Michael Smith
The Indians showed that in their tri dual against Grandview and St. Joseph Central. Not only did they win, they dominated, earning a 76-6 victory against Central and a 69-12 rout against the Bulldogs Thursday at home.
Grandview won its dual 31-30 against Central after earning the tiebreaker due to winning more contested matches.
They were able to do this despite a few of their wrestlers not having very many practices under their belt as some were playing football just five days prior as the Fort Osage football team made it to the Class 5 state semifinals before falling to Holt.
“We wrestled a lot of people who had their first varsity matches tonight,” Fort Osage coach Brandon Wackerman said. “We always do that this time of year. This time of year, Fort Osage football does well and we have nine or 10 guys who have only been on the mat a couple of days before the season opener.
“We are trying to get all our weight classes back. We hope to have all 14 positions filled before the end of the season.”
Fort Osage coach Brandon Wackerman
One of those players just coming off the football season was Stevie Gabb. The 285-pounder who was the co-offensive player of the year in the Suburban White Conference in football, admitted he was rusty entering his first wrestling event of the season.
He managed to win both of his matches, getting a pin in 46 seconds vs. Central’s Jonas Perez and edging Grandview’s Derek Joiner 5-1.
“I definitely felt rusty, especially in the first match,” Gabb said. “My wind was really low and I was hoping to work on that Friday.
“I definitely could have done better. I lasted the entire match in the second one, but I need to do that while attacking the whole time.”
That’s something Rylan Mansfield (132) was able to do for the Indians as he got pins in 1:45 and 1:55.
“I was able to run my stuff and was able to control the match,” Mansfield said. “I was able to do what I liked.”
That was a similar story on the night for Dylan Reed (138) and Truman transfer Nathan Noda (145).
Reed was wearing a white wristband while wrestling. It has the name of his dad on it, who passed away from COVID last September. He dedicated the season to his later father and did him proud after getting two first-period pins, one of which came right at the buzzer.
“I feel like I was a little rusty, but I got some good partners to work with,” Reed said. “I wasn’t gassed at all. I feel like my team and I can pick up some good wins this year.
“(My dad) was someone everyone knew here. He was someone who said, ‘Let’s go boy,’ all the time. This is definitely all for him.”
Noda wrestled his first matches with the Indians after spending the first three years of his high school wrestling career at Truman. He got off to a good start with his new team with a pair of pins.
“I like the team here a lot more. Everyone wants to work as hard as they can in the wrestling room here, not a lot of people talk, we just work to get better every day.”
Nathan Noda
Other Indians to go 2-0 Thursday were Colby Gray (120), Riley Hall (126), John Newton (152), Ryan Thorpe (160), Jasen Periman (170), Isaac Fields (182) and Gavin Gallman (220).
“We had some young guys step up and some overachieved,” Wackerman said. “We certainly made some mistakes even in matches that we won. This was a good dual to see where we are at.”
For Grandview, Michael Wilson (113) was the only one to go 2-0 as he won twice by forfeit. Against the Bulldogs, Ky’Von Goetz (170), Joiner (285), Josiah Galegos (132) and David Franklin (138) won their contested matches.
Alijah Hammond (195) won the Bulldogs only contested match against Fort Osage by injury forfeit.
“I think I was lacking a little, but I think I will get that fixed by the next match,” Hammond said. “I really like the single legs and I think I did those really well.”
St. Joseph Central senior Oscar Carreto (195) was the only Central wrestler to go 2-0 as he got two pins.
“Honestly, it was a lot harder in practice than it was in this,” Carreto said, “but it was still pretty fun.”
