With nine wrestlers entered into the weekend’s Class 4 wrestling championships at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Seckman was loaded for Cadets.
But the Jaguars’ District 1 rivals from CBC squeezed the maximum potential out of its eight wrestlers and won the team championship handily with 155.5 points. Seckman finished fourth with 105.5 points, its highest finish since coming in third in 2012.
The Jaguars finished 1-1 in Saturday’s finals, while the Cadets set a wicked pace for the rest of the pack with four state champions in five attempts.
The way Seckman head coach Ryan Moyer sees it, the Jaguars and Cadets are fixed in a tough, but respectful rivalry.
“We see CBC all of the time,” Moyer said. “They have a good coaching staff. Their kids wrestle until the whistle blows until the end. They’re always going to be a rival because we are successful, too. I’m friends with a few of their coaches. I went to college with a few of them.”
Junior Kai Orine won his second straight state championship for the Jaguars with an 8-7 decision over CBC freshman Vincent Zerban. Orine (52-2) scored a takedown in the last few seconds of the second period against Zerban (33-5) and made the lead stand up for the last two minutes.
“Oh yeah, I have a lot of respect for (Zerban),” Orine said. “He’s one of the toughest freshmen in the state. He’s one of those weird kids to wrestle because he’s so long and pretty strong.”
Each wrestler gets five minutes of injury time during a match. Orine’s nose has been bloodied all season and he even had a surgery to cauterize it but hasn’t been able to plug the leak. Several times the match had to be stopped to fix Orine’s bloody nose. His injury time was down to about 1:30 when Moyer had his nose wrapped with several strands of tape.
“It’s a bloodbath,” Orine said. “It’s frustrating because a couple of times I was in a good position and they stopped the match because my nose is blowing blood.”
Moyer said he had his eye on the injury clock and knew something drastic needed to be done to finish the match.
“We knew we were going to stop it somehow,” Moyer said. “Usually in the finals, I get a nervous, weird feeling in my stomach and even when we were losing 6-5, I didn’t have that feeling. Kai’s a gamer and he’ll win those matches every single time.
“I told everyone that would be one of the most exciting matches of the night because they’re the same kid. The both have the most crazy hips I’ve seen in my life and both are very talented.”
If he’s able to win another state title, Orine will tie Brock Wingbermuehle (2012-2014) as the only three-time state champions in Jaguar history.
As he has the past two seasons, Seckman senior Cam Fusco followed Orine onto the championship stage at 126 pounds. And waiting for him for the fourth and final season was CBC senior Malik Johnson, who had beaten Fusco to win all three of his previous state championships.
In the first period, Johnson (33-0) scored two takedowns and Fusco (48-2) countered with two escapes. Johnson increased his lead to 6-2 in the second period. Fusco scored a takedown in the third to cut Johnson’s lead to 7-5. Johnson then went into a crab-style defense in a four-point stance and kept Fusco from shooting for a leg to get the tying takedown. The strategy worked, and Johnson hung on for a 7-5 win.
Although he didn’t ever win a state title, Fusco is the only Seckman wrestler to earn a medal all four years.
“There’s not much you can do except grab an arm and get him off balance because when he’s on all fours, it’s like taking a leg,” Fusco said. “If you take two legs, he’s going to fall but I couldn’t do that.
“We both battled hard in all of the matches. I’m happy with my high school career.”
“My heart breaks for him,” Moyer said. “He’s probably one of the most talented kids in the state, ever, to go without a state title. Most people would have run from Johnson, but he didn’t.”
Johnson was one of four wrestlers to complete their varsity careers as four-time state champions on Saturday. Whitfield’s Mike McAteer (Class 1, 126 pounds), Father Tolton’s Brock Mauller (Class 1, 152) and Kearney’s Clayton Singh (Class 3, 120) were the others.
Three other Seckman wrestlers made it to the medal stand Saturday.
Sophomore Skyler Akers couldn’t punch through to the varsity lineup last year because teammate Jack Wrocklage was in his way at 106. Wrocklage, a senior, moved up to 113 this season and both came away with third-place medals.
Akers (49-4) reached the semifinals before losing to eventual state champion Jeremiah Reno of Liberty. Akers won his fourth-round wrestleback match and then beat Lindbergh freshman J.P. Homfeld with a 2-0 decision for third place.
“I was really proud of that takedown. It maybe was the best I ever hit,” Akers said of his winning shot. “He almost had me and my coach gave me a death look. The season was pretty good. I won (51) matches. I’m pretty proud of it.”
Wrocklage (51-8) lost to Staley sophomore Khyler Brewer in the 113 quarterfinals, then won three matches in 24 hours to get to the third-place match. He beat Lafayette junior Jayden Carson 4-3 to capture third.
“It was a pretty successful weekend,” said Wrocklage, who will attend Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla next fall. “I wanted to get to the finals. At the end, I finished better than last year and that’s what I was shooting for.”
Seckman junior Jeremy Ashlock (45-14) also lost in the quarterfinals, then won three matches to reach the third-place bout, where he was pinned by Staley sophomore Rocky Elam in 3:17.
“He’s come a long way in two years,” Moyer said. “He put the time in. We tell all of our kids to buy into the process and you will have success. It’s a tough process. It’s showing up in the summer and working out when you don’t want to. But that’s what it takes to be the best.
“Everyone was part of our team bringing home a trophy. It’s been our goal all year and this team is one of the most fun I’ve been around and they deserve every bit of this.”
Two of three Lions at state medal
Senior Caleb Camacho (160) and sophomore Chase Stegall (182) both brought home medals in Class 4 for Northwest and in the process tied for the single-season school record of 52 wins.
Camacho finally made it to the medal stand, where he placed sixth after losing a 4-2 decision to De Smet’s Cory Peterson.
“Caleb Camacho is a program kid,” Northwest head coach Ron Wilhelm said. “He had a great football career, a great wrestling career, now he’s on our state wall and I couldn’t be happier for him.”
Stegall’s only two losses this season were to state champions. He drew Eureka senior Kyle Dickhaus, last year’s Class 4 champion at 182, in the third-place match. Stegall (third in the state at 170 last season) scored a reversal in the third period to cut Dickhaus’ lead to 5-3, but Dickhaus scored on the same move in the latter part of the period and won 7-5.
“He could return at 182 or go to 195,” Wilhelm said of Stegall. “He was eating all the time. The weight issue was not there. We’ll see where his body takes him.”
The Lions have never had a four-time state medallist or a two-time state champ. Stegall could break that mold.
“We brought three kids (junior Austin Akins qualified at 138) and came home with two medals in what could be argued were the two toughest brackets in the whole tournament,” Wilhelm said. “Chase had three returning state champs in his bracket alone and in 25 years as a coach, I’ve never seen that.”
Two Warriors medal at state
Two Fox wrestlers went to Columbia. Two returned to Arnold with state medals.
Dylan Looney (126) and Joey Johnson (285) are both juniors and both claimed their first state medals, with Looney coming in sixth and Johnson finishing fourth.
“It was a testament to their preparation and mental toughness this weekend,” Fox head coach Amond Prater said. ‘They superseded even my expectations and they had the perfect weekend.”
Looney has battled injuries throughout his career and Prater said he’s a leader of the program. Looney’s weight class was a minefield of explosive wrestlers, including CBC’s Johnson and Seckman’s Fusco. Looney won in the first round by fall, lost in the quarterfinals, then fell in the fourth-round wrestlebacks. Looney fell 6-1 to Blue Springs freshman DeAndre Thomas to finish sixth.
Johnson lost in the first round and then fought his way back through the wrestlebacks until reaching the third-place match against Eureka senior Brendan Carter. Johnson led by a point in the third period, but got turned and almost pinned. The clock expired as the referee’s hand slammed to the mat signalling a pin for Carter, but the bout officially ended 6-3 in Carter’s favor.
“Whether you win or lose that match, both wrestlers left it out on the mat,” Prater said. “Joe has a high ceiling. He needs to work on his defensive moves and just believe in himself. He got to a point in this tournament where he believed in his body and it showed in his matches.”
Prater said Fox wrestling is on the rise.
“Having two placers really sets the tone for our next five years,” Prater said. “We’ve got a lot of good kids in the program who didn’t make it but we’ve got some consistency.”