WARDSVILLE, Mo. - The young Blair Oaks Falcons are growing up.
"Our younger guys are improving," Blair Oaks wrestling coach Tim Karsten said Tuesday after the Falcons posted Tri-County Conference dual victories against School of the Osage and Eldon.
"You can tell by the way they are battling the entire match. It's critical for them to take that next step, it's not a pin-or-be-pinned deal, you have to be ready to fight and battle for the entire six minutes and we're starting to do that."
Blair Oaks opened the night with a 41-31 victory against Osage. The Indians led 25-18 after nine matches before Riley Boeckman started the comeback for the Falcons at 170 pounds.
After a scoreless first period in his match against Nathan Nall, Boeckman worked his way off his back early in the second and trailed 3-2 with one period remaining. Boeckman took a 4-3 lead with a reversal before scoring a win by fall in 5:50.
Boeckman was originally in the lineup at 160, but had to move up a class due to an illness to a teammate.
Then at 182, Tanner Lueckenhoff dominated his match. After being slated at 170, he moved up a weight class and posted a win by technical fall in 5:52 to give the Falcons a 29-25 lead on the scoreboard.
"We asked a lot of guys to move up and that can be tough," Karsten said. "But they did a pretty good job."
Logan Moore kept the momentum going, winning by fall in 2:56 at 195 before Chance Cumpton won by fall in 5:17 at 220.
Blair Oaks and Osage split the 14 matches with seven wins each. But the Falcons got bonus points in each of their seven wins to take the 11-point victory.
Blair Oaks' other wins against Osage were by Zach Weiberg at 106 (forfeit), London Gaydos at 126 (WBF in 1:38) and Alex Gaydos at 145 (WBF in 5:03).
"Bonus points can be huge, they sure were in that dual," Karsten said.
The night closed with Blair Oaks taking a 49-10 victory against Eldon.
Four Falcons won by falls in the first period - Joey Conway at 120 (:54), Paul Karsten at 160 (:39), Moore at 195 (:48) and Cumpton at 220 (:42).
Other wins came from Weiberg at 106 (10-5), London Gaydos at 126 (forfeit), Bo Thomas at 138 (forfeit), Alex Gaydos at 145 (13-3), Boeckman at 170 (10-3) and Lueckenoff at 182 (8-6).
The Falcons were impressive all night working on the top and getting their opponents onto their backs.
"Coach (Brian) Markway does a great job of teaching those tilts and those backpoints are big," Tim Karsten said.
Karsten credited Scott Farley, who was inserted in the lineup at 152, for a great effort despite going 0-2.
"He had the two toughest matches of the night for us," Karsten said. "But it's about the team and he fought and he didn't get pinned. It was vital he wrestled the whole match."
Eldon, a young program, battled Blair Oaks at several spots in the lineup.
"They are doing a great job of improving," Karsten said. "It's great to see the numbers they have out for wrestling and I know they're going to continue to get better and better."
Blair Oaks is back in action Thursday night when it hosts a tri-dual against Owensville and St. James starting at 5:30 p.m. It will be Senior Night.