The Neosho Wildcats did what they normally do on Saturday – they won a team championship.
They finished atop the COC-Large Conference Tournament standings with 389 team points. Willard came in second place with 257.5 points, followed by Ozark (211), host Carthage (201), Nixa (200.5), Webb City (166), Branson (149.5) and Republic (98).
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Neosho had eight individual champs at the conference tournament, including sophomore Joey Williams at 170 pounds. Williams beat Willard’s Kyle Caldwell in a 7-4 decision in the championship match. The match was tied 4-4 late in the third period when Williams managed to score three points on a near-fall just before time expired.
“I saw a lot of very good matches today and that definitely was one that stuck out,” said Neosho coach Jeremy Phillips. “It was good action throughout, two tough wrestlers battling. Joey has the heart of a champion. He’s just a sophomore, this is the first year that he’s really got the varsity mat time… he’s one that grows every day and he’s very eager to learn and driven to be the best and it showed today. He’s come a long way, because his biggest issue was struggling mentally to stay up sometimes in those tough matches when guys would score on him, and so today you saw he got scored on at the end but he stayed wrestling. He didn’t break mentally and that was huge. So that’s the thing I’m going to go at him with, is like, ‘See what happens when you stay mentally tough?’ So we’ll build off this. Joey Williams is one of those kids that I think he’s very dangerous and can surprise anyone. And I think we did that today.”
Senior Kyler Rea remained undefeated at 152 pounds, beating Edxel Morales from Carthage in his title bout 10-4. Rea moved to 50-0 on the season.
Dalton Kivett (106 pounds), Trenton Young (120 pounds), Johnathan Williams (126 pounds), Gannon Millard (132 pounds), Kyle Hostetter (182 pounds), and Jordan White (285) each also took first place for the Wildcats in the tournament.
Willard put three wrestlers on top of the podium on Saturday. Hunter Yeargan won by major decision 14-1 over Cody Curnutt from Ozark in the 195-pound title bout. Yeargan is the reigning state champion and has not been beaten on the year, improving his record to 37-0.
Niko Chavez also took first place for the Tigers, beating Jacob Ulrich from Branson in the 138-pound title match in a 5-3 decision. Tallon Heimback pinned Carthage’s Nick Norbury in the 113-pound title match for Willard.
Chavez has just two losses on the season. His teammate Kyle Caldwell joined him in the two-loss club after running into Joey Williams in his championship match.
“The kid works so incredibly hard,” assistant coach Joey McLain said of Caldwell. “He’s going to have that pit in his stomach from that loss. I just told him we don’t want that feeling ever again and we’re going to change on what we need to change for each match.”
Willard and Neosho share the same district, meaning Caldwell and Williams could likely meet again in districts with a chance to go to state.
Brandon Musselman from Webb City impressed in his championship bout. He won by fall over Neosho’s Adrian Hitchcock at 220 pounds. Musselman was battling back from an injury suffered a year ago.
“My conditioning is good, so I’ve been doing that. It feels really good to compete again,” said Musselman. “I tore my ACL at this tournament last year so it’s pretty good. It feels good.
“Neosho is a really good team, so you’ve always got to bring your best when you wrestle them.”
His wrestling (and football) teammate Hunter Vanlue also claimed first place over a Neosho Wildcat. Vanlue defeated Isaac Townsend in the 160-pound title bout with a 5-2 decision.
Markkel Moore was the lone champion for the host team Carthage on Saturday. Moore took first place at 145 pounds with a 3-1 victory over Webb City’s Dominick Howard.
Neosho, the three-time defending Class 3 Missouri state champs, now look ahead to the district tournament and the post season.
“I saw what our coaching staff and I want to be seeing at this point,” said Phillips, “and that’s seeing guys taking the things that we’ve been targeting and working on and putting it to use. Application is key… Wrestling at our best here at the end is what matters most. We’ve had some adversities, we’ve had some challenges, but with our demanding and grueling schedule, that’s always going to be the case. I’m proud of these guys for overcoming many of those adversities and obstacles and finding a way. I can see the blinders are being put on… I really feel like we have the mindset that will allow us to have that peak performance when it matters most so that’s very important.”
