Teague Takes Individual Title And Makes History

RICK PECK/SPECIAL TO MCDONALD COUNTY PRESS McDonald County's Jack Teague has Isaiah Ragsdale of Marshfield on his back on the way to a third-period pin during the Mustangs' 40-36 loss on Jan. 30 at MCHS. On Saturday, Teague won the 152-pound championship at the 2020 George Hoover Invitational on Feb. 1 at Liberty High School.
RICK PECK/SPECIAL TO MCDONALD COUNTY PRESS McDonald County's Jack Teague has Isaiah Ragsdale of Marshfield on his back on the way to a third-period pin during the Mustangs' 40-36 loss on Jan. 30 at MCHS. On Saturday, Teague won the 152-pound championship at the 2020 George Hoover Invitational on Feb. 1 at Liberty High School.

It took Jack Teague about three and a half years of his four-year high school wrestling career to win his first tournament. His second came just two weeks later and made history.

Teague won the 152-pound title at the 2020 George Hoover Invitational held on Jan. 31-Feb. 1 at Liberty High School, becoming McDonald County's first-ever winner of an individual title at the prestigious tournament in the five years McDonald county has competed at the event.

"Jack obviously had a great tournament," said coach Josh Factor. "He pinned his way through the bracket and had some great wins. He got a pin over the kid (Will Locke) from Kearney in the semifinals. It's always nice to get a win over a quality Class 3 opponent. He got into some trouble in the finals against the Fort Osage kid (Jeremiah Phillips). He had to bridge off his back but was able to bounce back and get the pin."

Teague improved his season record to 38-4.

McDonald County had two others make the finals, but both had to settle for second place.

Oscar Ortiz took second at 132 pounds. Levi Smith did the same at 120 pounds.

Ortiz won both of his pool matches by pin before winning by technical fall (17-2) over Leyton Manley of Kearney in the semifinals.

The win gave Ortiz a shot at Kyle Dutton of Liberty, the top-ranked wrestler in Class 4, in the finals.

Ortiz trailed Dutton 6-5 in the third period before electing to allow Dutton to escape to give the McDonald County senior a chance to tie the match with a takedown.

Instead, Dutton got the takedown before Ortiz escaped to make the final 9-6.

"Oscar wrestled him tough," Factor said. "It was a one-point match in the last 45 seconds. We could have taken a one-point loss, but we let Dutton up to go for the win. You always want to put your guys in a situation where they have a chance to win."

Smith had the biggest challenge of any of the Mustangs in the finals when he faced Jeremiah Reno, ranked sixth in the nation, who improved to 37-0 win the first-period pin.

"Levi had pins all the way through the tournament and then ran into Reno in the finals," Factor said. "It was a good match for Levi to have the chance to see that type of competition."

Eh Doh Say added a third at 113 pounds, winning the third-place match by pin over Marcus Wilson of Raytown South who had beaten the McDonald county senior by a 7-5 decision in a pool match.

Jordan Meador (138) and McCoy Ikosia (220) both took fifth place. Meador went 0-2 in his pool but bounced back with two pins in the consolation bracket.

Ikosia defeated Zach Olson of Kearney by pin in the fifth-place match after Olson had pinned Ikosia in a pool match.

Cross Spencer was the only other Mustang to compete. Spencer went 0-4 to take 12th place.

Liberty won the team title with 415 points, followed by Kearney with 252.5, Belton 234, Fort Osage 204, Liberty North 189, Grain Valley 160.5, McDonald County 153.3, William Chrisman 106, Lincoln High 81, Raytown South 71, Liberty JV 40.5, North Kansas City 40, Grain Valley JV 14, Kearney JV 9, Liberty North JV 9 and Lincoln JV 9.

McDonald County closes out its regular season on Feb. 6 at Carl Junction. The Mustangs will compete in the Missouri Class 3 District 3 tournament on Feb. 13-14 at Willard High School.

Marshfield

Marshfield rallied for a 40-36 win over McDonald County during a special afternoon match-up on Jan. 30 in front of the MCHS student body.

Winning for the Mustangs by pin were Eh Doh Say, Levi Smith, Jordan Meador, Oscar Ortiz, Jack Teague and McCoy Ikosia.

Girls

At the Big 8 Girls Wrestling Tournament held on Feb.1 at Marshfield High School, McDonald County's Kaylee Eberley took second and Jackie Grider took third.

Eberley went 2-1 at 152 pounds, while Grider went 1-2 at 166 pounds.

Sports on 02/06/2020