Prenger’s technical fall seals Helias’ 32-31 dual win against Jays

Carter Prenger of Helias tries to pin Jefferson City’s Dominic Stafford during the 120-pound match of Wednesday’s Central Missouri Activities Conference wrestling dual at Rackers Fieldhouse. Prenger won by technical fall for his 100th career victory, which also sealed a 32-31 dual win for the Crusaders. (Ethan Weston/News Tribune)
Carter Prenger of Helias tries to pin Jefferson City’s Dominic Stafford during the 120-pound match of Wednesday’s Central Missouri Activities Conference wrestling dual at Rackers Fieldhouse. Prenger won by technical fall for his 100th career victory, which also sealed a 32-31 dual win for the Crusaders. (Ethan Weston/News Tribune)

The numbers told Carter Prenger what he had to do.

Helias entered the final match in Wednesday night’s dual against Jefferson City trailing the Jays 31-27. A regular win at 120 pounds couldn’t win the dual, a major decision would only tie it.

It was win by fall or by technical fall.

“We were counting points all night, we knew it was going to come down to the wire,” Prenger said after he won his 120-pound match by technical fall to earn the Crusaders five team points and a 32-31 dual win against the Jays in Central Missouri Activities Conference action at Rackers Fieldhouse.

“It was a pressure spot, and I like wrestling under pressure.”

The Crusaders were comfortable with Prenger being the one on the mat in that position.

“Heck yes, who wouldn’t be OK with Carter Prenger going out there?” Helias coach Weston Keleher said.

Prenger dominated the match from the start, leading 7-0 after one period.

“When you score a lot of points early, it allows you to work toward your goal instead of being frantic on the mat,” Prenger said.

The junior stretched his lead to 14-0 after two periods before finishing the match with a takedown :48 into the third period.

“I wanted to make my team proud,” Prenger said. “I knew as long as I wrestled hard and gave my best effort, the team would be proud of me. That’s all I ever want, to work hard for them and be something bigger than myself.”

It was the 100th career win for Prenger.

“That was a good one,” he said, smiling.

Jefferson City had won five of six matches to take a 31-22 lead going into the final two matches.

“It could have gone either way,” Jays coach Phil Cagle said. “I’m so proud of our kids, they all wrestled so hard. We thought we’d have a shot to win if things went our way. They didn’t, that’s just the way it is.

“There’s no such thing as a moral victory, but we did our best.”

The dual opened at 126, where Justin Wieberg got the Crusaders off to a good start with a win on a first-period fall.

“That was huge to start the dual with that,” Keleher said. “I thought we might be on our way to a big night.”

Jack Lage of the Crusaders then picked up an escape with :12 left in the third period to take a 4-3 victory against Braden Werdehausen of the Jays.

The Jays then rattled off three straight wins to take a 13-9 lead.

At 138, Cameron McKee was a 9-5 winner against Carson Hayes. Joe Kuster then picked up a 14-4 major decision against Jace Duemmel at 145 before Tanner Quick won by fall in 3:36 against Wyatt Forck at 152.

Quick trailed 4-0 after one period and 6-0 early in the second before scoring a reversal that turned into the victory.

“Oh, my gosh, that was so great for him,” Cagle said. “It just goes to show what can happen when you keep wrestling.”

Helias regained the lead with a win by fall by Logan Montoya at 160 and an 11-3 major decision by Drake Perkins at 170.

“Helias wrestled with a lot of intensity and aggression, probably the most aggressive team we’ve wrestled all year long,” Cagle said.

Jefferson City then went on its winning run to take back the lead.

Will Berendzen of the Jays tied the dual at 19 with a first-period fall at 182. Michael Friederich then won 8-5 at 195 to make it 22-19 in favor of the Jays.

Michael Sanner of the Crusaders won 5-4 at 220 to tie the dual again, this time at 22. The match was tied at 4 in the final seconds when Niko Rich of the Jays was called for clasping. The penalty point provided the winning margin.

“I don’t necessarily like that we won on a clasp, but it was a clasp and we’ll take every point we can get,” Keleher said.

Isaac Enloe put the Jays back in the lead with a win by fall in 5:51 against Jack Klebba of the Crusaders.

Seth Stumbaugh of the Jays then won by decision against Aleksandr Careaga at 106 to give Jefferson City the 31-22 lead.

“For Seth to win, that was huge,” Cagle said. “That should be a great boost for his confidence.”

Gage Lock of Helias pulled the Crusaders to within four points at 31-27 with a win by technical fall in 5:24 against Tytus Oliver of the Jays. Lock had Oliver on his back on several occasions, but the Jays sophomore refused to be pinned.

“My 106-, 113- and 120-pounders wrestled their tails off,” Cagle said.

Lock’s win set up Prenger’s winning effort at 120.

“Those two are practice partners and went out and finished the job,” Keleher said. “The momentum was definitely on their side.

“They stopped the train and turned it in our direction.”

It’s the second time this school year Prenger has played a big role in a Helias win against Jefferson City. Last fall, he scored the game-winning goal in soccer as the Crusaders defeated the Jays 1-0 in double overtime at the 179 Soccer Park.

Prenger swears it’s nothing personal.

“There’s no hate there, my parents went to JC, my brother just graduated from there a couple of years ago,” Prenger said.

It’s the second time Helias has defeated Jefferson City in a dual this season. The Crusaders and Jays tied at 34 in the third-place match in last month’s Missouri Duals, with Helias winning by the ninth criteria in a tiebreaker.

“We were lucky to do it twice, and to do it by just one point is amazing,” Keleher said.

Jefferson City (23-4) is back in action Friday and Saturday at the Hickman Tournament.

Helias (20-1) is back in action Friday and Saturday at the Platte County Invitational.