Desmond Howell and Logan Hite ended up atop the podium Saturday night as the Poplar Bluff wrestlers won conference titles on their home mat.
“It kind of made me more nervous, but it’s nice to win in front of the home crowd with my friends here,” said Howell, who won the 220-pound division at the SEMO Conference Championships.
Gatlin Taylor, Lucas Robertson, Justin Mitchell and Logan Ringstaff also reached the championship match for the Mules.
Sitting in third place heading into the finals, Poplar Bluff led Hillsboro by a point. Both teams had the same number of wrestlers in championship matches but Hillsboro had three more finalists than the Mules, who ended up fourth by 26 points.
“Depth was the issue,” Poplar Bluff coach Kelton Thompson said. “We needed some more points in various weight and we didn’t get it.”
Farmington won the team title by 26 points with Jackson beating Hillsboro, the defending large-school champion, by just 4.5 points.
“When the dust settles they’ll all be top-10 teams (at state) and we’re right there in the mix with those guys,” Thompson said.
Dexter’s Eric Harmon placed third at 126 pounds as the Bearcats were ninth as a team.
The Knights claimed their 11th conference title even with putting the fewest wrestlers into the finals among the top four teams. However, they did have more place in the top four than Jackson and finished with the most pins of the 15-team field.
Hillsboro had the most individual champions with five, including junior Evan Morris who was named most outstanding wrestler of the tournament. But the Hawks didn’t score points at two weights.
“It was a hard fought tournament,” Thompson said. “The later rounds maybe we just made some mistakes that cost us.”
Howell won the 220-pound championship match 1-0 over Kennett’s Hayden Higgins after a pin in the quarterfinal and a 4-3 semifinal win.
The lone point scored in the final came 6 seconds into the second period when Howell escaped from the bottom position. Higgins started the third on bottom but each time the senior stood up, Howell was able to bring him back down to the mat.
The two had met earlier this season.
“It kind of helped me out a little bit, I kind of knew what he was doing,” said Howell who missed the conference tournament last year with a broken hand after finishing sixth as a sophomore.
Said Thompson, “For him to get a conference championship, that’s big. He’s battled through injuries over the years and other forms of adversity.
“He’s been a big part of our wrestling family. I was real happy to see Dez go get one.”
Hite beat Ste. Genevieve’s Ethan Ogden 9-0 in the 170-pound final. The Poplar Bluff sophomore earned a takedown and three-point nearfall late in the first period then got a reversal to start the second leading to another nearfall.
Hite beat New Madrid Central senior Jacob Wilcox 2-1 in the semifinal with a third-period reversal that broke a scoreless tie.
“Semifinal match felt closer,” Thompson said. “He opened up in that last one.”
Daine Dugas lost his 182-pound third place match 6-0 after falling in the semifinal but won 5-2 in the consolation semifinal.
Caden Hambrick placed fifth at 120 with a pin at 2:29 while Jakob Hopkins also placed fifth at 138 after winning in overtime in wrestlebacks.
Austin Stoner lost in overtime to place sixth at 195 after losing 2-1 in the consolation semifinal while Kurt Russon lost 4-3 to place sixth after earlier winning 9-6 at 106 pounds.
Dace Wisdom placed seventh at 152 with a pair of pins, the final at 1:33, while Jackson McCormick placed eighth at 126 and Logan Hale finished 11th at 132 pounds.
Taylor, a conference champion last year at 106 pounds, reached the finals for a third straight year, this time at 113. Farmington’s Dayton Boyd won 10-2 after a late first-period takedown and a second-period reversal.
Robertson, who won a title last year, ran into Hillsboro’s Sam Richardson in the 145-pound final. Two of Robertson’s four losses have been to Richardson, who won by fall.
Mitchell reached the final for a second time in three years after placing third last season. The senior lost 10-0 to Jackson’s Flint Guilliams after four pins and a 1-0 semifinal win at 160 pounds.
Ringstaff won 3-1 in the heavyweight semifinals before losing 7-2 to Jackson’s Liam Bryant. Ringstaff, who had three pins in the tournament, trailed 2-1 entering the third period before escaping from the down position. Bryant got a takedown with 20 seconds left to claim the title.
“Those matches — Mitchell and Ringstaff — we will 100% see those guys again,” Thompson said. “We’ve got three weeks to figure it out.”
Two years ago as a sophomore, Gavin Hicks reached the finals wearing a Mules singlet. Now at Jackson, he lost his 132-pound final on a pin at 5:08.
“Feels good,” Hicks said. “It’s good to have my Mules people still supporting me.”