HAYS — The Hoisington High School wrestling team accomplished something that no other wrestling team in the history of the school has done — finish as the runner-up of the Class 3-1A state tournament.
Brandon Ball won the state title in the 120-pound weight class.
The Cardinals held on to narrowly defeat Hoxie by 78-77.5 to fall in behind Scott City, which finished with 93.5 at Fort Hays State University’s Gross Memorial Coliseum on Friday.
“You know, I’m so happy for the kids,” Hoisington head coach Dan Schmidt said. “I’ve been talking with the coaches, and sometimes you just think you deserve something like this. We have been pushing these kids so hard every day in practice, and they’ve responded by doing everything that we’ve asked. These are just a great group of kids.
Ball is technically a sophomore based on his academics because he was home schooled, but this is his first year of high school and is wrestling with the eligibility of a freshman.
Ball defeated Burlington’s Jake Elbrader by a 7-0 decision to win the state crown.
“What a great kid,” Schmidt said of Ball. “What a superb representative of our high school. You know, he’s a state champion, and he’s a class act. He is just a great wrestler.
“He was close to a major decision. He was in control from start to finish. I don’t think anyone scored a point on him in the whole tournament. That’s pretty dominating”
Ball said that he was familiar with Elbrader, having met him several times in the Kansas Kids Wrestling Association circuit.
“I did several years of kids, but this was my first year of high school,” Ball said. “It keeps me from being nervous. I know what it’s going to be like. I’ve wrestled him before in kids. It helps me know what to expect.”
Though he had never faced him in high school.
“Brandon wrestles with a great deal of confidence,” Schmidt said, “and I think part of that was he has seen the kid before. I think he felt that he could beat him. He had in the kids federation circuit. He just hadn’t done it yet on the high school level. You know, you just don’t get as recognized as you do when you win at the high school level, but he’s as good as anyone.”
Ball, who was Hoisington’s only regional champion, pinned Taylor Murphy of Oakley for the third time this season and followed it up by pinning Blake Graham of Pleasant Ridge on the first day of the tournament.
He beat Norton’s John Risewick, who is ranked No. 2, by decision 4-0.
Ball is the third state wrestling champion in Hoisington’s history.
Chance Demel (145) beat Ross Coomes of Phillipsburg and No. 6-ranked Zack Duwe of Chaparral before losing by decision to top-ranked Tagen Lambotte of Rossville, who went on to be state champion.
Demel then beat Ellis’ Gage Younger and Bowe Behymer of Beloit, who is ranked No. 4, to finish in third place.
“We lost to the state champion,” Schmidt said of Demel. “We’re not too far off from being state champions, and he was in one of the more difficult weight classes at the tournament, I think. He had to go through a few ranked wrestlers to finish where he did.”
Eric Hellerud (182) finished in fourth place after losing by a 6-5 decision to Smith Center’s Kyler Atwood.
“It was a very close match,” Schmidt said. “He’s the kid we beat a week ago, and I think it was by one point. This week, he turned the table on us. I think if we wrestled him again next week, who knows? It was just a very close match. It went right down to the last second.”
All nine of Hoisington’s state qualifiers made it into the second day of competition.
Zach Sanders (138), Matt Manka (152) and Cayton Janousek (195) each went 2-2 at the tournament.
Hagan Hanzlick (170), Cody Batt (220) and Brady Moore (285) each went 1-2.

HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING
Class 3-1A state tournament

At Gross Memorial Coliseum
Hays

Thursday-Friday

Team scores
Scott City 93.5, Hoisington 78, Hoxie 77.5, Goodland 63, Oberlin 60.5, Marysville 58.5, Smith Center 54.5, Burlington 53, Caney Valley 48, Rossville 48, Douglass 47, Sabetha 44, Oakley 42, Marion 41, St. George-Rock Creek 40.5, Beloit 39, Norton 39, Burden Central 35, Phillipsburg 33.5, Southeast of Saline 33, Ellis 33, Eureka 32.5, Doniphan West 32, TMP-Marian 30, Atchison County 29, Plainville 28.5, Pleasant Ridge 27, Chase County 26, Silver Lake 25, Fredonia 24.5, Lyons 24, Dexter 24, Wellsville 22, Salina-Sacred Heart 20, Anthony-Harper Chaparral 20, Horton 20, Republic County 19, Ellsworth 19, Atwood 18, Centralia 18, St. Marys 17, Holcomb 16, Halstead 16, Herington 14, Council Grove 12, Leon-Blustem 10, Russell 9, Wathena-Riverside 7, Garden Plain 6, Cherryvale 5, Wabaunsee 4.5, Lincoln 3, St. Francis 3, Stockton 3, Howard-West Elk 3, Mission Valley 3, Minneapolis 2, Riley County 2, Lakin 2, Onaga 2, Mankato Rock Hills 1, Quinter 1, Hillsboro 1, Moundridge 1.

Hoisington results
120 — Brandon Ball def. Taylor Murphy, Oakley, by fall; def. Blake Graham, Pleasant Ridge, by fall; John Risewick, Norton, decision 4-0; def. Jake Elbrader, Burlington, decision 7-0
138 — Zach Sanders def. Trae Gillespie, West Elk, decision 7-4; lost to Calvin Ochs, Hoxie, decision 9-2; def. Levi Hefner, Oakley, decision 6-0; lost to Michael Dusin, Phillipsburg, decision 10-3
145 — Chance Demel def. Ross Coomes, Phillipsburg, decision 6-2; def. Zach Duwe, Chaparral, by decision 16-6; lost to Tagen Lambotte, Rossville, decision 7-3; def. Gage Younger, Ellis, decision 3-0; def. Bowe Behymer, Beloit, decision 7-2
152 — Matt Manka lost to Dalton Snyder, Hoxie, decision 15-4; def. Lane Chew, Atchison County, by fall; def. Clay Pickel, Smith Center, decision 9-6; lost to John Peden, Goodland, major decision 16-3
170 — Hagen Hanzlick lost to Riley Hunsicker, Ellis, technical fall 18-3; def. Gabe Martinez, Troy, by fall; lost to Manuel Turner, Scott City, decision 3-2
182 — Eric Hellerud def. Easton Sommer, Mission Valley, major decision 16-3; def. Tyler Gastineau, Goodland, decision 15-12; lost to Tyler Lowe, Eureka, by fall; def. Levi Huneke, Sabetha, by fall; lost to Kyler Atwood, Smith Center, decision 6-5
195 — Cayton Janousek def. Connor Winters, Stockton, by fall; lost to Colt Castlebury, Douglass, by fall; def. Tate McCoy, Eureka, by fall; lost to Tyler Edelman, Sabetha, by fall
220 — Cody Batt def. Riley Callahan, Silver Lake, by fall; lost to Tanner Taylor, Burlington, decision 6-5; lost to Channing Fortin, Oberlin, by fall 
285 — Brady Moore lost to Bradey Chard, Plainville, by fall; def. Mika Daylor, Douglass, by fall; lost to Gus Farthing, Burlington, by fall