Released By Aaron Sweazy
Asst. Coach
Neosho County Community College

Panther wrestlers defeated at Colby

Colby, Ks (11/16/2007)-

The 4th ranked Neosho Panther wrestling squad hit the road for a long weekend trip out to Colby to dual fellow 4th ranked foe Colby Community College. A fast start for the Panthers had the local fans at a hush as Neosho swept the opening three weight classes by decision to take a 9-0 lead. At 125, Donte Butler ranked 3rd in the nation took control from the opening whistle and never looked back as he cruised to 13-8 decision over the 7th ranked wrestler in the country.

At 133 Rory Kendall stepped in for the Panthers and did a nice job in gritting out a tough win by a 6-4 margin. At 141 Jeremy Lawley who was celebrating his birthday that night had a daunting gift in front of him as he would have to take on the 4th ranked wrestler in the country Lyobomir Kumbarov. Lawley found himself down 4-2 early but stormed back outscoring his foe 6-1 in the final 2 stanzas to win by an 8-5 margin.

With things going well for Neosho, all things would suddenly reverse as both the 149 and 157 wrestlers Ty Jaquess and Dustin Burton would succumb to a loss by fall to highly ranked foes and putting Neosho down in the team score 9-12.

Fortunately at 165 a break came for Neosho to get the lead back. The Trojan wrestling team had to forfeit at 165 due to the failure of their wrestler to make weight. Now up 15-12, Neosho sent out 2nd ranked Jason Green to extend the lead in the dual. Green was in control from the get go and dominating on way to a major decision victory when the unthinkable happened. Green was caught in a reversal and found on his backside in a funky position and the ref hit the mat with his hand indicating that the Colby wrestler just scored the fall, and the upset. Now up 18-15 Colby would rely on their 2nd ranked wrestler to extend the lead, which he did in beating Tim Cross by a 12-2 major decision.

Daunte’ Nixon fired back giving the Panthers a shot to still win the dual however with a phenomenally strong finish in his matchup. Only up 6-4 at the end of the 2nd, Nixon realizing his opponent wasn’t turning over to surrender the fall, found himself letting his opponent escape just to take him down and release him again. While the strategy nearly worked to get the Panthers bonus points, Nixon had to settle for a 17-11 match win in which saw the young wrestler out of South Carolina score an amazing 10 points and secure riding time all in the 3rd period alone.

Pressure was on Sam Robbins to fill in at heavyweight. Only weighing in at a little under 200 lbs, Robbins fought valiantly but wound up over matched and undersized in a losing effort by major decision. The Panthers ranked in the top 5 in the NJCAA National poll move to 0-2 against fellow junior college teams in duals, both of which rank inside the top 5 as well! Neosho’s next dual is on the road at Pratt on November 29th. Next home dual is December 6th at the Panther Gym vs. Bacone College.

Colby 26 Neosho 18

125 #3 Donte Butler dec #7 Adilov 13-8

133 Rory Kendall dec Mainus 6-4

141 Jeremy Lawley dec #4 Kumbarov 8-5

149 #6 Hepburn won by fall over Ty Jaquess

157 #4 Garcia won by fall over Dustin Burton

165# 8 Kenny Carney won by forfeit

174 Gabe Smull won by fall over #2 Jason Green

184 #2 Kern won by mdec over Tim Cross

197 Daunte’ Nixon dec Williams 17-11

285 Walz mdec Sam Robbins 9-1