Big day for Van Buren, Riverdale's Phelps at BVC tourney

VAN BUREN --For Riverdale 144-pounder Grady Phelps, it was a day of dominance. For the Van Buren wrestling team, it was one of celebration. As the top seeded grappler in a seven-person bracket, Phelps -- who placed fifth at state last year as a freshman – lived up to his reputation as one of the area's best. "Just going out there and wrestling my match," Phelps said of his thought process going in. "Don't give up anything. Just score some points." He did all of that Saturday. Phelps scored a 15-0 technical fall over McComb's Colton Smith in the semifinals, then recorded a 16-1 technical fall over Van Buren's Brooks Hill for the 144-pound crown. For his efforts, Phelps was named the conference's wrestler of the year. "It's pretty cool," Phelps said of the award. "Not my biggest goal, but it's just one of them." The Black Knights – who hosted the meet – achieved their goal, winning their first BVC team championship since 2020. Van Buren, paced by a pair of first-place finishers in 157-pounder Tommy Basinger and the 175-pound Drew Phillips, finished with 150 ½ points, 10 points better than Elmwood and Liberty-Benton, who tied for second. Liberty-Benton had won the previous five BVC team championships. "It really means a lot," said Van Buren coach Roman Williams. "Obviously, L-B's been on a 5-streak here … for us to take it is really nice, with that rivalry that's been created." Basinger, who usually wrestles at 165 pounds, dropped weight to compete in the 157-pound class. He got a bye into the semifinal, where he pinned Cory-Rawson's Conner Niese in 3:24. In the final, Basinger doubled up Liberty-Benton's Jimmy Eisentanger, 8-4. "It was a really good match," Basinger said of the final with Eisentanger. "(I) felt really good, working on my offense and stopping his shots, getting on my defense really well and scrambling. Just feeling good today." Williams praised Basinger's willingness to shift weight classes. "He knew he had a really good shot to win a title," Williams said. (He was) really sacrificing for the team, suffering for the team, and that's really what we preach here. Tommy's been a leader for us, doing that." Phillips, meanwhile, scored a pin over Ada's Ethan Carl in the semifinal in 57 seconds. In the 175-pound final against Liberty-Benton's Austin Collert, the Black Knights' senior was taken to his back early and faced a 6-0 deficit. Phillips recovered, and stuck Collert in 1:43. "(Those were) some points we really needed," Williams said. Van Buren had an advantage coming into the tournament. It was the only school that had all 14 weight classes filled. The Black Knights had five wrestlers finish as runners-up, and two more (Landon Miller, 190 pounds and Cooper Hanna, 132 pounds) finish in third, helping VB gain valuable points in the team standings. "Everybody had to contribute, everyone had to bring something to the table for us to win by 10," Williams said. "There were a lot of dudes –I could name everyone, top to bottom – who stepped up and got the job done today. I'm just really proud of these guys." Liberty-Benton had three champions, starting with 165-pounder Ben Beard. The senior – who just started wrestling as a sophomore – flattened Van Buren's Brody Noon in the quarterfinal in 19 seconds, then pinned Cory-Rawson's Kaedyn Witteman in 28 seconds to reach the final. There, Beard went against Elmwood's Luke Carr, and recorded a 19-3 technical fall. Another Eagles' title came at 215 pounds, where Andrew Berger notched a pin on Elmwood's Adler Schuh in the semi, then topped Van Buren's Luke Martin by an 11-2 major decision. L-B's Maddyx Vermillion scored three falls – over McComb's Kaydin Hedges-Sawinski,Elmwood's Christopher Clark Jr. and Arcadia's Zach Alltvater – to claim the 285-pound title. This was Liberty-Benton's final BVC tournament; the Eagles will join the Northern Lakes League next season. "It's bittersweet, right? Because this is our last time in the BVC," said L-B coach Chad Marzec. "We have work to do. And I think the exciting thing for our team is they are bought into the process, and we're just gonna use this as a data point, and learn from it and grow from it. Hopefully, we'll give a better product next week." Like L-B, Elmwood – a runner up at this tournament in each of the last two seasons –had three individual champions. In the 106-pound weight class, there were only three competitors. The Royals' Zechariah Peterson took the title with a pinfall of Ada's Carter Dunlap and a 15-1 major decision against Arcadia's Chandler Derck. At 132 pounds, Elmwood's Zachary Schafer got a bye into the semifinals, then pinned Hanna in 1:45 to reach the final, where he flattened Arcadia's Kelan Derck in 2:33. In the 138-pound class – which had a full bracket and no byes – the Royals' Evan Strausbaugh gave an impressive performance on the way to the crown. He recorded a 15-0 technical fall on McComb's Ada's Kale Peterson in the quarterfinal, then pinned McComb's Carter Stallings in 3:00, and Van Buren's Jacob Harrington in 1:52. Arcadia finished with 98 ½ points to take fourth in the team standings. Its lone titlist was 150-pounder Kale Price. Price collected a 14-0 major decision over the Royals' Ryken Ziegler in the semi, then secured the 150-pound crown by defeating McComb's Brody Gallagher by default. That victory was Price's 100th in his career. "It's exciting," the junior said. "It's been a lot of work, so I'm proud to see it all pay off." Cory-Rawson, a member of the Northwest Central Conference, competed at the BVC meet for the second straight year, since the NWCC doesn't have a wrestling tournament. The Hornets, on the strength of a pair of individual titles from 113-pounder Zyven Smith and 120-pounder Hayden Walters, took fifth with 58 points. The 113-pound class consisted of two participants, and Smith only wrestled the championship match, pinning Van Buren's Jackson Genzman in 56 seconds. At 120 pounds, there were three wrestlers, and Walters collected a pair of victories, scoring a 16-2 major decision over L-B's Connor Kennedy, then pinning Van Buren's Max Wagner in 1:04. Ada placed sixth in the team standings with 52 points. The Bulldogs' top performance came at 126 pounds, where Silas Riblet pinned Van Buren's Keegan Martin (3:56) and Arcadia's Wade Trout (1:36) on his way to a title. Kydin Reed picked up Riverdale's second title of the day. This one came at 190 pounds, and helped the Falcons finish eighth with 45 points. Riverdale placed just behind McComb (47.5). Reed wrestled two matches, pinning Elmwood's Gabriel Schafer in the semifinal in 1:05, and then flattening Liberty-Benton's Aden Bates in 2:57. Pandora-Gilboa –whose top placer was 165-pounder Maddux Blank, who took third—placed ninth in the team standings with 15 ½ points. North Baltimore – which, like Cory-Rawson, is an NWCC school – competed but didn't have a placer. Williams, who was named the BVC coach of the year, said the tournament was very tough. "(It's) one of the most competitive leagues since I've been here, top to bottom," he said. "Riverdale's got some really good kids, Arcadia has really good kids, Elmwood and Liberty-Benton have really good teams. The addition of Ada (to the BVC) has been really good. "For us to come in and take care of business was really, really awesome."