BonnerSprings.com

Last week, Basehor-Linwood head wrestling coach Scott Neil said he would be disappointed if his squad didn't place in the top three at the Larry Tilton Memorial Invitational last Saturday at Atchison County in Effingham.

Early on in the tournament, it appeared the Bobcats were going to be in for a long day, but BLHS bounced back from some tough early losses and grabbed the runner-up plaque at the tourney.

"I was real happy with the kids effort," Neil said. "The first round was pretty shaky. We dropped a couple matches I didn't think we would. In fact, I thought we'd have two more guys in the finals, but after that the kids really started to pick it up."

Of the 13 grapplers Basehor-Linwood had at the tournament, eight placed, including getting a pair of champions in Matt Dukes (145-pounds) and Brandon Buck (152), and two silver medalists in Tim Morgan (125) and Matt Gillett (275). But it was the efforts of the wrestlers who ended up in the consolation side of their brackets that made the difference for the Bobcats.

Basehor-Linwood was in third place with 105.5 points, two points ahead of Eudora and 15 points behind Lawrence Free State, entering the championship and consolation finals. The Cardinals and Firebirds combined to win just three matches at the end of the day, while the Bobcats won five, three of them consolation champs in Cody Bell (103), Nick Plesa (130) and Jeff Lackner (135).

"Our backdoor really picked it up for us today," said Neil. "Nick came back after a tough match in the first round, then he came back and pinned the same kid. Cody came back and pinned his way through the consolation and Jeff did an outstanding job. He's getting better as the days go by.

"On the front side, I had actually planned on winning all four finals matches. Tim and Matt (Gillett) didn't wrestle well, but they lost close matches."

As for Dukes and Buck, Neil said, "I really didn't figure Dukes would have a whole lot of problems. He's really looking good this year. He's like a caged up lion when he gets out there. Brandon did an excellent job against a state placer (in the finals). He wrestled him real well. He was under control the whole time."

Atchison County, the defending 3-2-1A State champions, ran away with the team title, scoring 198 points. The Bobcats finished with 129.5, leaping Lawrence Free State's 125 points.

LARRY TILTON INVITATIONAL

Team scores: 1. Atchison County, 198; 2. Basehor-Linwood, 129.5; 3. Lawrence Free State, 125; 4. Eudora, 113; 5. Onaga, 90; 6. Wellsville, 84; 7. Horton, 61; 8. Oskaloosa, 48.5; 9. Pleasant Ridge, 18.

Basehor-Linwood Individuals

103: Cody Bell: Lost by major decision, 12-3; bye; won by fall, 126; won by fall, 4:36 (third place).

112: Chin Kim: Lost by fall, 2:42; bye; lost by fall, 4:53.

119: Dustin McHenry: Lost by technical fall, 17-2 (3:56); bye; won by decision, 8-6 OT (:32); lost by fall, 1:18 (fourth place).

125: Tim Morgan: Won by fall, 2:35; won by fall, 4:43; lost by decision, 9-4 (second place).

130: Nick Plesa: Lost by fall, 3:47; won by fall, :57; won by fall, :22; won by fall, 1:48 (third place).

135: Jeff Lackner: Won by fall, 5:07; lost by fall, 2:13; won by fall, :14; won by major decision, 10-1 (third place).

140: Marshall Norris: Lost by fall, 1:24; lost by fall, 2:16.

145: Matt Dukes: Bye; won by fall, 1:36; won by fall, 1:06 (first place).

152: Brandon Buck: Won by fall, 1:07; won by technical fall, 15-0 (5:50); won by decision, 15-9 (first place).

160: Jeff Rousselo: Lost by fall, 1:08; lost by fall, 2:41.

171: Jeremy Sheehan: Lost by fall, 2:55; won by fall, 1:39; lost by fall, 1:49.

189: Joe Johnson: Lost by fall, 1:01; bye; lost by fall, 4:32.

215: Open.

275: Matt Gillett: Bye; won by fall, 3:27; lost by decision, 6-5 (second place).

On Saturday, the Bobcats will compete in the 39th annual Clay Center Invitational. Action gets started at 9:30 a.m.

Year in and year out, this is traditionally one of the tougher tournaments in the state and this year is no exception.

Half of the teams, Abilene, Clay Center, Ellsworth and Junction City, placed eighth or better at their respective state tournaments last year. Along with those four, traditionally-strong Beloit will compete, as will Salina Central and Salina South.

"I'm going to make the same prediction as I did last week. I hope we place at least third or fourth in this tournament, because it's so tough," Neil said. "It will be an eye-opener for some of our kids."

JV wrestlers compete

Four members of the junior varsity squad competed in a "tournament" at Santa Fe Trail last Saturday. Actually, each wrestler was given two matches to compete during the day.

Joe Bell (130) won a pair of matches by fall, Steve Porth (119) and Justin Ishmael (275) went 1-1 and Billy Crum (125) lost two matches.