ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DON RATZLAFF
The Hillsboro High School wrestling team put on a good show at a tough impromptu tournament Saturday in Atchison, but may have lost their top wrestler for the rest of the season.
Junior Ronnie Davis, who had lost only one match this season in his 215-pound weight class and is ranked among the top wrestlers in Class 3A, injured his knee during his second match of the day.
“The kid hit what we call in wrestling a rolling start right before the whistle blew and caught (Davis) right in the knee,” coach Corey Burton said. “We don’t know how bad it is yet. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
Burton said Davis would be checked out by a doctor this week.
The 12-team tournament was not on the Trojans’ original schedule. Burton picked it up after the Dec. 16 tournament in Belleville was cancelled because of bad weather.
The field in Atchison included three Class 3A teams; the rest were 4A and 5A.
“It was a pretty tough tournament,” Burrton said. “Effingham, the No. 1 team in Class 3A, was there. It had four teams that had won tournaments this month, so it was a really good tournament for us. We wanted to wrestle some different competition.”
The Trojans, with only eight wrestlers participating, finished in seventh-place.
Carson Greenhaw turned in the top performance of the day, winning his 145-pound weight class with a 3-0 record. He scored a technical fall over Hirschman of Baldwin while leading 17-1 in points.
Three Trojans finished fourth in their respective weight classes with 2-2 records: John Sims at 125, James Bina at 140 and Ryan Jilka at 171.
Also competing for Hillsboro were Adam Jilka, Wade Sorensen and Jared Hefley.
Home duals-HHS wrestling fans fell four takedowns short of a free hamburger last Thursday night, but the Trojans did treat the crowd to a pair of dual wins over Eureka and Council Grove in the last home meet of the season.
The Trojans recorded 16 takedowns during their 54-25 win over Council Grove, but needed 20 to qualify fans for a free hamburger at the Hillsboro McDonald’s.
Hillsboro managed only 10 takedowns against a tough Eureka team, but won the match, 42-33.
Against Eureka, the Trojans registered four wins by fall: Jared Hefley over Trevor Smalley at 135 pounds, Carson Greenhaw over Robert Repstine at 145, Adam Jilka over Heath Roed at 152 and Ron Davis over Steve Hamilton at 275.
Ryan Jilka defeated Blake Zimmerman, 3-2, at 189, and Wade Sorensen defeated Clark Neill, 10-8, at 215.
Bri Ratzlaff and Danny Yoder won their respective weight classes by forfeit.
“Eureka is probably the number one team in our regional,” coach Corey Burton said. “We bumped some people in weight classes there at the end to give ourselves a chance to win it-and it worked.”
Against Council Grove, all six contested wins came by fall. Ryan Janzen pinned Steven McDiffett at 119, John Sims pinned Ryan Ellerman at 125, Hefley pinned Brandon Glessner at 135, Adam Jilka pinned Tharen Sparke at 152, Davis pinned Matthew Fox at 215, and Cody Pankratz pinned Jesse Oliver at 275.
Ratzlaff, James Bina and Greenhaw won by forfeit.
With the two wins, Hillsboro’s duals record is 11-1.
Coming-The Trojans will compete at a duals tournament at Southeast of Saline on Saturday. Five teams will participate in a round-robin format. Matches begin at 10 a.m.
“Our goal is to try and win that tournament and we’re going to do our best,” Burton said. “It’s going to be more difficult if we have our starters out, but we’re going to try.”
