Har-Ber Claims Title

STAFF PHOTO JASON IVESTER 
Douglas Matthews of Springdale Har-Ber works to pin Rogers Heritage's Jordan Vazquez in the 182-pound weight class during the Big West Conference Tournament on Saturday at Springdale High School.
STAFF PHOTO JASON IVESTER Douglas Matthews of Springdale Har-Ber works to pin Rogers Heritage's Jordan Vazquez in the 182-pound weight class during the Big West Conference Tournament on Saturday at Springdale High School.

— Springdale Har-Ber won only two weight classes, but had 12 of 13 wrestlers earn medals to claim the Big West Conference tournament title on Saturday at Springdale High.

The Wildcats took the lead after Friday’s early rounds and nobody else could run them down, rolling up 230.5 points. Rogers Heritage finished second with 206.5, while Bentonville was third (199.5).

Har-Ber coach Nika West said the weekend was big for his team with the state tournament coming up in three weeks.

“It’s definitely a big confidence-builder,” West said. “This is a great place to start right here. We had a lot of people execute. We brought 13 wrestlers and all of them were in that last match. We didn’t have a kid get put out early.”

Har-Ber’s Doug Matthews (182) and Kimble Jennings (113) won their respective weight classes to lead the charge as seven Wildcats made the finals. West said the Wildcats performed better than two weeks ago when they finished fourth at the Hornet Swarm at Maumelle, but they were also missing Matthews, who was ill and didn’t wrestle.

Matthews, who medaled at the state tournament at 170 last year, pinned Heritage’s Jordan Vazquez in the first period in the 182-pound finals. Jennings earned a hard-fought 2-1 overtime win against Bentonville’s Derian Fernandez in the finals.

“One guy who really stepped up was our 170-pounder Robert White,” West said. “He didn’t make the medal round at Maumelle, so that was a huge confidence booster for him.”

Both Bentonville coach Bill Desler and Heritage coach Doug Freeman also came away pleased with how their teams performed with the state tournament just around the corner. Both teams had 10 wrestlers earn medals. Bentonville won a tournament best three weight classes, while Heritage won two.

Freeman got a surprise win from freshman Stone Airoso at 220, along with senior Ramsey Gonzalez at 170, which wasn’t a shock.

“Ramsey was really good,” Freeman said. “The freshman got hurt and hasn’t had many matches. His techniques not real good, but he battles, battles, battles. I was really happy with the way we competed. We lost some matches we shouldn’t, but I don’t think any other coach here wouldn’t say that. We medaled in 10 of 14 weight classes and that’s the way you score points.”

Desler said his team appears to be coming into form at the right time, but the Tigers will also add two more wrestlers to their lineup. Jared Conover and Xaiver Domineack, both state medalists a year ago, haven’t competed yet this season, but should be ready for the state tournament in two weeks, Desler said.

Desler’s also hopeful Ryan Grimes, who has been sidelined by injury, will be ready for the state tournament.

The Tigers got wins from Luke Brandon (120), Aaron Grigsby (126) and Jeff Bizzle (145) on Saturday.

Fayetteville’s Jaxson Nolen was honored as one of two Most Outstanding Wrestlers in the tournament. Nolen won the 152-pound weight class in Saturday’s best match. He trailed with less than 30 seconds left in the finals, but hit a five-point move to send the match into overtime and scored a takedown for the 10-8 win over Tim Blickle of Rogers, who was previously unbeaten.

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