Late pins push Jackson to SEMO title

There's no such thing as back-to-back grand slams in baseball.

There is in wrestling -- a frenzied crowd at Jackson High School witnessed them Saturday night in the finals of the SEMO Conference Wrestling Tournament. Jackson's Dustin Fluegge and Charles Doerge hit them and in the bottom of the ninth inning nonetheless.

The pair capped off an unlikely finish as the two Indians posted closing-second pins over their opponents to lift Jackson to a half-point victory over defending champion Farmington in the team standings.

"The last two matches are as dramatic as you'll see in high school wrestling," Jackson coach Steve Wachter said. "It was an incredible win at the end at just a tremendous win for our team and our program."

Jackson, winning its first conference crown since 1996, finished with 120 points. Farmington placed second with 119.5 and Ste. Genevieve was third at 270. Central, led by 160-pound champion Trever Duncan, finished fifth in the 10-team field at 158.

The wins came after Farmington looked to have finally put the Indians away. Jackson trailed the Knights throughout the day and all through the final round.

Farmington's 189-pounder Nathan Spain (29-6) appeared to have delivered the decisive blow when he nipped Jackson's Matt Kahle (28-6) 3-2 in double-overtime for an 11.5-point lead. Jackson had wrestlers in the final two championship matches. The Indians not only needed to win both, but also needed pins to accumulate 12 points. Jackson also needed Dexter heavyweight Josh Robinson to defeat Farmington's Fred Gibson in the third-place match to prevent the Knights from picking up a clinching two points.

"Farmington was wrestling well all day, and boy, it didn't look like any breaks were going our way or we were going to get it done," Wachter said. "Our last two wrestlers came on and were heroes there at the end."

Fluegge, a sophomore, literally ripped a pitch over the wall with the ball already into the mitt in his 215-pound match.

With his match tied 9-9, Fluegge (17-14) got Farmington's Kent Slinkard (14-13) in a cradle. The referee's hand, signaling a pin, and the time towel, marking the end of the match, hit the ground almost simultaneously. Instead of a four-point victory, Fluegge kept Jackson's hopes alive with six points.

"I just knew I had to pin him," Fluegge said. "As soon as I locked up in the cradle I knew it was over."

Not only did Fluegge get the pin, he stoked the Indians' senior heavyweight.

"He got me very fired up," said Doerge. "It's great to see people go out and win like that ahead of you."

Doerge (28-4) pinned his opponent, Sikeston's Joe Johnson (16-6), just two days earlier in the third period.

Doerge had Johnson in trouble throughout, but it looked like the pin might elude him in the rematch. With crowd and coaches on their feet as time ticked away in the third period, Doerge turned Johnson once again. Carrying the weight of the championship on his shoulders, Doerge finally pressed Johnson's shoulders to the mat with 15 seconds left in the match. The crowd, willing on Doerge's every move, erupted with the pin.

Doerge, one of three transfer students in the Indian lineup, wrestled last year at Edwardsville (Ill.) High School. Despite having wrestled in national meets, Doerge called the win his "best ever."

"This one meant more, because I had a team I had to help," Doerge said. "It's great to help them out. "I've had a lot of fun wrestling with everybody this year."

Jackson had seven wrestlers in the finals and all five of their victories came by pin. The SEMO Conference titles were the first for all five Indian wrestlers.

Brock Howard notched the first pin at the 5:36 mark of his 125-pound match with North County's Jess Coale. It was a marquee matchup as Howard came in at 30-1 and Cole was a perfect 30-0.

Cody Rouse (31-2) followed with a pin at 140, ending his match with Farmington's Will Cook (17-16) at the 3:10 mark.

Kremer Rampley (30-3), a junior transfer student from Poplar Bluff, followed up with a pin in his 145-pound match with Chris Wyatt (19-4) of Dexter. Rampley won at the 3:12 mark.

Farmington also won five of its seven championship matches, including a 4-3 decision by freshman Joey Newland (25-10) over Jackson freshman Ben McMillian (28-5) in the 103 match.

Duncan (31-2) was the lone Central wrestler in the championship matches and he won his 160 match with a 9-6 decision over Nick Bauwman of Ste. Genevieve.