GREENWOOD -- Rogers Heritage came up with big performances in the final round to overhaul crosstown rival Rogers High 182..5-172.5 to claim the Big West Conference wrestling tournament championship Saturday at H.B. Stewart Bulldog Arena.
The War Eagles trailed Rogers by 5.5 points going into the final round, but won five weight classes, including three head-to-head match-ups with the Mounties, to head into next week's Class 6A-7A state tournament with momentum.
At A Glance
Big West Conference Wrestling Tournament
At H.B. Stewart Bulldog Arena, Greenwood High School
Team scores
1, Rogers Heritage 182.5. 2, Rogers High 172.5. 3, Springdale Har-Ber 166. 4, Greenwood 128. 5, Bentonville 93. 6, Fayetteville 82.5. 7, Fort Smith Northside 58. 8, Fort Smith Southside 51.5. 9, Gentry 39. 10, Springdale High 37. 11, Van Buren 31. 12, Shiloh Christian 13.
Individual results
106: 1, Cash Jones, Bentonville. 2, Stephen Waterhouse, Rogers High.
113: 1, Chance McCrary, Rogers Heritage. 2, Matt Seiter, Springdale Har-Ber.
120: 1, Kimble Jennings, Springdale Har-Ber. 2, Robert Miller, Rogers Heritage.
126: 1, Caleb Royal, Rogers Heritage. 2, Hunter Dyer, Rogers High.
132: 1, Aaron Grigsby, Bentonville. 2, Caleb Erskine, Greenwood.
138: 1, Heath Henman, Rogers High. 2, Luke Brandon, Bentonville.
145: 1, Taylor Compton, Greenwood. 2, Coltin Morgan, Springdale Har-Ber.
152: 1, Shae Chafin, Rogers Heritage. 2, Madison Montgomery, Rogers High.
160: 1, Jaxson Nolen, Fayetteville. 2, Kyle Nolte, Fort Smith Southside.
170: 1, Dane Shields, Fayetteville. 2, Christian Brummett, Rogers High.
182: 1, Cody Watson, Gentry. 2, Wyatt Steiner, Rogers High.
195: 1, Joey Saucier, Rogers Heritage. 2, Treyton Baker, Springdale Har-Ber.
220: 1, Stone Airoso, Rogers Heritage. 2, Max Wester, Rogers High.
285: 1, Prince Gilmore, Fort Smith Northside. 2, Eli Espe, Springdale Har-Ber.
Most outstanding wrestler lower weights: (tie) Taylor Compton, Greenwood; Aaron Grigsby, Bentonville.
Most outstanding wrestler upper weights: Jaxson Nolen, Fayetteville.
Heritage coach Doug Freeman said his team's mental toughness came out in that final round.
"We've been down all year, fighting from being injured, car wrecks, all kinds of things have hit us and the kids have never quit," Freeman said. "I joked with them that we're kind of like zombies. You have to shoot us in the head to kill us. You shoot us in the arm or the leg, we just keep coming forward."
Chance McCrary (113), Caleb Royal (126), Shae Chafin (152), Joey Saucier (195) and Stone Airoso (220) all won their respective weight classes to lead the charge for Heritage. Even those wrestlers have had issues.
Airoso missed a month with a concussion and Royal was out two weeks recently because of a car accident. Chafin had lost consecutive matches to Madison Montgomery of Rogers, but won a tough 3-2 match Saturday. Saucier, a first-year wrestler who will play football at the United State Air Force Academy next year, beat Har-Ber's Treyton Baker in double overtime after losing three other times to him.
The War Eagles also won Saturday despite being without Jordan Vazquez, who will be a state title contender at 182. That didn't get past Freeman either.Vazquez was resting an jury and should be ready for the state tournament, Freeman said.
But he also reminded his wrestlers that next weekend is the most important time of the season.
"We were missing one, a big one," Freeman said. "I told the kids 'you'll not remember this 10 years from now if you go down at state and lay an egg.' It's good to win. It feels good to win. Riding a wave of momentum helps, too, and that's what we're going to try to do.
"Madison won't be in our weight class at state, but that's big for confidence for Shae. Baker had beaten Joey three times, but Joey kept getting a little better each time. It's big for him to show him he can beat him. And that's the best Caleb has looked since he came back. He had not just looked like himself until today."
Rogers coach Ken Simmons, whose team won the 6A-7A dual state title a week ago, said he had individuals that didn't perform well. The Mounties put six wrestlers into the finals, but only Heath Henman came out with a win at 138.
"We had some guys that didn't step up to the plate today," Simmons said. "They thought they had an easy win or overlooked somebody. Sometimes a loss is good and it might be a good thing for us right now. I've been telling them all along the last two or three weeks we need to work on certain things. We're not getting better."
Springdale Har-Ber was a close third behind the two Rogers schools with 166. Those three teams should battle for the state title next weekend in Little Rock, Simmons said.
"It will depend on how they wrestle next weekend as to who wins," Simmons said.
Fayetteville's Jaxson Nolen, who won at 160, was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament for the upper weights, while Bentonville's Aaron Grigsby (138) and Greenwood's Taylor Compton (145) shared that award for the lower weights.
Sports on 02/15/2015