By Riley Bean
Republic, MO – The night belonged to Marshfield on the wrestling mat on Tuesday in Republic. The Jays beat Carl Junction 48-28 and beat the host Republic 43-25.
Marshfield’s Ruger Leppert (126 pounds), Patrick Wilson (138 pounds), Chris Crotinger (145 pounds), Clay Wilson (160 pounds), and Deryl VanNostrand (195 pounds) each picked up wins against both of their opponents in Tuesday’s triangular. Wilson, Crotinger and VanNostrand all won both of their bouts by fall.
The team’s excitement seeped out of the locker room after their final match. Marshfield coach Matt Holt says he does not remember the last time the Blue Jays beat Republic in a wrestling dual.
“You want to feel like you’re peaking, and I know last Thursday and really for the last week, we haven’t felt like we’re peaking,” Holt said. “We felt like we were stuck in the mud. Saturday at the COC [Small tournament], you saw it about half way through, we started building some momentum and it’s just good to see it’s still carrying. Hopefully we’re finally starting that uphill track.”
Holt moved up freshman wrestler Will Snider from the JV squad into the varsity lineup on Tuesday, and he provided a big boost for the Blue Jays.
“Will Snider, the kid stepped up,” said Holt. “At 132 [pounds], our normal guy Nick Taylor, he’s a little beat up. He probably could have wrestled tonight, but we’ve had this really good freshman [Snider]. He’s been undefeated on JV except for one match where he was down in weight and sick… We haven’t been quite sure what we have, but we decided let’s give Nick a rest tonight and let’s see what Will can do.”
In his match against Republic, Snider managed to score points late against Johnny Rexroat and went on to win 5-0.
“The entire bench exploded and from that point on, it just felt like it was a ball of momentum,” Holt said.
Republic split their duals with Marshfield and Carl Junction. They beat the Bulldogs 54-25 with eight pins in that match. But Tigers’ coach Jerry Morton was not pleased with his team’s effort against Marshfield.
“We came out here a little flat-footed,” said Morton. “It kind of showed when we wrestled against Marshfield… It was definitely a wake-up call. We definitely can use this as an example that we’re not working hard enough in our practice room.”
Carl Junction standout Zeke Wall had an impressive outing, picking up two wins by fall in the first period against both of his opponents in the heavyweight division.
“He’s real aggressive and if he feels something, he hits it,” CJ head coach Ty Jaquess said of Wall. “He’s not a cautious wrestler. He’s fun to watch and I appreciate that from him, because a lot of heavyweights, they’ll kind of dance around and just try to get their escape, but he’s looking to score the whole time and so it’s exciting and fun to watch. I hope that rubs off on the rest of the team too. We use him as an example a lot.”
Marshfield will look ahead to districts as the end of the season approaches. These duals are valuable, given that Marshfield will see many of these teams again in their district tournament.
“It started last Thursday when we wrestled Webb, that was a district opponent,” Holt said. “Both teams tonight were district opponents. We go to Carthage on Thursday and wrestle Carthage and McDonald County, those are two district opponents. The following Tuesday we have Hillcrest and Glendale, those are two district opponents. So right now, it’s about putting yourself in the best possible position with district seeding. These matches here are for district seeding. So obviously if we’re able to get a higher seed, it gives us an easier path.”
