The Jefferson City Jays and the Helias Crusaders entered Wednesday night's wrestling dual each having decided advantages.
The Crusaders are strong in the lower weights, while the Jays figured to have the edge in the upper weights. So it looked like a few matches in the middle would go a long way in deciding the winner of the latest edition of the crosstown showdown.
With a couple of tweaks to their lineup, the Jays won those matches and defeated the Crusaders 41-28 at Fleming Fieldhouse.
"We knew we had to do a couple of things to benefit us," Jays coach Phil Cagle said. "This was a big win for us. We have so much respect for Helias and we knew it would be tough."
For the Crusaders, it was a matter of coming up short a couple of times.
"We couldn't win what we knew were going to be some of the close matches and that was the difference," Helias coach Weston Keleher said. "We needed one upset win and we just couldn't get that one we needed."
Helias won five of the first six matches to take a 24-4 lead. Gavin Adams at 106 pounds, Aleksey Salaz at 126 and Evan Winder at 132 all won by fall in the run for the Crusaders.
"We started off rolling," Keleher said. "Those kids have shown up every dual and showed up again tonight."
That got the dual to 145 pounds, where Will Kuster began Jefferson City's comeback with a second-period fall.
"Will's not a pinner," Cagle said. "That was a good win for him."
The Jays weighed in two wrestlers - Sam Rackers and Will Berendzen - at 152. Cagle sent Berendzen out to take on Jackson Careaga of Helias. Careaga picked up what turned out to be Helias' last win of the night with a 15-5 major decision.
Rackers then went out at 160 to face Dustin Luebbert of the Crusaders.
"Whoever Rackers was going to wrestle, we knew that was going to be the swing match," Keleher said.
Rackers led 2-1 after the first period, then extended his advantage to 5-2 heading to the third. Luebbert scored an escape to make it 5-3 and got a late penalty point as Rackers posted a 5-4 victory.
"We knew Dustin's style can frustrate you at times and that's a good thing for Sam to go through because he may see someone like that again in districts or at state," Cagle said.
The Jays then bumped up their next three wrestlers a weight class. Helias had the first of its three opens in the final five weights at 170 as Gabe Zimmerman of Jefferson City picked up the win.
"We did what we thought we'd do after that," Cagle said.
Dawson Prenger then won by fall at 182 before Brant Aulber won 12-3 at 195 to give the Jays their first lead of the night at 29-28.
"The Jays are a great group of wrestlers that are well-coached," Keleher said. "That showed up on the mat tonight."
Brandon Backues at 220 and Mathias Wieberg at 285 closed the night with wins by forfeit for the Jays.
"They had guys they could have put in there, but I think the outcome would have been the same," Cagle said. "But you can't think about getting those points beforehand, you have to take things one match at a time, what can benefit the team the most and that's how we do things."
Jack Lage at 113 and Randy Salaz at 138 had Helias' other wins. Lage won 7-3, while Salaz was a 7-6 winner in his first match since being injured in a tri-dual last week in Wardsville.
"It was nice to see him back after that scare," Keleher said. "It was nice to see Randy to go out there and grind it out with a win."
Jefferson City's early win came at 120, where Christian Strope posted a 14-2 victory.
"He's come a long way," Cagle said. "He kept being aggressive and kept trying to score points."
The Jays have won nine of the last 10 regular-season duals against the Crusaders.
"They have some good things going on over there, they have a great freshman class and that means there should be some great battles with them for the next few years," Cagle said.
The Jays and Crusaders are both scheduled to be in tournaments Friday and Saturday. Jefferson City will wrestle at Hickman, while Helias will travel to Platte County.
In Wednesday night's JV dual, the Jays posted a 59-12 win against the Crusaders.