Jackson's Peiffer captures state title

Blake Peiffer never had wrestled Hazelwood Central junior Julian Smith before the state championship match Saturday.

But Peiffer had met Smith before -- on the football field.

"Me and him had to go head to head a couple times on the offensive and defensive line," Peiffer said. "He was their nose guard. When I first saw the bracket, I went back and found the name and watched the film [of the game against Hazelwood Central] and then I remembered him a little bit after that. He was a tough kid."

Peiffer and the Jackson football team were unable to beat Smith and Hazelwood Central this past fall on the gridiron, but Peiffer got some revenge on the mat Saturday.

Peiffer became the 12th wrestler in Jackson High School history to win a state championship. He won a 4-1 decision over Smith in the 215-pound weight class at the Class 4 state wrestling meet at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.

The first thing Peiffer did after winning his title was point up at his supporters in the crowd, which included his family, teammates, girlfriend, former Jackson wrestlers Justin Miller and Luke Rayburn and some of the Jackson football coaches. Peiffer also picked up coach Steve Wachter and hugged coach Jerry Golden.

"They were ecstatic," Peiffer said about looking up and seeing the reaction of family and friends. "They wished the best for me and I was just hoping I could please them by getting a state championship for them. You could tell in their faces that they were just as excited as I was."

Peiffer finished the season with a remarkable 55-1 record. He was honored to join an elite group of Indians wrestlers who have won a state title.

"It means a lot," Peiffer said. "Jackson has had a really good tradition with the 215 weight class. ... I was just trying to follow in all their footsteps and put my name in there with that category of all the state champs who have come through Jackson. And all the state champions have been good people and respectable people."

Peiffer acted cool and collected all day as he waited to wrestle Smith. He said he slept about half the day just to pass time and keep rested.

"I fell asleep on the floor one time and on a chair while the [other] final matches were going on," Peiffer said. "Just resting up.

"I was calm. I had my mind focused on what I had to do. I set my mind to the point where I was not going to let the state championship slip through my fingers. I kept positive thoughts and I prayed every so often so I could keep those positive thoughts in my head. In the end, it all worked out."

Wachter, who was the one who presented Peiffer with his first-place medal, said the final match was an exciting one.

"He had a really good match," Wachter said. "The wrestler from Hazelwood Central is very quick and he's a very good athlete. [Peiffer] really didn't make any mistakes in the match. He got a takedown early. ... He just wrestled a really smart match and a real strategic match and he just didn't make any mistakes in it. It was a great finals match."

Central wrestlers

Central's Trey Grovenor battled back to win third place in the Class 3 heavyweight division Saturday after a disappointing 2-1 defeat in overtime of the semifinals.

"[Trey] knew he could come back and take third," Central coach James Brake said. "He slept off the loss last night and came out and wrestled hard today."

Grovenor won an 8-0 decision over Warrensburg's Chris Jacobsen and pinned Ozark's Drake Holland in 3:43 to reach the goal he set before state of placing in the top three.

Grovenor, the Class 3 District 1 champion who entered the state meet ranked fourth in the state in his weight class, finished the season with an impressive 53-4 record, which Brake said was the best record in Central wrestling history.

"I don't know the exact number right now, but [he had] almost 40 pins," Brake said. "He had two pins in the state tournament, which is pretty incredible. He's going to come back next year and his goal is to win the whole thing."

Central senior Zach Wilson took fifth place at 160.

Wilson lost a 14-6 decision against Oak Park's Joe Green, but bounced back to win a 2-1 decision over Republic's Curt Trimmell in the fifth-place match.

"Zach came out and won his first-round match and then had a really tough loss in the quarters, but it takes a really, really strong competitor to wrestle back where he won one close match after another and he ended up getting a win to finish off his career," Brake said. "He's also a really special kid."

@z_agate_no tab_no indnt_bld ld:Day 3 results

Class 4 | Jackson

103 -- Levi Rayburn lost 4-3 decision in overtime vs. Cole Baumgartner (Jefferson City), lost 12-11 decision to Antoine White (Hazelwood West) in fifth-place match.

189 -- Justin Darnell was pinned in 2:46 by Andrew Lazalier (Holt), lost 6-4 decision vs. Lewis Foutz (Blue Springs) in fifth-place match.

215 -- Blake Peiffer won 4-1 decision vs. Julian Smith (Hazelwood Central) in championship match.

Class 3 | Central

160 -- Zach Wilson lost 14-6 decision vs. Joe Green (Oak Park), won 2-1 decision vs. Curt Trimmell (Republic) in fifth-place match.

285 -- Trey Grovenor won 8-0 decision vs. Chris Jacobsen (Warrensburg), pinned Drake Holland (Ozark) in 3:43 to win third-place match.