Alumni, Seniors Celebrated in Carl Junction's Wrestling Victory Over McDonald County

Carl Junction closed out the regular season with a win on the boys side, while McDonald County salvaged the split with a win in the girls competition during a dual on Feb. 1 in Carl Junction.

Carl Junction won the boys dual, 50-24 in a battle of teams ranked in by MissouriWrestling.com. The Bulldogs were No. 7 in Class 3, while McDonald County is No. 11.

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McDonald County’s Reyes Mendoza won the 106-pound matchup, 9-7, against Zane Gunnett.

The Bulldogs won five of the next six to take command to set the stage for a win on what was Alumni Night, Senior Night and Homecoming — the byproduct of duals called off earlier this season due to weather.

Wins during that streak for the Bulldogs were from No. 2-ranked Carter Foglesong (113), Drake Richardson (120), Sam Melton (126), Max Matthews (132) and Brenden Berry (144).

All got the maximum six points with Richardson getting a forfeit, while the others were by pins.

The win for Matthews was his 100th.

“It’s a huge milestone in high school wrestling,” Matthews said. “It’s always a huge thing to hit as senior or whatever year to get to triple digits. I probably would’ve got it last week but I didn’t go to a few tournaments my sophomore year. It ended up being perfect. Senior night and a bunch of people here and my brother from Oregon came here and I got. My 100. It meant a lot.”

After Berry’s win, the Bulldogs led 30-6.

From there, Carl Junction won four matches and the Mustangs won three.

Aaron Dillingham (157), No. 5-ranked Dexter Merrell (165), No. 2-ranked Tony Stewart (175) and Josh Cassatt (190) added the last wins for the Bulldogs. Merrell’s win was a pin over Brady Bogart in 20 seconds. It was his 100th career pin in his career — following recording his 100th career win earlier this season.

“Dexter is one of those, he will go out and get it done in the first period or he will die trying,” Frizzell said. “Sometimes it bites him but it worked well at least 100 times.”

Ethan Jones (150) and Samuel Murphy (285) won by pins, while Emmit Houston (215) got a forfeit win for the Mustangs. Murphy was the No. 1-ranked wrestler in 215 pounds but bumped up a class. That meant a night off for No. 1-ranked Jayce Hitt at 285.

In the girls match, McDonald County won 24-12.

Of those points, 18 went to the Lady Mustangs due to forfeits, while Carl Junction got one forfeit to Bryanna McCabe.

In actual matches, each team won one. Anjelika Alarcon pinned Jazyme Blaney in 41 seconds for McDonald County’s win. Isabella Montez beat Macie Smith by a pin in 38 seconds for the Lady Bulldogs’ win.

Carl Junction is idle until hosting the Class 3 District meet on Feb. 16-17.

“Postseason is everything I’ve been working for this season, well every season,” said Melton, ranked No. 5 at 120 pounds on MissouriWestling.com.