Hawks, Shouse each win first round matches

David Hawks appears to be taking a bite out of his opponent earlier this season. Hawks drew first blood at the state wrestling tournament Thursday, beating Michael Kitchen of Moberly, 21-8 to advance.

By Joe Warren

Nevada Daily Mail

Nevada seniors Tyler Shouse and David Hawks both advanced to the quarterfinals of the state wrestling tournament Thursday with first round wins.

Shouse pinned David Sheetz of Platte County at 3:42, moving on to face J.D. Kirkendoll, of Timberland, today in a quarterfinal match.

Kirkendoll beat Mike Bell, of Sullivan, in his first-round match, 2-1 in overtime.

This morning, Shouse earned his second pin of the tournament by finishing off Kirkendoll in the first round.

The win moves Shouse into the semifinals Saturday, one win away from the championship match.

Hawks earned a 21-8 major decision Thursday over Michael Kitchen of Moberly. The win put Hawks in the quarterfinals against Clint Legate of Odessa.

Hawks and Legate met this morning with Legate winning a 9-4 decision.

Hawks will now have to wrestle in the wrestleback, something that Nevada freshman Spenser Daniels is already doing.

Daniels lost his first-round match Thursday, getting pinned by Ricky Williams of Grain Valley with 24 seconds left in the third period.

Daniels bounced back in the first-round of the wrestleback Thursday, beating Josh McClure of DeSoto, 10-3.

Daniels was waiting on a second-round wrestleback opponent, depending on the results of Friday's quarterfinals.

The other two Nevada wrestlers that qualified for the state tournament have already concluded their participation.

Freshman Mason Heard and junior Keith Overton both were beaten in the opening round and lost again in the wrestleback to end their seasons.

Heard was pinned in the second round by Brandon Perkins of Smithville in his first match of the tournament Thursday.

In the first round of the wrestleback, also on Thursday, Heard was beaten again. This time he was pinned by Kirk Heembrock of St. Clair in the first round.

Heard ended the year 24-19.

Overton lost to top-ranked two-time defending state champion Peter Miller of Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School in the opening round.

Miller pinned Overton 1:15 into the match.

In the wrestleback Overton lost again, this time falling to Randy Lurk of Ste. Genevieve.

Overton finished the season with a 16-18 record.