NEOSHO COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
WRESTLING
By Aaron Sweazy
16th ranked Neosho County hosted 2 regional foes on January 9th at the Chanute Campus gymnasium. In the first dual of the day the Panthers would host 5th ranked Northwest Wyoming under the guidance of former Coffeyville native Jim Ziegler. The dual started at 125 with NW being ranked 5th and NCCC’s Derek Steeley 8th in the recent polls. Steeley showed early dominance and built a steady lead, but Hillhouse from Northwest chipped back into the match. In the 3rd period Steeley escaped to go up 7-5, but Hillhouse surged and got a takedown to knot it up, then in a furious scramble Steeley high arched and head picked Hillhouse for the defensive fall. Northwest would answer with back to back falls at 133 and 141 to move ahead 12-6. Justin Ringold would suffer an 8-10 setback for Neosho and the Panthers were now in a 15-6 deficit. Then a spark of energy came to the mat, as Shawn Thomas made his debut as a Panther. Down late 8-6, Thomas hit a big 5 point move to go up 11-8 before his opponent got a final escape giving Thomas an 11-9 victory over an opponent that came in nationally ranked 9th in the nation. Mike Vieira took the momentum shift and went on to win at 165 by a 6-4 decision now pulling the Panthers within 3 pts. Aaron Butler would give up a major decision at 174 to the 4th ranked individual in NJCAA, before Ralph Manous took a win by forfeit. The dual was now 19-18 in favor of Northwest going into the last two weights. Kris Powell would suffer defeat by fall at 197, before Jake Kober who was also making his debut would lose an 8-0 major decision to the nation’s number 1 heavyweight. Final score: NWW 29 Neosho 18
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Neosho County Community College - 18 Northwest College - 29 |
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The Panthers would rest while NW Wyoming and 15th ranked Pratt duked it out, when that match was done (NW won 24-21), the two KJCCC foes were ready to butt heads. Earlier in the season Neosho lost a heartbreaking 1 point loss to the Beavers, and now redemption was on their minds. Steeley would control his match from the start to finish, but couldn’t get the bonus point victory he had earlier in the season and thus settled for an 8-4 decision. Next up, Neosho was able to capitalize on Pratt’s misfortune and pick up a win by default as Pratt’s wrestler was unable to make weight, which now gave Neosho a 9-0 lead. Pratt would take the reigns and win the next 2 matches by decision and pull closer, and trail only 9-6. With 6 weights remaining, this looked like it could go down to the wire, much like the 1st battle between these teams, however Neosho would surge ahead winning 4 in a row. Shawn Thomas won by major decision at 157, before Mike Vieira would pull off an upset of 9th ranked Travis Budke (a returning All-American). Aaron Butler picked u a decision at 174, and then in the battle of the Ralph’s, Ralph Manous of Neosho would edge 2009 National Qualifier Ralph Major 7-5. Up 22-9 Neosho had the dual won, but Pratt would make sure that they got the last word in on the scorebook. Inola boys John Arnold and Kris Powell would wrestle tough for the panthers, but would suffer defeat by 5-8 and 3-12 scores. Neosho County - 22 Pratt -13 |
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