Neosho County Community College Wrestling Release
Released by Aaron Sweazy
Assistant Wrestling Coach

Jan. 21, 2009

The 5th ranked Labette Cardinal wrestling team came to Chanute against an upset minded Neosho team hoping to pull off a major upset in West/Central region action. The action started off at 149 with 8th ranked Michael Brady taking on Neosho's Justin Ringgold. Brady took Ringgold down twice in the first period and built up an early 4-1 lead. In the 2nd period Ringgold escaped and was quickly taken down by Brady once again, but this time to his back…in one swift motion Ringgold landed awkwardly and was quickly found to be flat by the official and deemed pinned. At 157 Zac Taylor took to the Mats against Raufeon Stots. The scoring began in the 2nd period when Taylor escaped, however, Stots got a takedown and made it 2-1 heading into the 3rd, choosing neutral in the 3rd Stots then scored another takedown to distance himself, with Taylor's only answer being a late escape to lose by a 4-2 tally, however following the match Stots was deducted a team point for unsportmanlike conduct.
Neosho moved ahead to 165 where Dustin Burton took on 5th ranked Aaron Hynick. A scoreless 1st period was followed with the Cardinal taking the down position and quickly escaping. In the 3rd Burton would choose neutral, only to be taken down and then escape late…but the clock was his enemy and Burton lost by a 3-1 decision. Neosho trailed at this point 11-0 and was relying on Derek Heckel to come through, and he did just that. Going full blast for the first period, Heckel amassed a 9-0 lead, the only other scoring that would come was when Dave Weske for Labette was able to get a quick nearfall for 2, but Heckel in the end finshed the match the victor giving Neosho the much needed 3points on the scoreboard. The next 3 weights would see Labette's number 3, 5, and 6th ranked wrestlers come to the mat at 184, 197 and Heavyweight respectively. Jason Mellies at 184 and Kris Powell at Heavyweight gave up 6 points by losing by fall, and Jeff Kirwan at 197 lost another 3-2 decision.
At 125 Neosho's only ranked wrestler Alex Gorton took to the mat against Labette's Cody Aldridge who was the starter all last year for the Cardinals. Gorton and Aldridge got into a flurry, but Gorton hit a thunderous headlock and was able to hold on for fall and put the Panther's up to 9 team points. Motivated by Gorton's success, Rory Kendall took to the mat and went to work with takedowns and rodeo like riding and by the end was up 8-0 to clinch the major decision and give Neosho 13 points. The night came to an end with Derek Ward of Labette taking to the mat looking for revenge against Neosho which beat him (when Kendall was up a weight first semester). Ward's quick two on Montana Carson and two nearfall quickly lead to a fall, and the night came to a conclusion, and even though Neosho narrowed the gap from this season's earlier dual meeting by 8 points, they still didn't have enough on this night to beat the Cardinals.
Neosho is next on the road Thursday for a 4:30 pm dual vs Hastings College (NAIA school) at a meet to be held in Clay Center, KS.

NEOSHO 13 LABETTE 32
125 Gorton (N) WBF Aldridge (L)
133 Kendall (N) Mdec Curtis (L) 8-0
141 Ward (L) WBF Carson (N)
149 Brady (L) WBF Ringgold (N)
157 Stots (L) dec Taylor (N) 4-2
165 Hynick (L) dec Burton (N) 3-1
174 Heckel (N) dec Weske (L) 9-2
184 Benson (L) WBF Mellies
197 Thompson (L) dec Kirwan (N) 3-2
285 Hohensee (L) WBF Powell (N)

Coach Petterson's Comments: We had 3 wins, 2 by bonus points, and 3 other matches where we lost decision's by 2 points or less. Have we closed the gap from first semester, maybe some. Gorton and Kendall are on track. Heckel had an awesome first period. If Taylor, Burton, and Kirwan are to get wins against quality competition, they need to make adjustments now that the staff is trying to get them to do. If that can be done, then we'll have the better part of our team on track. Ringgold will be out due to an ankle injury and we'll find out how long today. That could be a blow to our team with arguably our hardest worker out.