Pins send Derby to victory over Goddard
BY MATT BROWNING
Wichita Eagle correspondent
DERBY - Before his team's match against Goddard on Thursday night, Derby wrestling coach Bill Ross figured his team needed as many breaks as it could get to knock off Goddard, the state's top-ranked team in Class 6A.
Sure enough, those breaks materialized.
First, Goddard's Boaz Beard, a three-time state champion, didn't wrestle for undisclosed reasons. That opened the door for Derby's Alex Feldkamp at 171 pounds.
Feldkamp came through with a pin, as did four other Derby wrestlers in a 38-31 victory. Of the Panthers 38 points, 30 came off pins.
"Any time you can pull one off against Goddard, that's pretty exciting," Ross said. "Hopefully we can build off it. I know they'll bounce back and we'll see them again down the road."
Both Goddard and Derby, which finished 1-2 at last year's state meet, are expected to be in the mix for a state team title in February.
"It gets the season off to a good start with two good teams going against each other," Ross said. "We realize it's a big win for us, but it's not the tip of the iceberg."
Two defending state champions for Goddard -- Ryan Houlden (152) and Tyler Caldwell (160) --came through for the Lions.
Houlden won his match 8-5 over Zack Kuipers and Caldwell pinned Ian Whittit. After Caldwell's pin, Goddard led 25-21.
"We've got work to do--simple as that," Goddard coach Brett Means said. "They got the pins in the matches, we got the wins. It's pretty simple how they won."
Back-to-back pins by Feldkamp and Cole Carpenter gave Derby a 33-25 lead but Josh Hicks from Goddard answered with a pin of his own. Heading into the final match, Derby led 33-31.
"With their main guy out, we knew we had to get that match," said Carpenter. "Then coach told me I needed to get a pin and I did that."
With Derby's football season having ended just a couple of weeks ago, heavyweight Kyle Westmoreland, who finished third at state a year ago, is still fighting to make weight.
That opened the door for Travis Anderson, and the 275-pound sophomore came through.
He pinned T.J. Ulmen almost three minutes into the match and secured the victory for the Panthers.
"I think I wrestled smart," Anderson said. "It started kind of slow but I picked it up."
Derby 38
Goddard 31
103--Windham, D, def. Lemon, G, 3-0.
112--Martinez, G, def Sommers, D, 16-7.
119--Heincker, D, pinned Elliott, G, 4:33.
125--Reinhart, D, def Belle, G, 8-6.
130--T. Houlden, G pinned Pralle, D, 1:04.
135--Little, D, pinned Atkeson, G, 5:33.
140--Shavlik, D, def Burns, G, 9-5.
145--Means, G, pinned Curry, D, 4:47.
152--R. Houlden, G, def Kuipers, D, 8-5.
160--Caldwell, G, pinned Whittit, D, 4:33.
171--Feldkamp, D, pinned D. Beard, G, 3:02.
189--Carpenter, D, pinned Woodruff, G, 1:55.
215--Hicks, G, pinned Marlett, D, 2:40.
275--Anderson, D, pinned Ulmen, G, 2:57.
