pinned. Iola's Jacob Rhoads took a 13-4 win in the first round of consolation after Gazaway fought off Rhoads' attempt to pin him.
Action resumes this morning at 11 a.m. with the second round of consolation. Consolation quarterfinals are set for 1 p.m. with consolation semifinals scheduled for 3 p.m., consolation finals at 5 p.m. and the championship matches at around 6:30.