COLUMBIA, Mo. - Only at state wrestling could you break a nose and have it be described as a good thing.
But that's what happened for Blair Oaks' Chance Cumpton on Thursday's opening day of the Class 1 state tournament.
Cumpton, a 285-pounder, was in control of his match in the wrestleback round with Penney's Garrett Trosper when the Falcon bull-rushed his opponent. Cumpton slammed Trosper to the mat for a takedown, but Cumpton seemed to be the one to get the worst of it.
After a lengthy medical timeout, Cumpton was able to continue and went on to claim a 9-4 victory to stay alive in the event.
"He went down on the mat hard, and I was thinking, "Oh no, a concussion. He's going to be done,'" Blair Oaks coach Tim Karsten said. "It ended up being a broken nose. It's terrible that as a coach you're happy with a broken nose, but strange things have been happening lately. He's just got to keep wrestling."
It was a good comeback win for Cumpton after he lost by fall in 2:36 to Butler's Robert Anderson.
Cumpton wasn't the only Falcon to emerge battered from the first day, as 126-pounder London Gaydos injured a shoulder.
Gaydos first hurt the shoulder in his opening-round match, an 8-6 loss in overtime to Marceline's Clayton Stallo.
Gaydos gave up a takedown and three near-fall points with 32 seconds left in regulation, getting hurt in the process. Stallo then got a takedown with :07 left in overtime to win.
Gaydos was noticeably bothered by the injury in the first round of wrestlebacks against Joshua Garner of Cleveland NJROTC.
Trailing 4-2 after an injury timeout late in the third period, Gaydos got a reversal with :51 left and three near-fall points with :33 to go up 7-4. Garner got a reversal with :18 left, but Gaydos held on to win.
"London fought his way back, now he's got some time to recuperate," Karsten said. "He twisted his shoulder a bit, we're not really sure what it is. We'll ice it up and see how he does, and he's one of those guys who can wrestle with a little pain.
"He didn't want to lose, so he made sure he won at the end."
Joining Cumpton and Gaydos as Falcons to stay alive with a win in wrestlebacks was Scott Farley at 195. He bounced back from an opening-round loss by fall to Brookfield's Richard Menconi to win by fall against Principia's Mitchell Skinner.
Blair Oaks lost two wrestlers after the first day. Bo Thomas at 132 lost 9-6 to Marceline's Alex Cupp in the first round and then lost by fall to Lawson's Logan Dietz. Paul Karsten at 170 lost by fall to Whitfield's Noah Elmore and Holden's Cole Chisler.
"Paul and Bo weren't seeded at districts and had a great tournament to finish fourth to get here, and they got some experience," Tim Karsten said. "We're proud of Paul and Bo for making it - it's great to know that they're juniors and will come back next year."
Three Falcons won their debut matches to advance to today's quarterfinal round.
Frankie Falotico was dominant at 145 pounds against Principia's William Buchanan. The senior got six takedowns and six letup escapes followed by one final takedown and three near-fall points before picking up the pin with :03 left in the first period.
"Frankie looked good," Karsten said.
Riley Boeckman won by technical fall at 182 against New Madrid County Central's Brian Mickle, while Tanner Lueckenhoff won 7-4 at 220 against Carrollton's Ethan Staton.
"Tanner wrestled like he should, and with Riley we got a third seed to beat a second-seed, so we're up one there," Karsten said.
Action resumes today with the quarterfinals and second round of wrestlebacks at 9:30 a.m. The semifinals and third round of wrestlebacks will start at 6 p.m.
"You never know what's going to happen," Karsten said. "We started our ups and downs a little bit sooner than I was hoping, but looking at the seeds we got from districts, this is probably how things should have gone."
Blair Oaks is sitting in a tie for 13th place with Maplewood-Richmond Heights at 13.5 points. Whitfield leads the team race with 38.5, while Seneca is second at 36.
Among the other area teams, Versailles is fifth with 23, Fatima is 19th with 11 and Tipton is 44th with 3.5.
Out of its nine wrestlers who started Thursday's action, Versailles has eight of them still alive.
Four Tigers won by fall in their opening-round matches - Adam Guinn (160) against Lafayette County's Hunter Goring, Willie Schotte (170) against Tubias Johnson of Lift for Life Academy, Dylan Ballew (182) against Chance Gaston of Cleveland NJROTC and Jacob Aeschbacher (195) against North Andrew's Johnathan Chittum.
Also opening with wins were Jacob Vogt (138), who won by forfeit against New Madrid County Central's Jacob Keene, while Dalton Schmidt (152) won 7-4 against Gallatin's Caleb Michael.
Two other Tigers are alive after dropping their first match. After losing by fall to Brookfield's James Jury to start the day, Clayton Coleman (106) received a bye in wrestlebacks. Konner Shewmaker (126) lost 6-4 to Maysville's Dylan Wade before coming back to beat Principia's Hunter Hummell 6-1.
Kooper Wilson (120) lost by fall twice to see his season end, falling to Lawson's Tyler Hachman and Penney's Jacob Roberts.
Fatima has all four of its wrestlers still alive.
Clayton Haslag (113) and Cody Huhn (138) both won their opening matches by fall, Haslag beating Lafayette County's Dylan Wahn and Huhn besting Brentwood's Narvell Jordan.
Kagan Froning (106) of the Comets lost by fall to Rock Port's Ty Jones and came back to beat Tyree Burrage of Lift for Life Academy by an 11-8 score.
Also for Fatima, Caleb Schroeder (152) lost 6-3 to Carrollton's Luke Staton before winning 8-0 against Barrett Pierce of Principia.
Tipton's Robert Gutierrez (120) took his only match of the day, winning by technical fall against Plattsburg's Gage Rush.
CLASS 2
Eldon
First Round
113 - Isaiah Simmons, fr. (31-7) LBTF to Tucker Caswell, soph., Fulton (34-4).
152 - Trenton Dillon, soph. (33-8) won 12-5 against Reno McDaniels, soph., Miller Career Academy (14-8).
182 - Bobby Harkness, jr. (30-16) LBF to Luke Sachs, sr., Smithville (44-4).
First-Round Wrestlebacks
113 - Isaiah Simmons, fr. (32-7) won by forfeit against Evan Dowdy, fr., Cape Girardeau Notre Dame (20-25).
182 - Bobby Harkness, jr. (30-17) lost 17-3 to to Robert Strong, jr., Miller Career Academy (28-10).
Quarterfinals
152 - Trenton Dillon, soph. (33-8) vs. Trenton Clines, sr., Fulton (27-2).
School of the Osage
First Round
120 - Hayden Carlson, jr. (23-7) WBF against Andre Somm, sr., Moberly (21-21).
145 - Austin Magnuson, soph. (29-5) lost 11-1 to Tyler Airrington, sr., Odessa (42-6).
160 - Michael Henley, sr. (17-11) LBF to Andy Baysinger, sr., Fulton (34-5).
220 - Chas Kempf, sr. (32-11) won 6-2 against Josh Richards, soph., St. Clair (33-17).
285 - Ian Schaumburg, jr. (30-8) lost 10-5 to Marcus Paddack, jr., St. Charles West (40-11).
First-Round Wrestlebacks
145 - Austin Magnuson, soph. (30-5) won 14-6 against Bruce Ha, jr., Cape Girardeau Notre Dame (27-11).
160 - Michael Henley, sr. (18-11) WBF against Dalton Ward, jr., Sullivan (39-20).
285 - Ian Schaumburg, jr. (30-9) lost 10-2 to Eric Kahle, sr., Affton (16-3).
Quarterfinals
120 - Hayden Carlson, jr. (23-7) vs. Wes Dickens, sr., Ste. Genevieve (39-8).
220 - Chas Kempf, sr. (32-11) vs. Tyler Curd, fr., Oak Grove (35-4).
CLASS 1
Blair Oaks
First Round
126 - London Gaydos, jr. (33-12) lost 8-6 in OT to Clayton Stallo, fr., Marceline (39-10).
132 - Bo Thomas, jr. (30-24) lost 9-6 to Rhiley Smith, sr., New Madrid County Central (43-7).
145 - Frankie Falotico, sr. (42-0) WBF against William Buchanan, soph., Principia (13-23).
170 - Paul Karsten, jr. (29-25) LBF to Noah Elmore, soph., Whitfield (40-10).
182 - Riley Boeckman, jr. (36-10) WBTF against Brian Mickle, jr., New Madrid County Central (26-20).
195 - Scott Farley, jr. (16-8) LBF to Richard Menconi, jr., Brookfield (33-8).
220 - Tanner Lueckenhoff, sr. (36-8) won 7-4 against Ethan Staton, soph., Carollton (16-24).
285 - Chance Cumpton, sr. (14-8) LBF to Robert Anderson, sr., Butler (50-4).
First-Round Wrestlebacks
126 - London Gaydos, jr. (34-12) won 7-6 against Joshua Garner, soph., Cleveland NJROTC (24-9).
132 - Bo Thomas, jr. (30-25) LBF to Logan Dietz, sr., Lawson (30-20).
170 - Paul Karsten, jr. (29-26) LBF to Cole Chisler, sr., Holden (39-12).
195 - Scott Farley, jr. (17-8) WBF against Mitchell Skinner, sr., Principia (14-12).
285 - Chance Cumpton, sr. (15-8) won 9-4 against Garrett Trosper, soph., Penney (32-12).
Quarterfinals
145 - Frankie Falotico, sr. (42-0) vs. Wyatt Bird, jr., Gallatin (43-11).
182 - Riley Boeckman, jr. (36-10) vs. Brett Campbell, soph., Summit Christian Academy (48-5).
220 - Tanner Lueckenhoff, sr. (36-8) vs. Max Darrah, soph., Whitfield (45-3).
Fatima
First Round
106 - Kagan Froning, soph. (16-10) LBF to Ty Jones, sr., Rock Port (51-3).
113 - Clayton Haslag, soph. (27-11) WBF against Dylan Wahn, sr., Lafayette County (27-14).
138 - Cody Huhn, sr. (31-4) WBF against Narvell Jordan, jr., Brentwood (19-15).
152 - Caleb Schroeder, sr. (40-4) lost 6-3 to Luke Staton, jr., Carrollton (36-15).
First-Round Wrestlebacks
106 - Kagan Froning, soph. (17-10) won 11-8 against Tyree Burrange, fr., Lift for Life Academy (10-13).
152 - Caleb Schroeder, sr. (41-4) won 8-0 against Barrett Pierce, jr., Principia (24-17).
Quarterfinals
113 - Clayton Haslag, soph. (27-11) vs. Caleb Kelly, jr., Principia (33-2).
138 - Cody Huhn, sr. (31-4) vs. Dalton Fisher, sr., Marceline (50-1).
Tipton
First Round
120 - Robert Gutierrez, jr. (43-3) WBTF against Gage Rush, soph., Plattsburg (37-15).
Quarterfinals
120 - Robert Gutierrez, jr. (43-3) vs. James Todaro, soph., Herculaneum (32-6).
Versailles
First Round
106 - Clayton Coleman, fr. (15-20) LBF to James Jury, soph., Brookfield (34-15).
120 - Kooper Wilson, soph. (14-7) LBF to Tyler Hachman, jr., Lawson (37-2).
126 - Konnor Shewmaker, jr. (34-13) lost 6-4 to Dylan Wade, soph., Maysville (49-10).
138 - Jacob Vogt, jr. (35-17) won by forfeit against Jacob Keene, soph., New Madrid County Central (14-23).
152 - Dalton Schmidt, sr. (43-11) won 7-4 against Caleb Michael, jr., Gallatin (42-13).
160 - Adam Guinn, sr. (49-6) WBF against Hunter Goring, sr., Lafayette County (33-16).
170 - Willie Schotte, jr. (41-5) WBF against Tubias Johnson, sr., Lift for Life Academy (15-6).
182 - Dylan Ballew, sr. (50-2) WBF against Chance Gaston, soph., Cleveland NJROTC (7-7).
195 - Jacob Aeschbacher, jr. (41-9) WBF against Johnathan Chittum, jr., North Andrew (30-12).
First-Round Wrestlebacks
106 - Clayton Coleman, fr. (15-20) bye.
120 - Kooper Wilson, soph. (14-8) LBF to Jacob Roberts, jr., Penney (34-9).
126 - Konnor Shewmaker, jr. (35-13) won 6-1 against Hunter Hummell, jr., Principia (25-23).
Quarterfinals
138 - Jacob Vogt, jr. (35-17) vs. Hunter Dalinghaus, sr., Lathrop (45-7).
152 - Dalton Schmidt, sr. (43-11) vs. Zac Russell, fr., Whitfield (38-16).
160 - Adam Guinn, sr. (49-6) vs. Dylan Sheets, sr., Principia (44-5).
170 - Willie Schotte, jr. (41-5) vs. Josh Frank, sr., Carrollton, (39-2).
182 - Dylan Ballew, sr. (50-2) vs. Blake McClain, soph., Plattsburg (36-17).
195 - Jacob Aeschbacher, jr. (41-9) vs. Mason Hunt, sr., Holden (43-6).