The Emporia High wrestling team opened up their postseason at the 5A Boys Wrestling West Regional at Ravenscroft Gym at Newton High School Friday. The action started quickly with four wrestlers on the mat to open the event in preliminary round matches.
- Kevin Cubias got the Black & Red started strong with a pin with 1:10 left in the first in the 157 pound bracket.
- Landon Wohletz dominated his match in the preliminary of 138 pounds winning with a 16-1 technical fall.
- Braxton Malone couldn’t get anything going in his prelim in a 17-1 technical fall loss at 144 pounds.
- Mateo Boldgridge was pinned 25 seconds into his match at 120 pounds.
In the first round:
- at 106 lbs., No. 5 seed freshman Walker Metcalf was upset by an unseeded freshman from Hutchinson 16-2 in a match stopped several times for cuts.
- No. 8 seed Kolton Wyatt advanced with a thrilling first round victory at 113 pounds. EHS led 5-0 after 1, but the lead was trimmed after a good second round by his opponent from Salina South. Wyatt scored a three-point takedown (the NFHS changed the scoring from two to three points for 2024-25) to lead 11-10 with 1:20 to go. The two continued to roll with multiple two-point reversals in the final 20 seconds as Wyatt survived with an exciting 16-13 victory.
- No. 6 Holden Timmons had no trouble in his first match at 126 pounds with a 16-1 technical fall victory with four seconds left in the second period against his opponent from Maize South.
- No. 11 Jackson Goodman had a 5-0 lead in his match through two but was pinned after starting on top in the third against the No. 6 seed from Maize South.
- No. 5 Dustin Dobson had no issues in his match pinning his opponent from Goddard Eisenhower with 58 seconds left in the first.
- Cubias returned for his first-round match and fell behind 9-0 to start before getting on the board with a reversal. He appeared to be in top position, but his opponent leveraged his position for a pin.
- No. 9 Garrett LeBlanc fought to a scoreless tie through two minutes in his first-round match at 165 pounds. His opponent from Arkansas City started down in the second and LeBlanc picked up a reversal to go up 2-0. He then traded reversals and tacked on a four-point near fall in the final 20 seconds of the frame to lead 6-2 through two. LeBlanc started in the down position in the third and reversed to follow up with a four-point near fall to go up 12-2. Ark City reversed near the end of the match but it was too late as LeBlanc advanced 12-4.
- No. 8 seed Tayton Ervin grabbed two takedowns and a near fall against Valley Center in his first round match at 175 lbs. to lead 10-0 after the first. He went on to win via technical fall 16-0 with three seconds to go in the second.
- Pedro Padierna was pinned with 56 seconds left in the first in his first round match at 190 lbs. against Arkansas City.
- Fermando Arzate only managed an escape with four seconds to go in the first round at 215 lbs. and dropped a 12-1 decision in the 215 lb. bracket against Salina Central.
- No. 4 seed Jose Vargas received a bye in the heavyweight division.
Two Spartans returned for their second match of the day in the consolation side of the preliminary bracket.
- Boldridge trailed 3-1 through the first period before scoring a takedown against his opponent from Andover Central, but he was reversed and pinned 25 seconds later to be the first Spartan eliminated from the tournament.
- Malone scored a takedown four seconds into his match for the only points in the first two minutes. Salina South scored a reversal but Malone escaped to lead 4-2 through two periods. Malone scored a takedown and tacked on a near fall to take a commanding 11-4 lead, but his opponent reversed for a pin just moments later.
Kolton Wyatt led off the quarterfinal round for E-High.
- But he was no match for top-seed from Goddard who won by pinfall with 1:08 to wrestle in the first.
- Holden Timmons gave up a takedown to Goddard late in the first and escaped. He was taken down again, but scored a reversal to beat the horn and trail 6-3 at the end of the first. Goddard scored another takedown early in the second that Timmons reversed, but he gave up his back and and a pin moments later.
- Wohletz fell by technical fall to the top seed from Maize South 19-4 with 1:01 to go in the first.
- Dobson gave up a takedown to the host Newton in the final 30 seconds of the first and trailed 9-1 going into the third. He scored a takedown with 75 seconds to go and intentionally gave up an escape looking to score, but couldn’t find the scoreboard again falling 10-4.
- LeBlanc suffered defeat by pinfall 38 seconds into his quarterfinal match against hte top seed from Hutchinson.
- Ervin frustrated the top seed from Hays trailing 3-0 through one. Hays started down and immediately reversed into a cradle pin in the second.
- Vargas earned the Spartans’ first ticket to state in his quarterfinal match in the heavyweight division. He and his opponent from Hays each traded escapes to level the match at 1-all before Vargas scored the match-winning takedown with 12 seconds to go. He pinned his opponent, but it was ruled to come after the horn and he settled for a two-point near fall and a 6-2 victory.
In the first round of the consolation bracket:
- Metcalf made short work of his opponent from Kapaun Mt. Carmel with a first-period pin.
- Goodman took a 3-0 lead against Arkansas City in the first, gave up a reversal with less than 10 seconds to go in the second, before escaping with 1 second on the clock to take a 4-2 lead to the third. Goodman started in the down position and earned a quick reversal and four-point near fall and wasn’t threatened again on the way to a 10-2 triumph.
- Cubias was steady against Salina Central and there was no scoring through one period. Central scored a late reversal with nine seconds to go in the second to take a 2-0 lead to the third. He gave up position late in the period and was pinned with 1:00 to go in the match to be eliminated from the postseason.
- Arzate wrestled to a scoreless tie through one before starting down in the second and giving up a four-point near fall. He reversed it but his Arkansas City opponent scored a takedown and another near fall for a commanding 12-2 lead through two. Arzate got back on the board with a takedown with less than a minute to go before getting reversed. Arzate tallied again but ran out of time and was eliminated 18-7.
Vargas was the only Spartan in the championship semifinals. Similar to his quarterfinal match, the first period was a scoreless stalemate. Vargas started down in the second and slowly wiggled free for a one-point escape midway through the period and that’s where the score stayed at the end of two. Vargas’ opponent from Andover Central escaped almost immediately in the second frame. With less than 40 seconds to go in the third, Vargas appeared to slip and was taken down and pinned moments later. He falls to the semifinals of the consolation bracket on Saturday but has still punched his ticket to state.
Head coach Brook Medrano was happy with the results of day one.
He said the message to the guys returning for Saturday is simple.
The Spartans have all but four wrestlers alive for qualification to state. Day two begins at 9:00 a.m. Saturday. Reports will begin just after 10:00 a.m. and continue as needed on 1400 AM & 96.9 FM KVOE.
