Michael Smith
It appeared North Kansas City was headed for a loss.
The Hornets boys wrestling team trailed Truman 36-6 at one point during Tuesday’s dual against Truman at home.
After Northtown rattled off five straight wins, the final match saw Quinton Bradley pin Noah Talato in the 285-pound bout. He used a half nelson after a takedown to turn Talato on his back and pin him in 1 minute and 15 seconds.
WRESTLER INTERVIEWS
- North Kansas City’s Jennifer Lopez-Alvarado (130)
- North Kansas City’s Shahla Mergani (100)
- Truman’s Tayler Akers (115)
- Truman’s Trinity Harrison (149)
- Truman’s Caden Deeney (144)
- Truman’s Daylen Curry (138)
- Ayden Guzman-Perry (157)
- Northtown’s Quinton Bradley (285)
- Northtown’s Justin Patek (175)
- Northtown’s Latayvian Woods-Smith
That win tied the dual team score at 36-36, however, North Kansas City earned the win via tiebreaker as the Patriots had one more forfeit victory that the Hornets, which was the criteria for deciding the winner.
“I think wrestled well today and we wrestled well as a unit,” Bradley said. “I think our team went out here and performed very well.
Aside from Bradley’s match, the Hornets won three other contested matches. Justin Patek (175), who finished 0-32 last season, has made a major leap in 2023-24. He won the 175-pound weight class at the Coffman Invitational on Nov. 9.
On Tuesday, he pinned Alfonso Lara in 43 seconds after a quick takedown and a half nelson.
“Coming in, it was important to get this win,” Patek said. “Since I was wrestling a freshman, I was wondering if I should try to get a tech fall or something. But with how close the dual was, I had to go for the pin.”
His teammate, Latayvian Woods-Smith (165), notched a big pin before Patek’s match, pinning Gio Ingles in 53 seconds.
“I usually wear my opponents down and wait for them to get tired, then take my shot,” Woods-Smith said. “But he was in really quick first, so I had to shoot around to not let him score on me.”
Others to win for Northtown included Rahim Mahbobbi (132), who pinned Hayden Woods in 4:34; and Kadeen Anderson (190) and Thailin Green (215) both won by forfeit for the Hornets.
For Truman, two wrestlers competed at the varsity level for the first time this season won their matches.
Freshman Ayden Guzman-Perry (157 pounds), competing in his first varsity bout, got on top of Christ Matthews after dominating much of the match and pressed down on his opponent’s shoulders and earned a win by fall in 2:47.
