Free State High honored its senior wrestlers before the Firebirds' final home double-dual, but it was a sophomore who got things going Wednesday night at FSHS.
Brett Shoffner's 5-2 decision over Shawnee Mission East's Bobby Gillenwater lit a fire in a Firebird squad that went on to win the rest of its matches in a 57-18 dual victory.
"We were real lackadaisical tonight," said FSHS coach Darrell Andrew, whose team also defeated Shawnee Mission Northwest 46-26 Wednesday. "I think tonight they knew they were flat, but we still got the two wins.
"They know they're not where they want to be," Andrew said of his squad's goals. "But if they can still win even when they're a little off, then when they get to where they want to be that'll give them a world of confidence."
Free State didn't start off slow as two forfeits and a pin gave the Firebirds an 18-0 lead.
But the Lancers came back with two pins and two decisions mixed around a FSHS win by forfeit to trail by six, 24-18, going into the 152-pound match.
After two periods, Shoffner and Gillenwater were tied at two. But a quick escape in the third and a late take down gave Shoffner the victory.
"I was pretty much sucking wind," said Shoffner. "I kind of was even stalling pretty bad, and I know I could of done better. But I'm really happy that my match kind of got things started."
Did it ever.
Free State's Nick McGovern and Kyle Frank followed Shoffner's victory with consecutive pins before senior Justin Stevens put on the best performance of the dual.
Stevens toyed with SM East's Mark Robinson. He scored a quick takedown, quickly allowed Robinson up for an escape and then took him down again. After a handful of these maneuvers, Stevens improved his undefeated record to 26-0 when he lifted Robinson high in the air and quickly slammed him before pinning Robinson shortly thereafter.
Free State ended the match by picking up another pin and forfeit.
The dual with Shawnee Mission Northwest was even uglier as the Firebirds started slow.
FSHS lost its first two matches by pins before Matt Somers picked up a win by forfeit.
Cougars' Blake Trullinger scored a technical fall over Adam Berg but Free State senior Kyle Case's major decision over Mike Goodman brought the Firebirds within 17-10.
Still SMNW wouldn't go away. Corey Lang's pin over Ryan Johnson gave the Cougars its biggest lead at 13 points.
Free State answered with back-to-back sticks of its own and trailed by one.
But Shoffner couldn't defeat Ryan Hill and SMNW went ahead 26-22.
That was SMNW's last lead. McGovern pinned David Foster as the buzzer sounded in the first period and the Cougars forfeited their remaining matches.
"It was pretty slow tonight," Stevens said. "But its a little hard to get as pumped as we were for our last match against LHS.
"Still a win is a win, and that's always satisfying on senior night."
The seniors honored Wednesday were Stevens, Kyle Case, Anthony White, Ian Brk, Brenton Bartz and managers Billy Metz and Courntey Vescio.
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