Poplar Bluff wrestlers got to gage what kind of shape they are in Tuesday night in the season opener.
"I need a little more work definitely," Poplar Bluff senior Andrew Dugas said. "Our entire team needs more work. It's kind of an eye opener. The first (match) is always an eye opener."
The Mules opened with a 57-18 win over Chaminade in which they won only one of five contested matches then got five pins and four decisions in a 50-21 win over North County.
"Good to get the wins," Mules first-year coach Kelton Thompson said. "Saw a lot of things we like, see a lot of things we need to focus on going forward. Good, bad and good."
Chaminade, a Class 4 private school from St. Louis, had just five wrestlers but two were state qualifiers last season, including Danny Conley who won the title at 220 pounds.
Austin Aubuchon got Poplar Bluff's lone contested win at 152 pounds when the senior got four first-period takedowns and held on to beat Braden Luechtefield 13-9.
Aubuchon, Quentin Bell and Jake Lawrinenko went the full six minutes in both of their matches as each went 1-1.
Kade Richardson, Josh Lawrinenko, Tanner Dunivan, Jacob Aldridge and Dugas each got pins against North County.
"I always have my first core moves I always try to hit at," said Josh Lawrinenko, who pinned his 145-pound opponent in 3 minutes, 52 seconds.
"...I think it went pretty well. I was hoping to get a pin a little sooner but I'll take it."
Bell opened the match against the Raiders with a 9-4 win after taking a one-point lead into the final period. The sophomore lost his match 12-6 against Chaminade's Sam Schultz, a state qualifier last season, on a trio of reversal points.
Jake Lawrinenko lost 4-1 to Chaminade's Bradley Sanchez on a second-period reversal that broke a scoreless match. The Poplar Bluff 126-pound junior trailed by a point until a last-second takedown. Against the Raiders, Lawrinenko won 5-2 with a first-period takedown and near fall.
Richardson got Poplar Bluff's first pin of the season at 132 pounds. Trailing 7-4 after the first period, the junior got a tying reversal before closing out the win at 3:02.
Bobby Moore gave North County its first points at 152 pounds by holding off Aubuchon 6-3.
Xavier Bartlett got a 6-0 win for the Mules at 160 with three takedowns. The junior filled in for John Henry Smothers, who appeared to suffer an injury in his match against Chaminade. Alex Hart got a pin with 56 seconds left after Smothers led 7-2 heading into the third period with a pair of near-falls.
Thompson said Smothers was "having some knee issues and just got shook up in his first match so we decided to let Xavier wrestle to be safe."
Dunivan, Poplar Bluff's lone returning state qualifier, needed just 1:41 to earn a pin at 182 pounds.
Kendric Gordon got a first-period takedown and escaped the bottom position to start the second for a 3-0 win against North County's heavyweight. In his first match, Gordon was pinned at 51 seconds against Conley, who was 49-1 last year.
At 113, Jacob Aldridge led by two points in the third period before pinning North County's Mikayla Whatley with 1:24 left.
Dugas earned a pin at 4:41 in his 170-pound match.
"It's hard," the senior said. "You've got to be in good conditioning all the time."
The Raiders got pins at 195, 220 and 106.
Poplar Bluff's Wyatt Lazalier was leading after a first-period takedown at 195 pounds but started the second in the down position and was pinned at 3:24 trying to escape.
"We came out a little flat," Thompson said. "I didn't think we finished well and that's been a point of emphasis all year.
"That's something we're definitely going to work on, our takedowns, finishing, and the bottom position, and oddly enough, those are things we struggled in.
"I think we just got a lot of work to do."
The Mules, who improved to 5-0 in duals at the Senior High Gym, will host Hillsboro and Dexter on January 23 in their only other home match. They travel Friday and Saturday to a tournament at Parkway South.