Championships have been tough to earn for Platte County during a brutal early-season schedule, but Ethan Karsten and Matthew Schmitt brought home individual titles this past weekend from the Allen Outlaw in Allen, Texas, leading the Pirates to a second-place showing out of 27 teams in the final standings.
Platte County had already competed in three tournaments with elite fields entering its first home dual Tuesday, Jan. 6 against Park Hill South. Results were not available at The Citizen’s deadline.
Eleven out of 13 wrestlers for Platte County advanced into the championship bracket at the Allen Outlaw with Karsten, Schmitt and Johnny Blankenship reaching the championship match. The Pirates scored 474 points but were 113 behind the hosts and champion. Allen came in one spot back of Platte County two weeks earlier at the Kansas City Stampede.
Karsten won his second individual title of the season, going 8-0 at 145 pounds and rebounding from his first and only loss of the season in the finals of the KC Stampede. He also defeated Allen’s Braeden Redlin with a 7-4 decision in the finals, scoring the match’s final three points with an escape and late takedown in the third period.
A two-time finalist and 2014 state champion at 106, Matthew Schmitt went to the top of the podium at 126 for the first time for Platte County’s other title. He scored the final two points on a stalling call and then an escape in a 4-2 decision against Blaine Martinez of Keller Central (Texas) in the semifinals.
Schmitt then won a 15-0 technical fall against Sergio Nugent of Katy (Texas) in the finals, scoring a winning takedown 30 seconds into the third period.
Johnny Blankenship reached the final at 160 but lost for the second time this season to Clay Lautt of St. James Academy (Kan.) Lautt won a 3-2 decision, scoring all three points with an escape and takedown back-to-back in the third period.
Lautt won their previous matchup 1-0 in triple overtime in the semifinals of the Gardner-Edgerton Invitational in early December.
Casey Jumps (220) and Caleb Crabtree (152) both reached the third-place match. Jumps, a sophomore, came back from a loss in pool wrestling to reach the semifinals before losing a 6-3 decision against Patrick Bryan of Allen. Jumps then won a pair of close decisions, scoring the final three points in a 4-2 win against Mitchell Blackburn of Arlington (Texas) in the third-place match.
Crabtree won two straight matches after a 3-2 quarterfinal loss to Alex Pankhurst of Westlake (Texas) but then lost a 3-2 decision against Cody Koger of Cinco Ranch (Texas) in the third-place match. Derek Kincaid (106), Zach Rolofson (113), Louden Bredeson (170) and Tyler Blankenship (182) all placed fifth.
A senior, Kincaid reached the semifinals after winning his first six matches before losing 2-0 to Gregory Coapstick of Centennial (Texas). Nathan Rankin of Plano East (Texas) pinned Kincaid on the consolation side, forcing him into the fifth-place match.
Rolofson and Bredeson also reached the semifinals, while Tyler Blankenship came back from a quarterfinal loss. Tyler Blankenship lost 5-4 in overtime to Allen’s Dalton Miller on the consolation side, narrowly missing a spot in the third-place match.
Sage Smart came in sixth at 195, while Trey Dockery placed seventh at 132. Smart was filling in for injured Adam Muehlebach, one of five returning state medalists for the Pirates.