SPRINGDALE -- Springdale Har-Ber showed it knows how to finish in the Northwest Arkansas Duals wrestling tournament.
The Wildcats won the final match of their semifinal dual, then won the last three in the championship to win the blue bracket crown on Saturday evening in Wildcat Arena.
At A Glance
Northwest Arkansas Duals Tournament
Wildcat Arena, Springdale Har-Ber
Saturday’s Results
Navy Bracket
First Round
Rogers Heritage def. Fayetteville
Springdale Har-Ber def. The Colony, Texas
Joplin, Mo., def. Little Rock Catholic
Pittsburg, Kan., def. Bentonville
Semifinals
Rogers Heritage 45, Pittsburg, Kan. 30
Springdale Har-Ber 34, Joplin, Mo. 33
Finals
Springdale Har-Ber 34, Rogers Heritage 28
Third-Place
Pittsburg, Kan. 41, Joplin, Mo. 33
Blue Bracket
Finals
Little Rock Central 45, Russellville 33.
Har-Ber's Coltin Morgan earned a hard-fought 9-8 victory at 152 pounds to give his team a 34-33 win over Joplin, Mo., in the semifinals, then started the string of three wins for a 34-28 win over Rogers Heritage.
"Oh my goodness," Har-Ber coach Nika West said. "They put a few grey hairs on me."
Morgan's 8-2 win in the finals tied the dual at 28, before teammates Grant Thornton and Robert White followed his lead to help the Wildcats claim the title.
Thornton gutted out a 7-4 win and White controlled his opponent for a 7-0 victory.
West acknowledged the Wildcats' fate was in capable hands for the final two matches.
"That's a junior and a senior," West said. "Thornton's been on our state tournament team the last two years and Robert has been in our lineup since he was a freshman."
Har-Ber went 5-0 in the tournament, winning twice on Friday to earn the top seed in Saturday's bracket round based on total points scored. The 16-team field was split into the blue (top eight) and navy (bottom eight) brackets.
Heritage coach Doug Freeman said a few of his wrestlers missed out on some chances for bonus points and that could have made a difference.
"Any time you look at six points difference in a dual, that's essentially one pin," Freeman said. "We had a couple matches that could have gone either way and they didn't go our way. That's just the way it is. I didn't think we wrestled particularly our best. The kids want to get better. We've just got to work and get better."
West reeled off several more individuals, who played key parts in the final dual and the tournament. The Wildcats went 5-0 over the two-day event.
Treyton Baker, who normally wrestles at 195 pounds, bumped up to 220 and earned a tough 4-2 overtime win, while freshman Kyle Cole got his only win of the weekend against Heritage at 106.
"My 106-pounder hadn't won a match the whole tournament, but he won a big one and got a pin," West said. "That was six big points. Owen Bailey bumped up to 182 and battled one of their studs and only gave up four points. Colt Rush, a freshman, got a big win at 195 and I think he went undefeated this weekend."
Heritage won five consecutive matches to turn a 25-4 deficit into a 28-25 lead. Freeman was especially pleased with Caleb Royal's 5-2 win over Kimble Jennings at 126. Jennings won a state title last year at 113, while Royal was the state runner-up at 126.
"I thought Caleb looked really good against Jennings," Freeman said. "He was aggressive and I was really pleased with that. I was pretty happy overall. Those last two matches at 160 and 170 were first-time varsity wrestlers and they'll improve."
Sports on 12/14/2014