BonnerSprings.com

Bonner Springs Braves head wrestling coach Dan Burns has preached team concept since his pre-season meeting in October.

The congregation not only listened Saturday at the Gardner-Edgerton Invitational, but they also proved they believed it.

The Braves came within three points of winning the 10-team tournament and upsetting class 4A powerhouse Spring Hill, falling short, 172 to 169.

The Braves finished ahead of some tough teams including Lawrence Free State, Shawnee Mission West and Lansing.

In the process the Braves crowned four individual champions, one silver medalist, three third place medalists and two bronze medalists.

In total, the Braves had 10 of 12 wrestlers place in the top four.

"We are really coming together as a team," Burns said. "I told the team that we needed to bust down the back door and we did that. There are a lot of points you can score on the backside and every wrestler on the team scored a point and did his part in helping us bring home a plaque."

Individual champions for the Braves were Eric Ratliff (103), Matt Middleton (125), Chad Vandenberg (130), and Donnie Shepherd (135). David Bass (215) was second while Jess Buck (119), Chris Carpenter (152), and Brad Rittinghouse (275) were third. Spencer Buck (140) and Jeff Burns (189) finished fourth.

Ratliff, just a sophomore, was dominant in his gold medal performance.

He did not have a point scored on him all day. After receiving a first round bye, Ratliff pinned Shawnee Mission West's Collin Swander in just 1:32.

Ratliff and Swander are long-time friends and this was the first time Ratliff beat him in three tries.

"We have been friends and I didn't wrestle him with much aggressiveness the first two times," Ratliff said. "I went out this time focused and ready."

In the finals, Ratliff won a 9-0 major decision against Spring Hill's Max Hudgins.

Middleton was equally impressive, pinning his way through the bracket.

The first two pins occurred in the first period. In the finals, he pinned Spring Hill's Greg Jaklevich in 3:02 for his second consecutive Gardner-Invitational championship. The victories improved his record to 9-1.

"He looked sharp," Burns said. "He is outstanding on his feet and maintains good position throughout the course of the match."

Vandenberg also successfully defended his Gardner-Invitational championship.

Vandenberg has faced some stiff competition in the early going this season and he entered the tournament with a 2-5 record.

After victories of 10-5 and a third-period pin, he had no problems in the finals with No. 1 seed Chris Jewett of Shawnee Mission West, scoring a 15-3 major decision.

"He kept very good motion, was aggressive, and wrestled smart," Burns said.

Vandenberg concurred.

"I wrestled better and smarter," he said. "Last week I tried one move all day long, today I went back to the basics."

Shepherd had no trouble advancing to the finals. He pinned his first two opponents in the first period and in the finals, he defeated Lawrence Free State's Josh Sanderson 13-1.

Sanderson's only point scored was a third period escape. In fact, that was the only point scored on Shepherd the entire day as he improved his record to 8-2.

"He had a real sound performance," Burns said. "Shepherd is just fundamentally sound; he did what he needed to do."

Bass also advanced to the championship, quite a feat considering it was his first mat action of the season because of a broken hand.

He won his semi-final match in dramatic fashion - a 3-2 decision in double-overtime over Spring Hill's Keil Jahr.

In the finals, Bass was pinned by 6A state runner-up Ian Bork of Lawrence Free State.

"Bass had two tough matches for his first competition," Burns said. "Both of his opponents were state qualifiers last year and Bork was a runner-up."

Bass is thrilled to be back and he is also a proponent of the team concept.

"It is great being back," he said. "All the guys on the team care about each other and we get along great. We also know our coach cares about us."

Burns credits much of Saturday's success to conditioning.

"After the first round I told our kids no matter how tough your opponent is, take him to the third period because our conditioning was better than our opponents."

The Braves traveled to Leavenworth yesterday for a double dual with Leavenworth and Paola, but results were not available at press time.

The Braves are off until January 2 when they travel to Rockhurst for a dual.

Gardner-Edgerton Invitational:

1. Spring Hill, 172; 2. Bonner Springs, 169; 3. Lawrence Free State, 154; 4. SM West, 124.5; 5. Lansing, 92; 6. Gardner-Edgerton, 83.5; 7. Mill Valley, 56; 8. Wichita East, 27; 9. Piper, 26.5; Tri-City Christian, 6

103 Eric Ratliff: first round bye; won by fall, 1:32; won by major decision, 9-0; first place

119 Jess Buck: won by fall, 1:32; lost by fall, 5:46; won by decision, 10-8; won by decision, 8-2; third place

125 Matt Middleton: won by fall, 1:37; won by fall, 1:01; won by fall, 3:02; first place

130 Chad Vandenberg: won by decision, 10-5; won by fall, 5:26; won by major decision, 15-3; first place

135 Donnie Shepherd: won by fall, 1:16; fall, 1:16; won by major decision, 13-1; first place

140 Spencer Buck: won by fall, 3:15; lost by decision, 7-3; won by fall, :28; lost by decision, 10-6; fourth place

145 Nick Border: won by fall, 1:20; lost by fall, 5:10; lost by decision, 5-4;

152 Chris Carpenter: won by fall, 5:34; lost by technical fall, 15-0; won by decision, 8-7; won by fall, :09, third place

160 Danny Gardner: lost by fall, 3:24; won by fall, 1:25; won by decision, 11-3; lost by fall, 3:02

189 Jeff Burns: won by decision, 7-6; lost by major decision, 15-7; won by major decision, 12-3; lost by decision, 4-2; fourth place

215 David Bass: first round bye; won by decision, 3-2 OT; lost by fall, 1:52; second place

275 Brad Rittinghouse: lost by fall, 1:03; won by fall, :29; won by fall, 2:24; won by fall, 3:39; third place.