Michael Smith It was gut check time for DC Gold.
The team went 6-1 in the blue pool to qualify for the gold bracket during the 2022 Summer Scuffle Tournament at Gardner-Edgerton High School.
DC Gold made it to the gold division along with Southwest Missouri, Team St. Louis and Tongie Red in the 16-team tournament.
DC Gold’s one loss came against a loaded Team St. Louis team that had wrestlers from Whitfield High School, a storied program with 11 state championships.
After falling to St. Louis 46-28, DC Gold got its revenge in the gold bracket with a 43-36 victory. It also defeated Tongie Red 54-19 and Southwest Missouri 48-28 to take first place.
Wrestler Interviews:
- Pierce Cunningham, St. Thomas Aquinas
- Rio Gomez, Newton
- DC Gold coach Luke Edwards
- Keon Edwards, Newton
- Tyler Pankey, Tonganoxie
- Asher Englert, Baldwin
Team St. Louis took second and Southwest Missouri took third.
“In the first dual we had today, we lost, and I think the kids just stepped it up after that,” DC Gold coach Luke Edwards said. “They said, ‘OK. We need to ramp it up.
“There were some duals that we lost against St. Louis and we flipped some of those matches. They wrestled really tough. It was a pleasure to have them.”
The tournament started with two pools with eight teams each, using a round-robin style bracket. The top two teams of each pool advanced to the gold pool; the third- and fourth-place team went to the silver bracket; the fifth- and sixth-place teams went to the bronze bracket; and the bottom two teams competed in the copper bracket.
DC Gold was led by its heavyweights, Pierce Cunningham (220) and Rio Gomez (285) as both finished 10-0.
Gomez earned the most Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament in the upper weight class and did so by pinning every opponent he faced.
“I love wrestling during the summer and love doing extra work,” said Gomez, who wrestles for Newton High School.
“They definitely showed up today. We all had to try and give 110 percent effort and we did it.”
Cunningham had a few close calls in some of his matches, including a 5-3 and 7-4 decision, but still finished the day unbeaten.
“I feel like I wrestled really well. I had a lot of stamina,” Cunningham said. “I tried some new things and it ended up working out for me. I tried some new shots and was a little more aggressive.”
His teammate, Keon Edwards (182), also had a great day, finishing with an 8-2 record which included two pins.
“The competition was pretty good,” Edwards said. “A lot of my matches were close. I had a match where I lost by one point and another where I won by one point.”
The other top DC Gold performers were Jeremu
“My team was great,” Edwards said. “We had some 3A and 4A guys and a couple of 5A guys. But the whole team did great, a great team to be a part of.”
Jeremy Welch (8-2, 98 pounds), Keith Sanders (8-2, 113), Joshua Kozminski (7-3, 126), Kevin Honas (8-2, 132), Kohen Wright (9-1, 138), Zach Rohrbough (8-1, 160) and Jack Harvey (9-1, 195).
