Olathe ? Knocked unconscious at last week’s Sunflower League wrestling meet, a conscious Justin Stevens was determined to compete in the Class 6A regional championship match on Saturday against Olathe South’s Justin Dyer.

Stevens competed and lost, 11-4, to Dyer in the 189-pound final at Olathe South High. But, hey, Stevens was thrilled just to be wrestling again after he was taken away on a stretcher last week after he butted heads with Dyer in the league final.

“Earlier in the week the coaches and I discussed making it to the finals and taking the forfeit (against Dyer),” said Stevens, ranked No. 2 in his weight class behind Dyer. “That’s a cheap way to go out. I love wrestling. I didn’t come here to forfeit.”

He came to face Dyer for the second time this season. Dyer, headed to Oklahoma University on a wrestling scholarship, is now 35-0 this seasons and 131-3 in his prep career. The two-time state champion has won 89 consecutive matches.

While recovering from a concussion, Stevens didn’t have any physical contact in practice all last week.

“I had to sit out practice and I started thinking about the possibility I wasn’t going to be able to go,” said Stevens, one of seven Firebirds to qualify for next weekend’s state tournament in Wichita. “Being out of practice for a week, you’re never going to be at your full potential. Overall, I wrestled fairly well.”

Stevens is now 32-2 with both losses to Dyer.

“We were a little bit iffy on how Justin would come out,” FSHS coach Darrell Andrew said. “We thought he might be a little bit timid. We thought he stayed in the match pretty well and stuck to his game plan.

“Justin is a competitor. He wanted to see Dyer before the state tournament. I think it was a good match for Justin (Stevens). It gave him an opportunity to see what Justin Dyer likes to do.”

Matt Somers (119), Kyle Frank (171) and Ian B(215) also placed second for the Firebirds. Other FSHS state qualifiers were third-place finishers Kyle Case (130) and Anthony White (135) plus fourth-place finisher Nick McGovern (160).

“We really came in here thinking we could get 11 and maybe 12 (to state),” said Andrew, whose squad was battling the flu bug. “Things just didn’t quite go our way today. We wrestled a little bit flat and a little lazy at times. This time of season you can’t wrestle flat and lazy.”

FSHS, now in its fifth season, had qualified eight for state in each of its first four years.

“We were kind of wanting to break that jinx by going the other way, but we went under by one,” Andrew said.

In the 171 final, Frank lost a 6-4 overtime decision to Olathe East’s Jeff Schieber in a rematch of the league championship won by Frank. Schieber scored two points on a takedown with 17 seconds left in OT to win the regional.

In the 215 final, Olathe North’s Josh Carroll beat B 7-5, in a match that featured separate stalling calls against both wrestlers and a simultaneous stalling call. Carroll, the defending 6A state champ at 215, took the lead for good at 5-4 when Bwas penalized for a push after the referee blew his whistle.

“I wrestled terrible,” said a frustrated B who is 1-2 against Carroll this season. “He won’t wrestle me. He just backs up.”

B the lone wrestler to beat the 25-1 Carroll, wouldn’t be surprised to see the O-North wrestler in the state final next weekend. Blost to Carroll in last year’s final.

“If everything goes the way it should, we’ll wrestle again,” he said. “I’ll have tough matches and he will, too. We both know how to turn it on at state.”

Lawrence High junior Chris Hultine shed a little blood to earn a regional title. Hultine scored two quick points on a takedown in the first period of his 135-pound championship, had his nose bloodied in the second period and hung on for a 5-4 victory over Leavenworth’s Greg Macey.

“I guess I surprised him,” Hultine said of the quick start. “I caught him off guard.”

Hultine, a three-time state qualifier and the city’s lone regional champion, is 26-8 heading to state.

“I hoped he proved to himself what we’ve been telling him all year long,” LHS coach Jeff Tummons said. “When he’s on the offense he’s hard to beat. He’s great on his feet.”

Other LHS state qualifiers were regional runner-ups Aaron Madill (160) and Kenny Poeverlein II (275). Madill, first at Sunflower League last week, lost 13-5 to Leavenworth’s Josh Johnston, ranked fourth in Class 6A, in the regional final. Johnston didn’t wrestle at league because he was taking an ACT.

“Josh Johnston is the guy to shoot for at 160 this year,” Tummons said. “160 is probably the toughest weight class in 6A just like it was last year. That weight is stacked.”

Poeverlein was pinned by Olathe North’s Adam Venegas 39 seconds into the championship match.

Team scoring: Olathe South 142, Olathe East 1211/2, Topeka 1151/2, Leavenworth 1051/2, Olathe North 105, Free State 104, Topeka Washburn Rural 70, Lawrence 57.

Championship Matches

103 Kevin Gray, Top., pinned John Lucynski, Leav. 112 Ryan Parks, ON, def. Corey Wright, OE, 9-5. 119 David Sielert, OS, pinned Matt Somers, FS. 125 Dane Jordan, ON, def. Aaron Bartels, OE, 4-3.

130 Mike Witherell, Top., def. Mark Ginn, OE, 2-1. 135 Chris Hultine, Law, def. Greg Macey, Leav., 5-4. 140 Travis Short, WR, def. Matt Stealey, OS, 6-4 OT. 145 Stephen Kirby-Hill, OS, def. Aaron Ziadeh, 11-5. 152 Matt Brungardt, Top., def. Seth Day, OE, 12-5. 160 Josh Johnston, Leav., def. Aaron Madill, Law, 13-5. 171 Jeff Schieber, OE, def. Kyle Frank, FS, 6-4 OT. 189 Justin Dyer, OS, def. Justin Stevens, FS, 11-4. 215 Josh Carroll, ON, def. Ian B FS, 7-5. 275 Adam Venegas, ON, pinned Kenny Poeverlein II, Law.

Third-Place Matches

103 Lawrence Worthem, WR, pinned Stephen Russell, OE. 112 Chino Elsrode, OS, pinned Andy Flemming, WR. 119 Jason Gilchrist, OE, def. Trevon Ewing, WR, 7-1. 125 Mark Bezy, Leav., def. Eric Nobert, OS, 10-3. 130 Kyle Case, FS, pinned Shane Neundorf, Leav. 135 Athony White, FS, def. Josh Goodman, 9-3. 140 Chris Volle, Top., def. Mike Weilbacher, Leav., 11-3. 145 Lonnie Singular, OE, def. David Torres, Top., 14-5. 152 Conor Fitzgerald, OS, def. Brian Bartlett, ON by default. 160 Matt Jerousek, ON, def. Nick McGovern, FS, 7-3. 171 Baron Thompson, Leav., def. Roberto Cruz, 16-9. 189 Russell Washington, Top., pinned Jeff Westerhaus. 215 Josh Ault, OS, def. Eric Seim, WR, by default. 275 Matt Foster, Top, pinned Anthony Miracle, Leav.