The Jefferson City Jays took a chance.
It paid off win a winning way.
“We had a plan and the kids executed the plan,” Jays coach Nathan Redcay said Wednesday night after Jefferson City defeated the Helias Crusaders 42-21 in a Central Missouri Activities Conference dual at Fleming Fieldhouse. “They really wanted this win and it showed.”
The Crusaders credited the Jays for doing what they needed to do to get the victory in the crosstown showdown.
“They were prepared in every match, every match they went out and competed very hard,” Helias coach Weston Keleher said. “They executed, they deserved to win.”
Gallery: Jefferson City Boys Wrestling vs. Helias
The dual started at 132 pounds and Helias picked up the first win of the night as Justin Wieberg posted a 7-4 victory against Eric Mejia.
That’s when the Jays changed from their posted starting lineup.
At 138, Deegan Mitchell moved from the junior varsity to take on Ben Holee of the Crusaders. Holee got an early takedown, Mitchell answered with a reversal before getting the win by fall in 1:41.
“We thought he could get the pin and he did,” Redcay said. “Deegan’s a good wrestler.”
The Jays then bumped their next three wrestlers up a weight.
“We were rolling the dice,” Redcay said.
Braden Werdehausen moved from 138 to 144 to take on Jace Duemmel. Werdehausen led 2-1 after one period, then got an escape midway through the third period to take a 3-1 victory.
Cameron McKee then took the mat at 150 instead of 144 to face Carson Hayes. McKee led 2-1 after one period before Hayes scored four points in the final :10 of the second to tie it at 5.
McKee scored an early reversal in the third period to regain the lead, then turned a cradle into a win by fall in 5:12 to give Jefferson City a 15-3 advantage on the scoreboard.
“We thought we might get the win, but to get the pin was huge for the team,” Redcay said.
Joe Kuster of the Jays was the final Jefferson City wrestler to move up in weight as he squared off with Eli Homan of the Crusaders in a marquee match at 157.
Kuster led 2-1 after one period before Homan was able to pick up a late reversal in the second period to tie the match at 4.
As time ran out in the period, Kuster went down to the mat holding his knee already wrapped in a brace. Injured wrestlers are allowed two minutes to try to recover.
“I told him not to worry about the team score, he needed to do what was best for him,” Redcay said. “That’s all that mattered. He wanted to keep going, he wanted that win.”
Kuster started the third period in the down position. He attempted an escape late in the period but Homan was able to hold him down and the match went to overtime.
The match remained scoreless until it went to the sudden victory round of :30. Kuster had the choice of starting up or down and he chose down. It took just seven seconds for Kuster to escape to get the 5-4 victory.
“He told me he could get away, he had the confidence and he got it done,” Redcay said. “Joe might be the toughest wrestler I’ve ever coached. To just finish the match is one thing, but to win like that, unbelievable.”
Keleher thought Homan wrestled a great match as well.
“Eli has something he can be proud of with the match he wrestled,” Keleher said. “But he can only be proud tonight because we will be going back to work (today).”
The Crusaders weren’t surprised about the Jays’ trio bumping up.
“No, we saw it coming,” Keleher said. “That was a good move, it was the best card they could play.”
The three wins definitely had momentum on the side of the Jays.
“Once we got on a roll, you could feel the energy,” Redcay said.
The teams split the next four matches.
Luke Mosley won 4-2 at 165 and Cohen Davis at 190 won by fall in 4:32 for Jefferson City. Logan Montoya won 4-1 at 175 and Hunter Barnhart won 2-1 in overtime at 215 for the Crusaders.
At 285, Luke Jenkins of the Jays won by fall in the first period to give Jefferson City a 33-9 lead.
Parker Lock won by forfeit at 106 for the Crusaders to make it 33-15 with three matches remaining.
“It was an advantage not to start at 106,” Redcay said. “We didn’t want to start the dual down 6-0.”
Helias needed to win all three of the remaining matches by fall to force a tie, but Makoa Castillo of the Jays clinched the dual with an 11-4 victory at 113.
Dominic Stafford of the Jays won by fall in just :51 at 120.
“That was phenomenal,” Redcay said.
Carter Prenger of Helias closed the dual with a pin in 1:03 at 126 to make the final score 42-21.
“I was not expecting to win to this degree,” Redcay said. “I knew we had a shot, but this dual could have gone either way. We won a lot of the swing matches.”
Keleher believes the Crusaders didn’t win enough of the 50/50 matches.
“There were a lot of highly contested matches that we fell on the wrong side,” he said. “All props to them, they wrestled very well and we’ll see them again in districts.”
Helias, now 3-1 in the CMAC, is back in action Friday and Saturday at the Platte County Tournament.
Jefferson City, which leads the conference at 4-0, will wrestle Friday and Saturday at the Hickman Tournament.
III
Jefferson City 42, Helias 21
Here are the results from Wednesday night’s dual between the Jefferson City Jays (JC) and Helias Crusaders (H) at Fleming Fieldhouse. The dual started at 132 pounds:
132 — Justin Wieberg (H) won 7-4 against Eric Mejia (JC).
138 — Deegan Mitchell (JC) WBF in 1:41 against Ben Holee (H).
144 — Braden Werdehausen (JC) won 3-1 against Jace Duemmel (H).
150 — Cameron McKee (JC) WBF in 5:12 against Carson Hayes (H).
157 — Joe Kuster (JC) won 5-4 in UTB against Eli Homan (H).
165 — Luke Mosley (JC) won 4-2 against Dugan Williams (H).
175 — Logan Montoya (H) won 4-1 against Rodney Wilson (JC).
190 — Cohen Davis (JC) WBF in 4:32 against Cody Suthoff (H).
215 — Hunter Barnhart (H) won 2-1 in OT against Gideon Duren (JC).
285 — Luke Jenkins (JC) WBF in 1:36 against Bryce Allen (H).
106 — Parker Lock (H) won by forfeit.
113 — Makoa Castillo (JC) won 11-4 against Evan Dunn (H).
120 — Dominic Stafford (JC) WBF in :51 against Aleksandr Careaga (H).
126 — Carter Prenger (H) WBF in 1:03 against Eli Teiberis (JC).