Hornets sending seven wrestlers to state championships

ST. CHARLES, Mo. - When some emphatic prodding was required, Fulton head wrestling coach Eric Hudson doubled down.

The Hornets responded to Hudson's forceful call, advancing seven of their eight wrestlers to this week's state championships as the Class 2, District 2 championships wrapped up Saturday at St. Charles West High School.

"I probably was after the kids more over the past two days than I have been all year long," Hudson said Sunday afternoon. "I was a lot more demanding and more demonstrative, in trying to get them to do what they needed to do to be successful in those given moments.

"My message to them when we were leaving (Saturday) was, 'I need you to to go out there focused and give your best effort every time, because when you don't, I think that I've messed up - I didn't get you prepared, I didn't do what I needed to do.'"

Fulton - which was the defending, two-time District 2 champion - finished fifth with 115 points. The top three spots were monopolized by North Central Missouri Conference associates of the Hornets - rival Mexico secured the team championship with 209 points, Moberly followed in second with 197.5 and Kirksville was third with 117.

The top four finishers in each weight class will move on to the Class 2 state championships, which start Thursday morning at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.

The Hornets' state qualifiers were led by senior Brandon Dews' district title at 126 pounds and junior Tucker Caswell's second-place finish at 132. Dews earned his second straight district championship after winning at 120 pounds in 2016, while Caswell was also a runner-up at 113 last year.

A trio of Fulton wrestlers moved on Saturday with third-place finishes - junior Colton Bristol at 170 pounds, freshman Jackson Caswell at 106 and junior Solomon Huff at 120. Senior Devan Hudson and junior Jacob Kern both advanced by taking fourth at 138 and 145 pounds, respectively.

Dews and Devan Hudson are both four-time state qualifiers, while Tucker Caswell will be making his third consecutive trip and Bristol will be returning for a second straight year. Jackson Caswell, Kern and Huff will all be making their first appearance.

"If we had to strike a deal and shake somebody's hand, and they told me I could take seven of eight (to state), I would have probably said OK," Eric Hudson said with a laugh.

Dews (26-5) plowed through his bracket at 126 pounds with three pins in a row, topping it off by putting away Moberly junior Jack Morgan (27-18) in 1 minute, 12 seconds in the first-place match.

"Brandon looked a lot better, looked a lot more aggressive," Hudson said. " I was happy with what I saw out of him. He looked a lot more loose, he looked right again, so that was good to see."

Tucker Caswell (33-3) easily reached the finals at 132 pounds, prevailing by pin in his first-round match and then putting together a pair of decisive technical-fall victories. His march to a title, though, was thwarted in a 6-3 loss to Winfield junior Ben Provost (25-3) in the championship.

"I felt like for a majority of the match - I would say 75 percent of the match - we were the one who was being aggressive and trying to attack, and doing things, and we were making him counter what we were doing," Hudson said. "Then Tucker just made a pretty critical error when we were in on the leg and got beat in that position, and ended up giving up a couple of near-fall points on our way through it.

"We just couldn't recover from that and there wasn't enough time left to do much with it. Maybe we get that match again, but we're going to have to see it in the (state) finals."

Bristol (16-5) battled his way back from a first-round loss to take third at 170 pounds by pinning St. Charles West sophomore Tristan Hachtel (21-23) in 1:26. Jackson Caswell (26-9) came in third at 106 pounds with a 7-3 decision over Moberly sophomore Deshaun Smith (34-7), while Huff (22-15) pinned Soldan sophomore Trevon Robinson (33-6) in 4:08 to pick up a third-place triumph at 120.

Devan Hudson (19-16) finished fourth at 138 pounds after dropping a 7-2 decision to Kirksville senior James Allen George (24-11) in the third-place match. Hudson was also pinned by George in 2:40 in the quarterfinals.

Kern (16-11) was fourth at 145 pounds after bowing in a 6-3 decision to St. Charles West sophomore Trevor Hachtel (30-15) in the third-place match.