A big third period enabled Alliance’s Coy Childers to defeat Ralston’s Brody Schmitt 10 to 6 in the championship match of the Class B 132 pound division at the state meet Saturday in Omaha. It was Childers second title in the last 2 years. Down by 4 heading to the final period, Childers rallied to become a two time state champ.
The Sophomore began the tournament with wins on Thursday over York and Waverly. In semi final action on Friday, Childers faced Kepha Orsi of Omaha Skutt. The two met just last week at districts in a match won by Childers. Once again, it was the Bulldog getting the win and advancing to the championship battle on Saturday. Schmitt and Childers also faced each other in the district finals last week where Childers got the win 13 to 3.
Early on, it was Schmitt taking control. Childers fell behind early and was down 3 to 0 after the first period. In the second, it was Schmitt increasing his lead by 1 and the match went to the final 2 minutes with Childers behind 4 to 0. Action picked up quickly in the third with Childers tying the battle at 4. After an escape by Ralston that made the score 5 to 4, Childers again went to work and scored 3 to surge ahead 7 to 5. Another escape by Schmitt tightened the score to 7 to 6 in the closing stages. Childers would not be denied as the Dog scored the match’s final 3 tallies to win the title 10 to 6!! Childers also got the gold last year as a freshman, winning at 113.
Besides Childers, the Bulldogs also had 4 other athletes competing. All four wrestlers won at least one match but failed to come home with any hardware. At 120, Wyatt Stabnow went 1 and 2 and ends his season with a 32 and 23 record. Junior Trini Trejo also went 1 and 2 and finishes his year at 45 and 12 at 138.
Junior Lucas Weber wrestled 4 matches at state and ended 2 and 2. For the year, the 215 pounder finished his season with a 44 and 10 record. Also going 2 and 2 at state was Jett Childers. The sophomore wrestled at 126 and closes with a record of 45 and 12.
Class B was won by Omaha Skutt who tallied 236 points. The runner up was Bennington who scored 124. Beatrice was third at 90. Alliance ended 16th with 40.5 points. Forty five schools in Class B rounded out the field.
Results Class B state tournament Alliance 40.5 points 16th overall
120 Stabnow went 1 and 2 loses to Gretna defeats Blair loses to Seward
126 Jett Childers went 2 and 2 defeats McCook loses to Beatrice defeats Gretna East loses to Mount Michael
132 Coy Childers state champ!! went 4 and 0 defeats York defeats Waverly defeats Omaha Skutt 23 to 7 defeats Ralston 10 to 6
138 Trejo went 1 and 2 loses to Plattsmouth defeats York loses to Gering
215 Weber went 2 and 2 defeats Waverly loses to Sidney defeats York loses to Crete.