Adams, Moore win Frontier League titles; Wildcats place second

By Andy Brown
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Updated: February 14, 2018

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg junior Austin Moore puts a Baldwin opponent on his back Saturday during the Frontier League Tournament at Baldwin High School. Moore won the 195-pound title with a 6-0 record.

BALDWIN CITY – The Louisburg High School wrestling team had hopes of bringing home a third straight Frontier League title Saturday.

Those hopes were quickly dashed as the Wildcats fell to No. 1 seed Paola in its opening dual of the day, but all was certainly not lost.

Louisburg finished second in the two-day league dual tournament at Baldwin High School with a 5-1 record and finished with a pair of league champions. The Wildcats returned to Louisburg with a lot more hardware as 11 of the team’s 14 wrestlers found their way to the medal stand as each of them finished in the top four in the league.

Senior Ryan Adams (145 pounds) and junior Austin Moore (195) led the way as each of them finished as a league champion with a 6-0 record.

Adams won his first Frontier League championship as six of his wins came by pin and the others by a technical fall and a forfeit. Moore was just as dominant as he finished with five pins and both wrestlers are heading into the regional tournament this weekend with a lot of momentum.

“Ryan is absolutely in the right place mentally,” Louisburg coach Bobby Bovaird said. “He’s always been there with his skills, but these past three or four weeks, I’ve seen him getting focused like never before. I’m pretty excited to see him pursue his goals at regionals and state. He’s stepping up as a leader, he’s pushing himself at practice, and he’s getting into a competitive mindset for his matches.

“Austin is just plain dominant. There are very few 195-pounders that we’ve seen that are more physical than he is. Austin will have some tough matches at regionals — the Prairie View kid and the Columbus kid are going to be tight matches — but he’s been pushing himself at practice to get ready for the end of the season.”

The Wildcats had hoped to bring home their third straight Frontier League title and were well on their way to doing that after a good day on Friday. Louisburg opened with a 51-20 win over Eudora and beat De Soto 66-15, which set up a close dual with Spring Hill.

The dual was tied going into the heavyweight match, but Louisburg junior Hunter Day put the Wildcats over the top with a pin and gave them a 40-34 victory.

“The Spring Hill dual was probably the best part of the weekend,” Bovaird said. “That was an exciting dual — a fun one for both teams. We’ve always had a rivalry with them, and these past few years we’ve been able to compete with them and come out on top.”

If Louisburg was going to win another title, it was going to have to overtake rival Paola in the first dual of the day Saturday. Unfortunately, the Wildcats got out to a bad start and couldn’t recover in a 51-29 loss.

Louisburg lost its first four matches before the Wildcats got victories from Gabe Bonham (132), Tucker Batten (138) and Adams to keep them in it, but Paola won five of the next seven to pull away. Paola would eventually beat Spring Hill in its final dual to secure the league title for itself.

“There’s no shame in finishing behind Paola, especially with the group they’ve got this year,” Bovaird said. “There are some outstanding wrestlers, big and small, veteran and rookie. You could tell how much they wanted the league title. It was a total team effort on their part, and you’ve got to give them credit. Coach (Russ)Hermreck has a quality team.

“I know our guys wanted to come out on top. We just didn’t match up well with them this year. Our strong weights went up against their strong weights, and in the end, they came out on top. The first four weight classes were key, and those losses really set the tone for the dual. It especially hurt that we gave up pins in three of those weights. Gabe got us going again at 132, and Tucker and Ryan had clutch pins at 138 and 145, but it wasn’t enough to get our momentum going.”

Louisburg senior Ryan Adams works for a pin Saturday against Paola. Adams won the league title at 145 pounds.

The Wildcats had six wrestlers that were one win away from winning a league title for themselves. Senior Thad Hendrix (106), sophomore Cade Holtzen (113), junior Hunter Bindi (120), Batten, and junior Blue Caplinger (160) each finished second overall in their weight class.

In Holtzen’s and Caplinger’s case, they fell to state-ranked wrestlers ahead of them. Holtzen, who is No. 6 at 113 pounds, was pinned by defending state champion, and No. 1 ranked, Preston Martin of Paola. Caplinger, who is No. 5 at 160, lost a 10-5 decision to Eudora’s Elijah Kennedy, who is ranked No. 3.

Both Wildcat wrestlers finished the day with a 5-1 record and all five of Holtzen’s wins came by pin. Caplinger also recorded three pins and a major decision.

Batten had a big day at 138 pounds with three pins to go along with his 5-1 record. Hendrix and Bindi also had 5-1 marks with a pair of pins and Bindi added a major decision.

“We had some great efforts from a lot of guys,” Bovaird said. “Thad, Cade, Hunter, Tucker and Blue came close with their wrestling this weekend. Thad was tied with his Paola opponent before getting pinned late in the match. Cade hit a couple nice attacks on the defending state champ from Paola.

“Hunter has been out of competition until this weekend and he figured out a lot about where he’s at with his recovery. Even though he lost to the Paola kid, he can still use his mat time this week to get in better condition and strengthen his ankle. Tucker got caught with little gas in his tank against his Spring Hill opponent, but we’ll see that kid again at regionals. Blue battled it out with his Eudora opponent, but just couldn’t get in there offensively to score those crucial takedown points.”

Day also found his way to the medal stand as he finished third in the league in the heavyweight division, while senior Kyle Allen (126), Bonham and senior Garrett Caldwell (182) each earned a fourth place medal and provided the Wildcats with some big wins over the two-day tournament.

Junior Blue Caplinger gets some back points during his 160-pound match against Ottawa. Caplinger finished second in his weight class.

The season will come to an end for some Louisburg wrestlers this weekend when the Wildcats travel to Burlington for the Class 4A regional tournament. The top four in each weight class will qualify for the state tournament the following weekend in Salina.

Tournament action will kick off on Friday and continue into Saturday. Bovaird knows it will be a difficult tournament for some of his wrestlers, but he is looking forward to seeing what is in store for his team.

“We’ll have some tough weights, that’s for sure,” he said. “I’m excited for our team though. It’s been a fun season, full of ups and downs, but these guys have been growing so much from November to now. They’ve kept their focus and rebounded from some of the snags that kept us from achieving some wins earlier in the year.”

2018 FRONTIER LEAGUE TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Team Places

Paola
Louisburg
Spring Hill
Baldwin
Ottawa
Eudora
De Soto

LOUISBURG RESULTS

Match #1 Round 1

Louisburg defeated Eudora 51-20

106 – Thad Hendrix (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
113 – Cade Holtzen (Louisburg) over Will Schreiner (Eudora) Fall 4:47
120 – Hunter Bindi (Louisburg) over Larry Gulley (Eudora) Fall 5:14
126 – Holden Andrews (Eudora) over Kyle Allen (Louisburg) Dec 8-2
132 – Hagan Andrews (Eudora) over Gabe Bonham (Louisburg) Dec 7-4
138 – Tucker Batten (Louisburg) over Cael Lynch (Eudora) Dec 8-4
145 – Ryan Adams (Louisburg) over Andre Whitson (Eudora) Fall 1:22
152 – Brayden Clark (Eudora) over Jacob Briley (Louisburg) Fall 2:29
160 – Elijah Kennedy (Eudora) over Blue Caplinger (Louisburg) Dec 10-5
170 – Ben Wiedenmann (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
182 – Garrett Caldwell (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
195 – Austin Moore (Louisburg) over Christopher Huslig (Eudora) Fall 0:50
220 – Tristen Brecheisen (Eudora) over James Nelson (Louisburg) Fall 1:22
285 – Hunter Day (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
Eudora’s team score was adjusted by -1.000 for unsportmanlike

Match #2 Round 2

Louisburg defeated De Soto 66-15

106 – Thad Hendrix (Louisburg) over Zak Kalafut (De Soto) Fall 1:43
113 – Cade Holtzen (Louisburg) over Aidyn Wigg (De Soto) Fall 3:01
120 – Hunter Bindi (Louisburg) over Lane Warner (De Soto) Fall 2:52
126 – Kyle Allen (Louisburg) over Evan Werner (De Soto) Fall 3:40
132 – Gabe Bonham (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
138 – Tucker Batten (Louisburg) over Dylan Dossett (De Soto) Fall 0:20
145 – Ryan Adams (Louisburg) over Jackson Mocca (De Soto) Fall 0:53
152 – Andres Marquez (De Soto) over Jacob Briley (Louisburg) Fall 2:00
160 – Blue Caplinger (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
170 – Luke Barger (De Soto) over Ben Wiedenmann (Louisburg) Dec 5-0
182 – Cooper Pflaum (De Soto) over Garrett Caldwell (Louisburg) Fall 3:45
195 – Austin Moore (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
220 – James Nelson (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
285 – Hunter Day (Louisburg) over Jacob Goodin (De Soto) Fall 1:44

Match #3 Round 3

Louisburg defeated Spring Hill 40-34

106 – Thad Hendrix (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
113 – Cade Holtzen (Louisburg) over Landon Rockers (Spring Hill) Fall 3:29
120 – Hunter Bindi (Louisburg) over Garret Smith (Spring Hill) Maj 14-2
126 – Trajan McCormick (Spring Hill) over Kyle Allen (Louisburg) Dec 3-1
132 – Noah Nemer (Spring Hill) over Gabe Bonham (Louisburg) Fall 4:29
138 – Wyatt Dickie (Spring Hill) over Tucker Batten (Louisburg) Dec 11-4
145 – Ryan Adams (Louisburg) over Jakob Stovall (Spring Hill) Fall 1:04
152 – Mason Bell (Spring Hill) over Jacob Briley (Louisburg) Fall 0:45
160 – Blue Caplinger (Louisburg) over Chase Rooney (Spring Hill) Fall 2:51
170 – Alex Denning (Spring Hill) over Ben Wiedenmann (Louisburg) Maj 16-3
182 – Ethan Getz (Spring Hill) over Garrett Caldwell (Louisburg) Fall 1:18
195 – Austin Moore (Louisburg) over Dean Diviney (Spring Hill) Fall 0:18
220 – Keegan Crotchett (Spring Hill) over James Nelson (Louisburg) Fall 0:21
285 – Hunter Day (Louisburg) over Austin Woodard (Spring Hill) Fall 0:42