COLUMBIA - Jacob Schulte did exactly what he needed to do.
"He continued to attack, continued to attack," Helias coach Jacob Wadley said Thursday night after Schulte finished 1-1 to stay alive in the Class 3 state wrestling championships at Mizzou Arena.
"He was picking up points and that's what you want to do."
After dropping his opening-round match, the Helias junior squared off against Alex Hopkins of Westminster Christian Academy in the first round of wrestlebacks at 138 pounds.
Schulte dominated from the start, picking up back points in each of the first two periods to take an 8-0 lead. He rolled through the third period and finished with a 14-0 major decision.
"It was a good win," Wadley said.
Wadley was an assistant coach at Westminster Christian Academy last year. Perhaps Schulte got a bit of a scouting report?
"(Hopkins) wrestled 106 on JV last year and I didn't expect to see him at 138," Wadley said. "So not really."
Schulte lost by fall in 5:57 to Jason Box of Neosho in his opening match. It was scoreless after one period before Box got an escape and a takedown in the second to take a 3-0 lead. That was the score when Box worked Schulte onto his back in the final seconds of the third period.
"(Schulte) just didn't attack enough," Wadley said. "He's really hard to stop when he attacks, he just didn't do enough of it in that match."
Schulte (32-13) will be in the second round of wrestlebacks this afternoon.
Nick Gaines, a freshman, finished 0-2 in his first trip to state for the Crusaders.
At 106 pounds, Gaines threw a scare into district champion Shaun Beeman of Fort Zumwalt North in the first round. Beeman led 5-0 after one period and took a 7-0 lead into the third. But Gaines continued to battle to make the final 9-4.
"It took Nick a little bit of time to wake up and start wrestling like Nick can," Wadley said.
It was the opposite story in Gaines' wrestleback match against Zeb Ashford of Branson.
Gaines led 2-0 after one period and 3-2 after two. But midway through the third period, Ashford worked Gaines onto his back on his way to a 7-3 victory.
"In the second match, he started out on fire and then kind of slowed down," Wadley said. "You need to stay on that gas pedal when you have the lead."
Gaines ends the season at 28-14.
"This will be a good lesson for him, something to motivate him," Wadley said.
story created on Thursday 2/20/2014 at 10:41:22 pm by Tom Rackers