Tiebreaker keeps LHS from first place

Tuesday, 09 December 2008 15:06

It was a team effort that helped the Louisburg wrestling squad to a second-place finish during Saturday’s Fort Scott Duel Tournament.

However, sophomore Tyler Ewy was a big part of the Wildcat team — literally. Ewy, the Wildcat heavyweight, went 4-1 on the day and won two critical matches that helped Louisburg to its runner-up finish to Shawnee Mission West.

Down six points, Ewy was the lone Wildcat left in the championship duel with the Vikings, and after a long fought match, Ewy pinned West’s Alex Meek with 46 seconds left in the third period to tie the score at 42-all.

However, the rule book went the way of the Vikings. West won the match on a tiebreaker and left the Wildcats disappointed, but optimistic.

“At first, I thought we won since we won seven of 12 matches, but that wasn’t the case,” Louisburg coach Greg Darrington said. “The kids and I were disappointed at first, but I thought their effort was outstanding the whole day and I am very proud of them.”

Ewy played another big role to get the Wildcats to the championship round. The Wildcats were down two points to Webb City, Mo., but Ewy pinned Dakota Cortez in 3 minutes and 48 seconds.

“Tyler had to win his match against Webb City for us to make it to the championship round,” Darrington said. “He had pressure on him a couple of times during the day. He stepped up big for us when we needed him. It’s great for our team to have a heavyweight we can count on.”

The Wildcats counted on junior Bryce Hood to have a good day, and he did. The state-placer from a year ago went 5-0 on the day at 135 pounds, but the surprise came from senior Marcus Kasitz.

Kasitz, who didn’t wrestle at all last season, also was 5-0 at 145 pounds and provided the Wildcats with several key victories.

“I was surprised with Marcus because this was his first varsity match after he took off last year and did not wrestle at all,” Darrington said. “He has missed a lot of practices this year, but he and Tyler came through for us in a big way.”

Freshman Austin Hood (103), senior Michael Kircher (140) and junior Derek Mathia (152) each finished the day with one loss, while sophomore Taylor Kueser (112), sophomore Mason Whaley (160), junior Derek Symes (171) and sophomore Alex Gentges (189) each finished the day 3-2.

Sophomore Jacob Herbert (130) and junior Brock Elliott (215) went 2-3.

Against Shawnee Mission West in the championship round, Louisburg found itself down 24-6 after the Wildcats were open in two weight classes and were pinned in two others. But Bryce Hood, Kircher, Kasitz, Mathia and Whaley all pinned their opponents to get back in it.

West went on to record three straight pins that led up to Ewy’s match and eventually gave the Vikings the tourney title.

Although Louisburg fell to West, it went on to beat Wichita South 49-27, Webb City 40-36, Labette County 48-27 and Jayhawk-Linn 54-21.

The Wildcats will see another level of competition Friday and Saturday when they travel to Eudora’s two day Tournament of Champions.

“The competition at Fort Scott will be nothing like what we will see in Eudora, but there was plenty of good wrestlers there to challenge our kids,” Darrington said. “We did wrestle some quality teams. This was huge for the program to get started off on the right foot. I would love to see more fans come out and support the team.”

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