With 20 seconds to go in the first period of the Class 4 state championship at 220 pounds against North Kansas City junior Xavier Doolin at the Mizzou Arena in Columbia on Saturday, Stegall was leading 5-0 after a takedown and three near-fall points when Doolin reached for his knee and screamed in pain. The referee stopped the match for an injury timeout. When the match resumed, Doolin was able to score two points on a reversal.
With Stegall up 6-3 in the second period, Doolin took a shot at Stegall, but missed and Stegall turned the tables with a takedown to go up 8-3. Seconds later the match was stopped again as trainers tended to Doolin’s knee. This time he wasn’t able to continue and Stegall captured his first state title by injury default at 3:38.
After Stegall won the match and emerged from the tunnel the wrestlers are funneled through, he was greeted with hearty back slaps and tight hugs from Northwest co-head coaches Ron and Bob Wilhelm.
Stegall’s brother, Tyler, won the 138-pound state title in 2017. To say a huge load was removed from Chase’s back would be an understatement.
“That was in the back of my head, I’m not going to lie,” Chase said of the prospect of not following in his brother’s title footsteps. “I always imagine we’re at a Christmas party and my brother saying, ‘I have a state title and you don’t.’ It’s a relief. Coming up short the last three years to tough guys was hard, but this feels great.”
Stegall finished a perfect 36-0 for his senior season and concludes his high school career with a record of 173-13 and with four medals in four different weight classes.
Doolin was 45-0 entering the match, but it was obvious from the first few seconds that Stegall was going to be the aggressor.
Stegall explained his first takedown against Doolin, who was fifth at 195 last season and won 95 matches the last two years.
“I did a gator roll. That’s when you get a front headlock and roll into it,” he said. “He ended up on his back. I was hearing everybody say, ‘Get your points.’ So, I did and that was that.”
Liberty broke CBC’s two-year reign as Class 4 boys champions and won the team title with 241 points. Northwest finished tied for seventh with De Smet with 57 points, the Lions’ highest finish since coming in fifth in 2007. Bob and Ron Wilhelm have been the coaches for 21 years and have led the Lions to nine finishes in the top 10.
All four Northwest state qualifiers – JoJo Camacho, 120 pounds, Cannon Newhouse, 145, Johnny Daffron, 182 and Stegall –won medals.
“It was a really special weekend,” Ron Wilhelm said.
The Stegall brothers weren’t the only siblings to add their names to the ranks of medal winners. Camacho, a senior, finished sixth. Caleb Camacho took sixth place in 2018 at 160 pounds. JoJo’s path to the championship was blocked in the second round by undefeated state champion Jeremiah Reno (44-0). Camacho pinned Staley sophomore Jacob Windsor in the “bubble match” to reach the medal round.
“What an incredible way to end his career,” Ron Wilhelm said. “He was a program kid who comes from a great wrestling family. We figured if he could get out of his district, he had a chance to medal and that’s exactly what he did.”
Newhouse, a state qualifier at 138 in 2019, returned to Columbia at 145 this season. After a first-round pin, Newhouse (28-9) won a 3-2 decision over Republic senior Jonathon O’Connell (53-2) before losing a 15-7 major decision to eventual state champion Kal Miller of Park Hill in the semifinals.
“The quarterfinals match (against O’Connell) was probably the biggest match of his career,” Ron Wilhelm said. “It was one of the biggest upsets of the tournament. He’s a two-time state qualifier and a state medalist and we get him back next year.”
A sack specialist on the gridiron, Daffron, a junior, also met an eventual state champion – Liberty senior Greyden Penner – in the second round. Penner (29-0) pinned Daffron in the second period, but Daffron fought his way to the medal round, where he finished sixth.
In the “bubble match” against Lee’s Summit West senior Jake Callahan, Daffron gave up a takedown with two seconds left to send the match to overtime.
“He hit a miracle move to win in overtime, which is pretty much par for the course for Johnny,” Ron Wilhelm said.
Six girls qualified for state for Northwest in the second-ever girls tournament in Columbia. Senior Taylor Murphey was the only Lion to return to state this year. And while Murphey can’t claim to be the Lions’ first state medalist – that honor went to freshman Lily Shaffrey at 130 – she leaves the team as its girls career leader in wins (72) and pins (67).
Murphey claimed third place at 135 pounds when she pinned St. Charles sophomore Cassidy Head in 3:36.
“We did this little scramble thing where we were fighting back and forth with our hips,” Murphey said. “(Head) had her head and arm on me, and when she went to do her little reverse thing, she went to her back and I held there as tightly as I could.”
Murphey’s bid for a state title ended in the semifinals after she was pinned by Lawson senior Savanna McCutchen. In the quarterfinals, Murphey beat Fort Osage senior Tess Kinne in an 8-6 decision. Murphey said that’s the win that will stand out to her.
“She beat me two times in the preseason,” Murphey said. “I wanted to get some revenge. I tried my hardest.”
Ron Wilhelm praised Murphey’s efforts.
“She was the ambassador on and off the mat for us. She passes the torch to Lily now,” he said.
Based on her first season on the mats, Shaffrey will have no trouble carrying it. If not for another freshman at 130, Shaffrey likely would have been the Lions’ first girls state champion. Fort Osage’s Haley Ward completed a 36-0 season after pinning Plattsburg senior Kaylie Dow in the first period. Ward won every state match by fall, except for the 5-0 decision in the semifinals against Shaffrey, who then won a 9-0 major decision over Osage senior Abbey Cordia, for third place.
“I chose down. We were fighting and got two stalemates,” Shaffrey said, describing the action against Cordia in the third period. “In the last 20 seconds, I got up and she pushed me away so she could try something big. I kept circling and not trying to tie up with her. In the last five or 10 seconds, she got me into an underhook, which sets up a drop. She tried it and I landed on top of her.”
Shaffrey said she’s looking forward to a rematch against Ward.
“I’ve been wanting to wrestle her. I saw it as a challenge,” Shaffrey said. “She kept getting behind me and taking me down. I think I can counter that now.”
Wilhelm said he’s eager to watch Shaffrey climb the state podium.
“She has something that’s hard to teach: a big heart.”
She’s going to be the perfect leader for our wrestling program.”