By Kary Booher (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
In the wintertime, you can always bank on early sunsets, cold nights and Carthage High School fielding competitive wrestling teams.
That’s the job that coach Kenny Brown has done for the Tigers and – would you believe it? – this marks his 20th season in Carthage.
And they’re on a mission, having won the Farmington Duals, finished fourth in the Central Ozark Conference and runner-up at the district tournament last season.
“We did have a successful season last year, but definitely came up short of where we wanted to end up,” said Brown, who is 158-44 in duals in his era. “We wrestle some very talented competition just within our conference. The boys know what we have returning and are looking forward to the opportunity to test themselves against those programs.”
Projected roster
Brown figures 79 wrestlers will be in the room at the start of the season, but he’ll cut it to 56.
The team returns 11 starters, including six state qualifiers. Among them is one state medalist.
The projected lineup could be sophomore Dylan Huntley at 106 pounds, followed by sophomore Josh Griffith (113), sophomore Bradyn Tate (120), senior Christian Brown (126), junior Kip Castor and Cody Reeves (132), senior Eli Sneed (138) and senior Braxdon Tate (145).
In the upper weights, look for junior Grey Petticrew at 152 pounds, junior Davion King (160), senior Brett Rockers and junior Gabe Lambeth (170 or 182), junior Luke Gall (195), senior Kanen Vogt (220) and senior Cristian Salas (285).
Sneed was 35-11 last season, when he won the COC and qualified for the state tournament.
“Eli really came into his own last year,” Brown said. “For the first time in high school, he pulled a little weight and was actually wrestling at a better weight class for his height. His wrestling took off, and he surprised quite a few kids. He won’t be overlooked this year.”
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King finished 40-6 at 145 last year and placed fifth at state after suffering a setback to the state champion in the quarterfinals.
“He should have probably been wrestling for third but, with the format of the state tournament, that wasn’t possible,” Brown said. “Davion has worked on putting on weight for football this summer and will be bumping up to 160 this year.”
Gall was 32-6 and was a state qualifier and district champion at 182 last season.
“Not much that I can say about Luke that hasn’t been said about him in the football articles this fall,” Brown said. “He is a tremendous athlete and very dedicated. Injuries have just seemed to plague him during the wrestling season.”
Vogt was 22-7 and was a state qualifier at 195 pounds and should be plenty motivated, considering this is his senior year.
Petticrew wrestled up from his natural weight last year and was a district finalist.
“We look for him to put up even better stats this season down at 152,” Brown said.
Tate qualified for state in what was a 25-win season at 113 pounds.
“Bradyn had a very consistent season for us last year, qualifying as a freshman for the state tournament,” Brown said. “Moving up a weight class, we are looking for more of the same with the hope of putting up more bonus point wins with the year of varsity experience under his belt.”
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Sleepers?
A couple of guys to keep an eye on are Cristian Brown, who has wrestled on junior varsity the past three seasons. Salas has handled the 220-pound weight class the past three years, but is now up to heavyweight.
Motivators
This past summer, Carthage attended the Nebraska team camp, with former Nixa standout Christian Lance as the Tigers’ counselor. Additionally, nine Tigers were selected to compete in the All-Star Dual, with seven winning.
That’s good, because the Tigers certainly will be tested, especially in January, when they travel to tournaments at Excelsior Springs, Platte County and then the COC Tournament. Plus, they battle Neosho in the “Black and Blue” brawl.
The first dual is Nov. 30 against Carl Junction.
“I think that the boys realize that we could have a very good team this season and they are looking forward to it,” Brown said.
