Michael Smith
The Platte County boys wrestling team may be young, but they can compete well with many teams in the Kansas City metro area.
The Pirates proved that in Thursday’s dual with Blue Springs in which they won eight out 12 matches to cruise to a 51-18 victory at Blue Springs High School.
Wrestler Interviews:
- Platte County’s Caden Hulett (120)
- Platte County’s DJ Smith (165)
- Platte County’s Cooper Hammontree (190)
- Platte County’s Evan MacCuish (150)
Nine of the 14 wrestlers in the Pirate starting lineup were underclassmen but that didn’t stop them from dominating.
Sophomore Cooper Hammontree (190 pounds) was one of those underclassmen to get a big win for Platte County as he used a double underhook throw to take down Liam Reece and get a pin in 19 seconds.
“I don’t really know what that move is called,” Hammontree said. “During freestyle season in my freshman year someone hit that on me. It made me really angry, so I started using myself.”
“If there is an opportunity, I would have fun hitting it again.”
It wasn’t just the underclassmen that showed out as senior Caden Hulett (120) dominated his match from start to finish to earn a 16-1 tech fall victory in 3:13 against Reiley Glackin.
“I wrestled a little slow to start but I got the win,” Hulett said. “I got some bonus points for my team so that’s all that matters.
“I did a good job having fast feet and getting to my shots.”
Junior Evan MacCuish (150) almost had as much success as Hulett. He came close to getting a tech fall, but he fell just short of that in a strong 16-3 win vs. Dodge DiGusto.
“I felt better on top than I have in the past,” MacCuish said. “I was able to get to my turns. I should have finished to get my pin. In neutral, I have been working a lot on my drags and two on ones. It’s been really showing out on the mat.”
Other Platte County wrestlers to get victories in contested matches were freshman Jack Johnson (144), who pinned Braeden Pickens in 1:05; sophomore Grant Fadler (132), who edged Travis Birkenmaier 2-0; Cole Johnson (175), who won by fall in 3:03 against Myles Weatherspoon; senior Jake Fernandez (215), who used barbed wire move to pin Mykael Miles in 55 seconds and junior DJ Smith (165) pinned Kade Schmidli in 3:54.
