Jays romp past Hickman on Senior Night

Jefferson City wrestler Alec Bise makes the final move for the pin against Hickman's Eli Kellenberger in the 138-pound match Tuesday evening at Fleming Fieldhouse.
Jefferson City wrestler Alec Bise makes the final move for the pin against Hickman's Eli Kellenberger in the 138-pound match Tuesday evening at Fleming Fieldhouse.

Alec Bise was the lone senior in the starting lineup on Senior Night for the Jefferson City Jays.

Extra pressure? Not that you could tell.

Bise led by as many as nine points in his 138-pound match against Eli Kellenberger of Hickman on his way to a fall in 5:04 as the Jays romped to a 77-0 victory Tuesday night against the undermanned Kewpies at Fleming Fieldhouse.

"Alec has been with us for four years and he had a very nice match," Jays coach Phil Cagle said.

Bise led 4-1 after one period and stretched his lead to 11-2 heading into the final two minutes. He worked Kellenberger onto his back with 1:25 remaining in the match before getting the fall.

The lopsided final team score was partially due to the fact the Jays were recipients of seven forfeits. While that all but ensures a dual victory, it can make it tough to get the wrestlers motivated, Cagle said.

"We knew we only had to win one or two matches to win the dual," he said. "You have to talk to them individually, remind them that they have to go hard. It's about getting themselves ready to go."

And they did.

"They did a good job," Cagle said.

The Jays were coming off a team title at the Hickman Tournament last Saturday. But on the downside, Jalen Martin at 170 was the lone Jay to win an individual title in seven Jefferson City wrestlers to make the finals.

"We know if we get takedowns, we are going to get wins," Cagle said. "But in those seven matches, we only got three takedowns to 10 for our opponents. That's not our style, we want to be aggressive, to be in our the face of our opponents and we did a better job of that tonight."

Bise was one of four Jays to win by fall Tuesday night. Charlie Kusick won in 1:23 at 126, while Devin Miller won in 3:27 at 160 and Martin won in 2:13 at 170.

Logan Moriarity and Tanner Irwin switched spots in the Jays' lineup Tuesday. Irwin moved down to his more natural weight at 145 and posted a 10-3 victory. At 152, Moriarity got 12 back points in the first period in winning by technical fall in just 1:49.

"Logan is a good worker and I think the loss last weekend (at the Hickman Tournament) may have motivated him a little bit," Cagle said.

Jacob Brune had Jefferson City's other victory on the mat, winning 7-3 at 132.

The Jays are now 10-0 on duals this season.

"It's a lot of hard work," Cagle said. "But we've got one more to go against a huge opponent."

That comes today when Jefferson City travels to Blue Springs to take on the Wildcats. The varsity-only dual will begin at 5:15 p.m. and will be followed by a college dual between Missouri Valley and Maryville University at 7 p.m.

"Blue Springs had a couple of nationally ranked kids and a good team overall," Cagle said. "It's going to be a chance to showcase our kids to college coaches, to show them how hard they work and how good they wrestle."

Other senior wrestlers honored Tuesday were Brice Gaines, DeMarcus Scoffield and Edward Armstrong.

In Tuesday night's junior varsity dual, Jefferson City defeated Hickman 54-6.