Coming off a tough loss to Lathrop and Mid-Buchanan in a KCI dual, the Blue Jays bounced back on senior night as the West Platte boys’ wrestling team dominated Central (St. Joseph) and Summit Christian on Jan. 20.
West Platte’s Macon McDonald, above left, pinned St. Joseph Central’s Payton Olson, above right, in at 1:09 in the Blue Jays tri-meet on Jan. 20.
West Platte fell 45-30 against Lathrop and 69-6 to Mid-Buchanan on Jan. 18, but it was a different story when Central and Summit Christian came to town. The Blue Jays soared past the Indians 54-12 and then took down the Eagles 48-18.
“We had a tough KCI dual on Tuesday against the defending state champions in Mid-Buchanan, so we needed this,” West Platte head coach Brett Swope said. “We came out and dominated, so hopefully we can keep that rolling for the rest of the year.”
In the Central match, West Platte’s opponent only scored off forfeits - there were three double forfeits, three Indian forfeits and two Blue Jay forfeits. West Platte pinned each Central opponent that took the mat, none of which was faster than Lane Scott in the 195-weight class who pinned Connor Evans in 14 seconds.
“I thought Lane was going to break the school record there for a second. I think the record is eight seconds so for a moment I thought he might get it, but it was pretty close,” Swope said.
There were two other Blue Jays who pinned an Indian in less than a minute: David Brown in 49 seconds (182) and Lamar Henderson in 32 seconds (285). The most competitive match was in the 160-weight class when Cameron Williams pinned Dayton Linder in 4:45.
On the girls’ side, the lone Lady Blue Jay Kristen Crockett found herself in a battle against a tough opponent in the 135-weight class. Crockett and Ashley Slade were in a competitive match with the Indian ending up winning on an 8-2 decision.
“Kristen has seen that girl before in a tournament, so she knew it was going to be a tough opponent. She is a team of one since we are still trying to build the girls’ program, so she is out there grinding and has a tough road ahead of her in districts, but she is doing great this season,” Swope said.
Against Summit Christian, West Platte’s Vilhelm Johansen and McKanan Reade won by forfeits in the 120 and 126-weight classes to give the Blue Jays a 12-0 lead. The Eagles responded with a pair of pins against Peyson Chandler (138) and Josh Brown (145), then a forfeit in the 152-weight class to take a brief 18-12 lead.
The Blue Jays’ deficit didn’t last long as the home team didn’t lose a match for the rest of the night. Williams pinned Jeramiah Smith in 3:08 and Scott pinned Dalton McBroom in 2:15.
“We are trying to get healthy; we have a few guys banged up which is why we had a few holes in our lineup tonight. Districts is always tough, but we have three returning state qualifiers and hopefully we can get them back on the medal stand,” Swope said.