Tigers show strong performance at Harrisonville

Scotty Bough works toward a pin against Saint Joseph-Benton's Brody Conray in the first bracket match of the Harrisonville Holiday tournament at 145 pounds. Bough went on to place second. --Photos By Steve Brier/Special to the Daily Mail

"We're going to be a tournament team." Nevada High School wrestling coach Devin White has made it widely known throughout the year that the short roster his team has battled from the start would cause substantial struggles in dual competition, but success in tournaments would be the main feather in the Tigers' cap this year.

That has turned out to be a very prophetic statement throughout the season as the Tigers have continually struggled to work their way through the dual season, but have already taken three tournaments by storm in 2009. The Midwest's biggest tournament of the season, the Harrisonville Holiday Tournament, was no exception.

The 24-team field that sports competition from four different states has made the tournament that took place this past Friday and Saturday one of the biggest regular-season high school wrestling tournaments in the nation, but the Tigers remained undeterred as they headed into the tournament with the same attitude as they always have...win. Two Tigers did exactly that as Todd Brier and Tanner Charles both took first place in their respective brackets.

Dominic Habjan earns back points against Jason Abernathy, Clinton, during the second day of action at the Harrisonville Holiday tournament. Habjan won the match 14 - 4.

In the 160-pound bracket, Brier continued the dominant performance he shown all year as he earned the top seed and cruised his way through the bracket, winning six of his seven matches by pin. Charles was seeded second at 103 and had a similar showing as he won five of his seven matches by pin on his way to a first-place finish.

Two other Tigers earned top-three finishes in the tournament as senior Scotty Bough posted a strong 6-0 record heading into the championship match before he was defeated by a final score of 13-3 by Brookfield's Gary Lindsay. Freshman Slade Stiles showed a similar performance in the 103-pound bracket as he won his first six matches before dropping a 9-8 decision to Baldwin City's Bryce Shoemaker in the semifinal match. Stiles rebounded quickly and defeated Pleasant Hill's Kolton Ross 6-5 to take third place.

Senior Dominic Habjan posted a 5-3 record in the tournament to take sixth, while sophomore Zach Shepherd went 4-4 to take eighth place. Junior Steven Palmer took 12th while sophomore Kyle Bennett rebounded from five straight losses to win his last three bouts of the tournament and finished 17th.

Sophomore Tanner Charles works for position against Tate Smith of Seneca in the 112-pound finals at the Harrisonville Holiday tournament. Charles won by pin in overtime.

As a team, the Tigers took 11th in the tournament with 506 points, despite having five open weight classes. Kirksville High School (Mo.) won the tournament with an overall score of 910.5.

That tournament was the last action for the Tigers until early January, when they get back into dual competition, heading to Bolivar on Jan. 7.