In front of a capacity crowd, two of the top teams in Missouri battled to the wire at Park Hill High School.
Liberty, ranked No. 1 in the MissouriWrestling.com team rankings, pulled out a 31-29 victory over the fourth-ranked Trojans.
The match was the start of a doubleheader that saw Missouri pull out a close win against Virginia in the first Division I match at the school in more than 30 years.
The showdown between the Suburban Conference schools two teams both ranked in the Intermat top 50 in the nation and it was a competitive battle until the final match.
Park Hill trailed 31-26 and needed a pin to pick up the victory.
The final match pitted Trey Crawford against former Park Hill wrestler Austin Kolvek, who transferred to Liberty this year. Crawford won the 132-pound match by a decision, 7-4, but it wasn’t enough to rally the Trojans.
Park Hill jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the match with wins by Trey Safford (138) and Tyson Moore (145), both by decision. Liberty won the next two, including getting a fall by Wentric Williams III, to take a 9-6 lead. At the 170 match, top-ranked Greyden Penner of Liberty posted a 15-6 major decision against Blake Hopson, a state runner-up last year.
Standout Devin Winston got the Trojans back in the win column with a pin against at 1 minute, 29 seconds against Jack Horn (182). A pin by Liberty expanded the lead, before two wins in a row gave Park Hill the lead again.
Ashton Sharp (220) picked up a 9-3 win by decision against Callum Trester and then Simon Tesafarmain followed with a pin over Mike Biesmeyer. That gave the Trojans a 20-19 lead and the crowd was buzzing.
Less than two minutes later, the eventual outcome shifted in favor of the visitors. Liberty got first period pins by Ethen Hilton and Jeremiah Reno — both ranked wrestlers — at 106 and 113. Reno was ranked No. 1 at 120, but dropped down a class.
The Miller boys, Kal and Ethen, each picked up wins by decision to keep the chances for a Park Hill comeback alive.
“We came up short but battled hard against a super tough Liberty team,” Park Hill coach Jacob Beck tweeted following the match.
Other Matches
Platte County 84, Raytown South 0
The Pirates posted a perfect match, getting the most points possible, in each of the matches against the Cardinals in a Suburban Conference Blue Division match on Tuesday, Dec. 11 at Platte County High School.
Six of the 14 victories came from forfeits: to Grant Stathopoulos, Nolan Saale, Drake Lacina, Gabe Harmon, Jaydon Walls and Johnathan Owen.
The rest of the victories for the Pirates were on pins. The winners were Vincent Cesario (106), Eli Rocha (120), Hunter Burge (126), Jarod Parsons (132), Nick Filger (138), Gabe Davis (145), Blaine Kuhn (160), Glen Gammill (285).
Filger had the fastest win, in 14 seconds. Gammill (36), Davis (45) and Rocha (59) all had pins in less than a minute.
Park Hill 61, Blue Springs 9
The Trojans picked up a Suburban Conference Gold Division victory on Tuesday, Dec. 18 in Blue Springs, Mo.
Park Hill won 12 of the 14 events, coming up short in the 113- and 170-pound matches.
Three of the wins for the Trojans came on forfeits: Carter Goslee, Chris Bizzle and Ethan Dominguez. Tyson Moore (145), Devin Winston (182), Ashton Sharp (220), Cayden Dotson (113), Trey Crawford (132) and Trey Safford (138) all won by pins for the Trojans.
Jack Vande Ven (160), Simon Tesfamarian (285), Kal Miller (120) won by decisions and Ethen Miller (126) won by a major decision.
Park Hill South 56, St. Joseph Central 24
Liberty 72, Park Hill South 0
The Panthers won four of the first five matches to build a 24-6 lead and picked up a win against Central in a Suburban Conference Red Division but lost another league match in a double dual on Tuesday, Dec. 11 in Liberty.
Cameron Gillespie (182), Xavier Jackson (195) and Trey Mastio (106) won by pins and Michael Swope (220) won by a forfeit. Mohamed Ali (120), Parker Greenfield (145), Andre Anderson (160) and Jackson Minor (170) won their matches for Park Hill South.
Austin Bryant (126) got a forfeit win as well.