Classic imparts lessons

The 27th annual Tiger Classic was one big learning experience Friday night.

For instance, Jackson's James Love learned he's not near in the type of shape he needs to be.

Love's teammate, Seth Harrell, learned that despite moving up a weight class, he can use his quickness to his advantage.

Cape Central's heavyweight Chris Smith learned you've got to put a guy away when you've got the chance.

As far as the 16-tournament field, it learned that Ste. Genevieve is starting to run away with the title again.

Ste. Genevieve, with 115 1/2 points, is 23 1/2 points in the lead after the first two rounds of the tournament. Northwest is in second place with 92 points, followed by Jackson with 76. Cape Central, though it got two convincing wins from Trever Duncan, stood in 13th place.

"We did both good and bad," said Jackson coach Steve Wachter. "Some wrestled well, while some others didn't wrestle as well as they were capable. I know a couple of our upper weights are disappointed."

Wachter certainly wasn't referring to Harrell.

Harrell, who wrestled at 189 last year, is the No. 1 seed at 215 pounds this year and easily won two matches to advance to the semifinals.

"These guys are humongous," said Harrell, also an all-state linebacker. "These guys just try to throw me. I get them pushing into me and their momentum carries them forward and I can use my quickness to shoot them."

"Seth wrestled well," said Wacther. "He's got outstanding quickness. You saw that as a linebacker and it carries over to the mat."

One of Jackson's wrestlers who wasn't on the top of his game was Love, who took second in the Classic last year. Love, also the top seed, got a first-round bye and his quarterfinal match was just his second match of the season after his season was delayed by football and some injuries.

"It was really my first good match of the season," said Love. "I didn't wrestle up to my standards. I'm out of shape still, but I hope to come back and get it tomorrow."

Several other Jackson wrestlers advanced to the semifinals as well. They include Paul Feiner (103), who pulled off an upset over third-seeded Aaron Richards of Murphysboro. Brock Howard (112), Cody Rouse (130), Ricky Feiner (140) and Justin Rice (145) all also advanced to the winner's bracket semis.

Dominant Duncan

For Cape Central, Duncan ripped his first two combatants, the first by pin and the second via a 16-1 technical fall.

"He's still not wrestling as well as he's capable of," said Central coach Josh Crowell. "But he got a tech and a pin so you can't beat the results."

The talk among casual fans Friday night was about Central's new heavyweight.

After being cut from the basketball team, Smith -- who played football at 315 pounds -- decided to try wrestling.

Smith wrestled his freshman year but hasn't since. The heavyweight had to get his weight down to 278 pounds in two weeks and he did.

In the first varsity match of his career, Smith pinned his opponent, Northwest's Chris Tyler, in 22 seconds. Tyler was a state qualifier last year.

When asked if he thought his first match would be that easy, Smith replied, "Not really. I thought that guy would be tough. I just went up there and speared him and put him on the ground."

Smith's second match didn't go so well, however.

Smith was in position to pin second-seeded Jon Stotler from Lindbergh, but Stotler pulled a reversal and ended up pinning Smith in 48 seconds.

"I had him beat," Smith said.

"Chris has only been wrestling for three weeks," Crowell said. "He's doing a good job. At heavyweight, you're going to pin or be pinned. You're dealing with a lot of weight when you get 275 pounds on top of you. But I told Chris, if you're going to lose to this guy, do it now and not in sectional or state."

Perhaps Crowell was most pleased with one of his wrestlers who lost.

Matt Welker, at 103 pounds, lost just 10-7 to second-seeded Matt Wolff of Pattonville.

"I'm proud of Matt Welker," Crowell said. "He's got his confidence up and he's coming on."

Wrestling will resume at 11 a.m. today with the championship matches to begin around 6.