Wrestling coverboys continue dominant seasons

There are dozens of outstanding wrestlers that could've been the focus of the cover features for our new Kansas Pregame Winter Sports Preview released last November. Goddard's Troy Fisher, Derby's Cade Lindsey and Triston Wills, Newton's Wyatt Hendrickson, Eureka's Kendall and Kolby Beitz, and the list goes on and on. Narrowing a list to just four of the top wreslters in the state is challenging, but this weekend's regional tournament results certainly prove that this grappling quartet is among the best in the Sunflower State.

All four are into today's regional championships with all four making quick work of their initial matches.

Nick Davenport, wrestling at 220 pounds in the Beloit 3-2-1A regional, earned a first round bye and then pinned Hoisington junior Cade Boxberger in 1:19 and Stafford senior Laithen Shocklee in :47 seconds to earn a match-up with talented Beloit junior Creighton Johnson. Johnson made quick work of his three opponents with pins in :43, :49 and :38 seconds. Davenport is now 35-0 on the season while Johnson is 31-7. UPDATE: Davenport pinned Johnson with :01 second left in the third period.

Hoisington junior Wyatt Pedigo needed just over a minute on the mat to complete his run to the 195 pound regional championship match in Beloit. Pedigo recorded pins in :35 and :31 seconds to improve to 34-1 on the season. His only loss of the season was at the Bob Kuhn Prairie Classic in Hays to fellow coverboy Taylon Peters. Pedigo will face Beloit senior River Paul who is 30-6 on the year. UPDATE: Pedigo pinned Paul with :01 second left in the first period.

Speaking of Peters, the Salina Central 195 pounder pinned his way to today's regional final in Ark City recording falls in 1:53, :56 and :37 seconds. He'll face Bishop Carroll senior Brady Bockover in the championship match. Bockover was last year's 195 pound 5A state runner-up and is currently ranked third. Peters is 31-2 on the season while Bockover is 34-2. UPDATE: Peters decisioned Bockover 3-2 to win the regional championship.

At the Trego Community regional in WaKeeney, Hoxie 160 pounder Dayton Porsch recorded pins in 1:40 and :13 seconds to cruise to today's regional final match-up with Cimarron's Tate Seabolt, who Porsch pinned earlier this season. Porsch has lost just twice in his high school career. Once this season to Goddard's Trevor Dopps at the loaded Rocky Welton Invitational in Garden City. Porsch is now 36-1 on the season to go with records of 35-0, 33-0 and 36-1 in his prior three high school seasons. Seabolt is 30-2 on the year. UPDATE: Porsch pinned Seabolt in 1:43 to claim the regional championship.

For complete regional wrestling results visit trackwrestling.com.

Check out their cover features by Conor Nicholl from this year's Winter Sports Preview below:

Nick Davenport, Ell-Saline

Brookville/Ell-Saline senior Nick Davenport has strong family support and is an excellent leader. “My family is awesome,” he said. 

It’s helped Davenport excel in all areas, including football, wrestling and scholastically. In school, Davenport has maintained a 4.0 GPA and is involved with Big Brothers, Big Sis-ters.

“I do enjoy leading, just trying to help as many people as I can, especially the younger guys,” Davenport said. “I want to pass on as much information and knowledge as I can.”

Davenport served as Ell-Saline’s standout quarterback/linebacker for two seasons. Helped by work with Salina-based Sharp Performance, he has earned collegiate offers at both positions and has interest from NAIA, DII and Kansas State, and recently signed with Butler Community College where he hopes to get a shot to play quarterback.

His parents, Steve and Nikki, have played a significant role in his career, along with grandparents Buddy and Dona Ludes, and uncles John and Jason Ludes. John is a football assistant and head wrestling coach at Ell-Saline, and Jason has helped with wrestling, too. “I can’t thank them enough,” Davenport said.

In wrestling, Davenport is happy to see Ell-Saline have a team. In the past, the Cardinals have produced individual standouts, notably state champion Tate Omli, but had a co-op with Minneapolis.

“I think it was the most cool thing from last year,” Davenport said of the squad.

Davenport took third at 195 pounds with a 30-1 record last winter. He won his first two matches by fall in a combined 5 minutes, 5 seconds. Then, he lost by fall in 3:09 to Marion’s Kyle Palic in the championship semifinals. Davenport defeat-ed Palic earlier in the season.

Palic fell to Cimarron’s Josh Seabolt, 5-4, in the final. On the backside, Davenport had a victory by disqualification and then a win by fall against Norton’s Hayden Wiltfong, a multi-year state placer.

“We make it work, and we have a lot of good support, and everybody who signs up for wrestling, they are in it for the right reasons, and they are trying to better themselves,” Davenport said. “So it is pretty cool to see what our program has done, and guys like Tate that have kind of started it with co-oping, it’s pretty cool to build off what they have done.”

Wyatt Pedigo, Hoisington

Hoisington has enjoyed a great run of tailbacks and outstanding wrestlers, especially since 2011.

In the last eight years, Hoisington’s run-heavy offense has produced a rusher with more than 1,100 yards each fall. That has included four running backs with more than 1,350 yards.

On the mat, the Cardinals have recently yielded the Ball brothers: Brandon, Jonathan, and Christopher, along with other standouts like Sean, Avery and Landen Urban and Justin Bradley. Brandon captured four state titles, Christopher three and Jonathan one.

Wyatt Pedigo is the latest elite Cardinal. As a sophomore, he won the Class 3-2-1A state championship at 182 pounds. This fall, he rushed for more than 1,870 yards as the Cardi-nals advanced to the Class 2A sub-state title game and tied the best finish in school history.

“Watching them wrestle and run the football growing up, just was very fun to watch them, and it means a lot following in their footsteps,” Pedigo said.

Pedigo has wrestled since he was six years old and qualified for state as a freshman but did not place. Pedigo finished 33-9 and lost two state matches by a combined three points. 

He especially learned from Jonathan and Christopher Ball and Sean Urban. Last winter, Christopher Ball and Pedigo captured titles as Hoisington finished as team state runner-up for the second straight season and fourth occasion in the last seven winters for veteran coach Dan Schmidt.

“Our coaches just drive it in our minds from day one,” Pedigo said. “The guy before us did it, so we have no other choice but to do this.”

Hoisington finished six points behind champion Scott City in a close race.

This fall, Pedigo replaced Sean Urban as the feature back.

“It was fun, because the seniors, I was very close to them, and they were just helping me,” Pedigo said. “Chris and Sean pushed me all year, they just helped me get to the best that I could be.”

In wrestling, Pedigo labeled his reaction time one of his great strengths. He can squat 405 pounds, bench 280 and clean 315. Pedigo went 38-3 as a sophomore and considered himself the favorite entering state.

“I am pretty strong, I like to believe, so just being able to stop people from doing what they want,” he said. He captured his first match by fall in 1 minute, 42 seconds, then earned 3-2 and 8-2 victories. In the championship, Pedigo defeated Minneapolis junior Tyson Villalpando, 3-2.

This year, Pedigo has set a goal for a second individual crown. Despite key graduation losses, he believes the Cardinals can have another big team showing.

“It’s always in the conversation with us,” he said. “We don’t lower the bar any with people leaving and people coming in. The bar always stays up there.”

Taylon Peters, Salina Central

Salina Central senior Taylon Peters learned from his older brother, Dalton, a former Mustang standout running back and wrestler. Dalton is currently on the Nebraska wrestling team.

“How to stay tough in situations,” Taylon said. “We have been wrestling our whole lives, and he has been beating me up since Day 1, so I kind of know what it’s like to get beat up on. He has installed that mental toughness in me that kind of keeps me going when that fight gets tough.”

The brotherly work helped in the Class 5A 182-pound bracket last winter. Peters captured first match by fall in 81 seconds. Then, he delivered an 11-5 victory against Kansas City Turner senior Ricardo Yanez to move into the championship semifinals. Peters faced Maize freshman Kyle Haas, who was undefeated. Peters pulled the upset and beat Haas, 4-3. Haas eventually took third at 48-1.

“I always thought I could win,” Peters said. “But from a crowd perspective, he was 46-0, so everybody had expected him to win, so it’s just however you look at it, it’s all perspective.”

Peters lost in the final, 4-1, to Goddard senior Austin Andres. He finished 40-5. Months later, the upset win versus Haas still resonated.

“I think I just stayed calm the whole time,” Peters said. “I believed in myself the whole time. My dad told me anything can happen, so I believed that I could do it, and once I got that takedown, I knew that it was over, so it was fun.”

Peters, nicknamed “King” since junior high with the Twitter handle @KingPeters33, has already enjoyed a strong start to his school year. He helped the Salina Central football team halt an 18-game losing streak in Week 1 this fall. SC went 7-3 and had the best single-season turnarounds in school history.  Peters acceted an offer from Emporia State and was one of the state’s top rushers with 1,719 yards.

This winter, Peters looks to bump a spot higher at the state tournament.

“Made a few upsets that were pretty fun,” Peters said. “But I couldn’t pull through in the finals, so that was kind of (bad), so it’s kind of motivated me to really strive and really separate myself from the pack this year.”

Dayton Porsch, Hoxie

Senior Dayton Porsch comes from a tight-knit family that has been a part of Hoxie’s longtime wrestling tradition for de-cades. His dad, Mike, is the Indian head wrestling coach and has served on staff since 1995-96.

“It’s always been nice to have kind of the coach and father figure all the time,” Dayton said.

Dayton is the second-oldest of four children on a farm in Selden, near Hoxie. He has two younger sisters. His older brother, Tristan, captured a pair of Class 3-2-1A state titles and is currently on the roster at Division II Colorado State-Pueblo. Tristan, who graduated two years ago, has had a sizable impact on Dayton’s career.

“Been nice to have a partner,” Dayton said.

Like Tristan, Dayton only competes in wrestling and does no other sports. A commit to Division I University of Northern Iowa, he doesn’t check out rankings.

“I don’t pay attention to any of that,” he said. “I just don’t go looking for it.”

Porsch enjoys the work and grind associated with the sport.

“That whoever puts in more work usually can beat people that have better talent,” he said.

Porsch’s family and focus have formed one of the best careers in Kansas history. He is a three-time champion and has posted records of 36-1, 33-0 and 35-0. No 3-2-1A wrestler has ever completed a career with fewer than three losses.

Fredonia’s Brogan Humphrey and Smith Center’s Colt Rogers, both four-time champions, went 168-3 and 149-3, respectively, according to Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association records.

At state, Porsch is 12-0 with four wins by fall at 145 pounds last winter. In his first two state trips, Porsch captured three other victories by fall.

“Try to keep my record where it is at with losses, get another state title, and just keep going,” Porsch said of his goals.

For many years, the Porsch family has wrestled throughout the country. Dayton has wrestled since he was four years old and has competed in locales like Pennsylvania, North Dakota and Las Vegas, among others.

“Probably anywhere on my feet,” Porsch said of his top strength.

In June, Porsch first received a call from a UNI assistant coach. The school and Porsch kept in contact. In the middle of October, he went north for a visit and enjoyed the school and he will continue his wrestling career there after graduation.

Kansas Pregame covers high school sports in the Sunflower State. Know of a great story that needs to be told? We want to hear from you! Email us the next great story or video focused on Kansas high school sports at kansaspregame@gmail.com.