Neosho coach Jeremy Phillips was not totally pleased with his team’s performance even with the two wins.
“I told my kids that we needed to set five targets tonight for every wrestler. After our dual with Ozark, half our team could say that they got better at something they had listed as a target,” said Phillips. “Against Nixa, I felt we refocused and wrestled better. Even some of the matches we lost, I felt like we were addressing our targets better and working toward some improvements.”
Neosho is top-ranked in their class in both dual meets and tournaments and they came prepared to defeat two solid squads.
“We have to be more consistent” said Phillips. “We have a lot of work to do, but if the kids will buy in with their work in the practice room on a daily basis we will have a shot to do something special at the end of the year. Until we do that, then we’re just going to be average.”
Ozark coach Jesse Zeugin said “Neosho is a tough, tough club.”
“Coach Phillips has that team turned into a well-oiled machine,” he said. “They believe in themselves and they believe in their coaching and it shows. That’s why they are ranked number one and always doing so well all year.”
Ozark wrestled Neosho tough in several of their matches, but as the young Ozark wrestlers struggled, many of their older guys stepped up.
When Nixa wrestled Neosho, the younger wrestlers got off to a good start and coach Dustin Martin was pleased with their effort.
“They (Neosho) are a tough team, number one dual and tournament team in the state. There were some individual matches I feel like we wrestled really well,” said Martin. “Overall, I feel fairly decent with the matchups.”
Anytime Ozark and Nixa meet, no matter the sport, it is very competitive. The emotions ran high and the score was close throughout the entire dual.
“Nixa is a big win for us” said Zeugin. “Coach Martin does a great job with his team. They had three opens but we had two, and we won more matches than we lost. That’s what it takes, and getting bonus points, putting people on their back. That was really key for us, to get some pins where we needed to get pins.”
Coach Martin’s Eagles left some points on the mats. When they had opportunities to gain points, they did not take advantage.
“We had some kids that needed to step up and they did not do it,” said Martin. “They are very capable of doing it, but getting results is difficult. We knew coming in that it was going to come down to a handful of points. We left some points out there on the mat.”
The match of the night was when Nixa’s Joey Broadbent had Ozark’s Josh Cheek on his back and Cheek managed to get a reversal and then get the surprising pin. Cheek’s win gave Ozark six points when it looked as if Nixa had the three points in the bag.
“We had some kids that had an opportunity to get points in matches and they chose not to,” Martin said. “It’s disappointing as a coach.”
| Weight | Nixa | Ozark | Decision |
| 106 | open | Gavin DeWitt | De Witt wins by Forfeit 6-0 |
| 113 | Lee Reppond | Levi Castleberry | Castleberry wins 6-3 |
| 120 | Naseeph Al-Roubaie | Tucker Jennings | Al-Roubaie pins Jennings 2:36 |
| 126 | Joe Velliquette | Michael Graves | Velliquette pins Graves 1:51 |
| 132 | Aidan Childs | Nick Plyter | Plyter wins decision 6-0 |
| 138 | Christian Lane | Clint Godfrey | Godfrey win decision 3-0 |
| 145 | Cameron White | Grayson Falkner | White wins decision 6-0 |
| 152 | Destin Prather | Wyatt Porter | Prather pins Porter 1:25 |
| 160 | Joey Broadbent | Josh Cheek | Cheek pins Broadbent 3:45 |
| 170 | open | Altizer | Altizer wins by forfeit 6-0 |
| 182 | Austin Heatherly | John Oss | Oss pins Heatherly :15 |
| 195 | open | Cody Lindsey | Lindsey wins by forfeit 6-0 |
| 220 | Ben Melton | open | Melton wins by Forfeit |
| 285 | Xyah Ra | open | Ra wins by forfeit 6-0 |
| Weight | Neosho | Ozark | Decision |
| 106 | John Williams | Gavin DeWitt | Williams beats DeWitt 5-4 |
| 113 | Klyer Rea | Levi Castleberry | Rea beats Castleberry 8-2 |
| 120 | Brayden Brookman | Tucker Jennings | Brookman pins Jennings 5:51 |
| 126 | River Buttram | Michael Graves | Graves pins Buttram 4:09 |
| 132 | Dakota McGarrah | Nick Plyter | Plyter beats McGarrah 13-10 |
| 138 | Isaac Townsend | Clint Godfrey | Godfrey beats Townsend 6-4 OT |
| 145 | Jason Box | Grayson Falkner | Box pins Falkner 3:58 |
| 152 | Chance Branstetter | Wyatt Porter | Branstetter beats Porter 4-1 |
| 160 | Garrick Fausett | Josh Cheek | Fausett pins Cheek 3:39 |
| 170 | Austin Hailey | John Oss | Oss beats Hailey 15-4 |
| 182 | Jacob Brock | Jason Canizalez | Brock pins Canizalez :59 |
| 195 | Ben Elledge | Cody Lindsey | Lindsey pins Elledge 2:51 |
| 220 | Christian Lopez | open | Lopez wins by forfeit 6-0 |
| 285 | Aaron Clardy | open | Clardy win by forfeit 6-0 |
| Weight | Neosho | Nixa | Decision |
| 106 | John Williams | open | Williams wins by forfeit 6-0 |
| 113 | Kyler Rea | Lane Reppond | Rea pins Reppond 1:26 |
| 120 | Brayden Brookman | Naseeph Al-Roubaie | Al-Roubaie wins by technical pin 18-3 |
| 126 | River Buttram | Joe Velliquette | Velliquette beats Buttram 3-0 |
| 132 | Dakota McGarrah | Aidan Childs | McGarrah pins Childs 4:55 |
| 138 | Isaac Townsend | Christian Lane | Lane beats Townsend 5-2 |
| 145 | Jason Box | Cameron White | White beats Box 6-4 |
| 152 | Chance Branstetter | Destin Prather | Branstetter beats Prather 4-2 OT |
| 160 | Garrick Fausett | Joey Broadbent | Fausett pins Broadbent 1:34 |
| 170 | Austin Hailey | open | Hailey wins by forfeit |
| 182 | Jacob Brock | Austin Heatherly | Brock pins Heatherly 5:25 |
| 195 | Ben Elledge | open | Elledge wins by forfeit 6-0 |
| 220 | Christian Lopez | Ben Melton | Lopez beats Melton 4-2 |
| 285 | Aaron Clardy | Xyah Ra | Clardy beats Ra 8-4 |
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