FORT SCOTT — Iola High’s wrestlers are feeling the pain — literally — from their competition Thursday evening at a triangular meet with Pittsburg and Fort Scott. THE REST OF the evening was a clear demonstration of Pittsburg’s and Fort Scott’s sheer strength, Carson said. IN OTHER ACTION for Iola:
The Mustangs dropped six of eight contested matches against Pittsburg, then lost seven of eight against Fort Scott.
Even worse, Iola may be without the services of two of its seniors for the foreseeable future. Standouts Stephen McDonald and Zeph Larney both were injured.
McDonald, who was undefeated headed into Thursday, hurt his shoulder early in the second period against Pittsburg’s Gershom Avalos.
The 220-pound McDonald was leading 5-2 at the time of the injury, then found himself wincing in pain and favoring his shoulder to the point that an injury time-out was called with about 30 seconds left in the period.
McDonald fought through the pain, but could not overcome Avalos, who pinned McDonald with 7.8 seconds left in the period.
“It’s a tough, tough situation,” Mustang coach Brad Carson said. “Stephen’s a kid who has done everything right, and is one of our leaders. We want to get him back quickly.”
McDonald’s mother, Stephanie, told the Register Friday her son received good news in that there was no structural damage to his shoulder, and he could miss a week or longer.
Carson did not know the extent of Larney’s knee injury. Larney, wrestling at 152 pounds, won his first match of the evening pinning Matt Tallie of Pittsburg with 4.7 seconds left in the second period.
The match was not without its dramatics. Larney was trailing 6-3 when he earned the pin.
“It was a good match for Zeph,” Carson said.
A frenetic back-and-forth match against Fort Scott’s Chase Howser followed. Howser led 13-8 after one quarter before Larney opened the second period with four straight points on a takedown and near fall.
But Howser was able to regain the upper hand late in the second period and earned the pin with 47 seconds left.
Larney apparently injured his knee during the late sequence and was unable to put any weight on his leg as he left the mat.
“I’m not sure how serious it is,” Carson said.
“They were just a lot stronger than we were,” Carson said. “It also hurt that those schools had a full lineup and we had a lot of open weights.”
Pittsburg downed Iola 61-18, while Fort Scott defeated the Mustangs 70-4.
Not counting the open matches, Pittsburg downed Iola 31-12, while Fort Scott won 34-4.
There were some silver linings for the Mustangs, including Bryce Misenhelter’s hard-fought win over Fort Scott’s Marques Floyd at 182 pounds, and Trey Colborn’s pin of Pittsburg’s Zach Stewart at 285 pounds.
Misenhelter had takedowns and near falls in each of the three periods — good for 12 points — while preventing Floyd from getting the upper hand at any point in a 12-0 win.
“That’s the best I’ve ever seen Bryce wrestle,” Carson said. “Both kids were going all-out.”
Misenhelter also was awarded a forfeit victory against Pittsburg because the Purple Dragons did not enter a wrestler at 182 pounds.
Colborn, meanwhile, was able to take down Stewart and earn the pin 58 seconds into the match for the win. He was unable to carry on the momentum against Fort Scott’s Brendon Blackburn, who scored points on a takedown and a near fall in the first period and a takedown in the third in a 7-1 win.
— At 126 pounds, Tristan Sigfusson fell 10-0 to Logan Fields of Pittsburg and by pin with 1:16 left in the third period against J.T. Heckman of Fort Scott.
— At 145 pounds, Cody Conner dropped a hard-fought 8-4 loss to Logan Field of Pittsburg and 17-1 major fall to Jacob Durosette of Fort Scott.
— At 160 pounds, Travis Rieske was pinned by Jason Wools of Pittsburg midway through the first period and by pin 43 seconds into the second period against John Hughes of Fort Scott.
— At 170 pounds, Andrew Garber was pinned by Pittsburg’s Will Mengarelli 58 seconds into the first period and by a 12-3 decision to Fort Scott’s Cody Bunn.
— At 195 pounds, Chase Roettgen was pinned by Ivan Vehran of Pittsburg 55 seconds into the third period and by a 17-7 decision to John Metcalf of Fort Scott.
— In a junior varsity match, Jordan Long won by pinning his Pittsburg opponent with 13 seconds left in the second period.
Mustang wrestlers have tough night
