NEOSHO — As soon as the visiting crowd started to get back into it, Neosho's Drayke Perry silenced them.
Carthage had strung together nine straight team points in Tuesday's Black and Blue wrestling dual before Perry put a hault to the Tigers' momentum, pinning Caleb Triplett in the first period to give the Wildcats a 33-15 lead.
In a clash between two of the top dual teams in Southwest Missouri, Neosho claimed wins in nine of 14 matches to down Carthage 39-24 on Tuesday night at Neosho High School.
The Wildcats, ranked No. 1 in Class 3, improved to 16-0 on the season while the Class 4 Tigers suffered their first blemish to fall to 8-1.
"There was some back and forth in there," Neosho coach Jeremy Phillips said. "Carthage is always well-coached, and we knew we had a battle going in. ... I would have liked to win a couple more, but that's always the case. I don't want to lose any."
Carthage took its only lead of the night after Carlos Reyes picked up a first-period fall over Hayden Crane at 113 to give the Tigers a 6-3 advantage.
Neosho, however, answered with six straight wins to go up 23-6.
Gabriel Selby (120) and Cayden Auch (126) sparked the Neosho run with back to back decisions, then Kolton Sanders (132) and Bret Camerer (138) both picked up bonus points with major decisions.
Braxton Barnes (145) and Alec Rothman (152), the only two seniors to take to the mat for Neosho on Senior Night, kept the momentum going as Barnes pinned Carthage's Victor Salazar early in the second period, and then Rothman picked up a 12-1 major decision over Kelten Campbell.
The Tigers began to right the ship at 160 with Trulyn Kendrick pinning Keaton Sanders late in the second period. Brandon Crow (170) followed that with a 7-1 decision over Jeremiah Larson to trim Neosho's lead to 27-15.
Neosho then put the dual out of reach with back-to-back pins registered by Perry and Caleb Elliott (195).
The last two matches of the night resulted in Carthage wins, with Kale Schrader (220) earning a 5-1 decision over Zane Persinger and Brener Ocana (285) pinning Joe Armstrong late in the first period.
"We're narrowing the gap (with Neosho)," Carthage coach Kenneth Brown said. "These kids are working hard. Neosho is a good team, and having that as your litmus test for how good you are is good. It's good to have them around to look to where we want to get to, and it's good to have that goal set ahead of you. They provide that for most teams around here.
"We're going to get them eventually. This year wasn't it. I thought we had a chance this year, but some matches didn't go the way we wanted them to. But life goes on."
The next action for the Tigers is in the Platte County Invitational on Friday and Saturday January 18-19 starting at 5:00 on Friday.
-Jared Porter, Joplin Globe Sports
 
Neosho 39, Carthage 24
 
Individual Results
Weight—Name—Grade—Season Record—Ranking

106—Braxdon Tate—9—(24-10)—Honorable Mention
Lost by decision 5-6 to Landon Kivett—ranked 4th
 
113—Carlos Reyes—10—(20-12)
Won by fall in 1:37 over Hayden Crane
 
120—Tanner Russow—11—(23-9)
Lost by decision 9-14 to Gabriel Selby
 
126—Dalen Moore—12—(28-2)—Honorable Mention
Lost by decision 4-11 to Cayden Auch—ranked #1
 
132—Dagan Sappington—10—(19-12)
Lost by major decision 3-16 to Kolton Sanders—ranked 2nd
 
138—Anderson Ixcol—11—(16-11)
Lost by major decision 4-14 to Bret Camerer
 
145—Victor Salazar—12—(15-14)
Lost by fall in 2:35 to Braxton Barnes—ranked #1
 
152—Kelten Campbell—11—(12-7)
Lost by major decision 1-12 to Alec Rothman—ranked 6th
 
160—Trulyn Kendrick—11—(22-11)
Won by fall in 3:46 over Keaton Sanders
 
170—Brandon Crow—11—(27-5)
Won by decision 7-1 over Jeremiah Larson—ranked 3rd
 
182—Caleb Triplett—11—(11-10)
Lost by fall in 1:25 to Drayke Perry
 
195—Colton Winder—12—(9-7)
Lost by fall in 5:32 to Caleb Elliott
 
220—Kale Schrader—11—(33-0)—ranked 2nd
Won by decision 5-1 over Zane Persinger
 
285—Brener Ocana—11—(28-6)—Honorable Mention
Won by fall in 1:34 over Joe Armstrong
 
JV Results
106—Chris Lopez—9—(11-2)
Lost by fall in 0:54 to Nate Copeland
 
106—Clismer Lopez—9—(6-6)
Lost by fall in 0:54 to Nate Copeland
 
120—Selvin Estrada—11—(12-1)
Won by fall in 1:02 over Jeremiah Kincaid
 
120—Brayden Benefiel—10—(16-5)
Won by fall in 3:17 over Jeremiah Kincaid
 
126—Mateo Kaempfe—11—(15-6)
Lost by decision 2-9 to Cade Daniel
 
126—Cody Reeves—9—(10-5)
Lost by major decision 0-13 to Cade Daniel
 
132—Eli Sneed—9—(11-1)
Lost by decision 2-8 to Jacob Selby
 
132—Brett Rockers—9—(12-3)
Lost by fall in 4:34 to Jacob Selby
 
138—Mitchell Frisinger—11—(9-3)
Lost by fall in 1:43 to Noah Reiboldt
 
145—Creed Lambeth—10—(15-5)
Won by fall in 1:59 over Davencyl Alexander
 
152—Fernando Lopez—10—(12-5)
Lost by fall in 3:34 to Davencyl Alexander
 
152—Wessly Estes—10—(14-4)
Won by fall in 3:26 over RSJ Ifamilik
 
152—Levi White—11—(13-6)
Won by fall in 3:36 over RSJ Ifamilik
 
160—Andrew Holden—10—(13-3)
Won by fall in 1:22 over Jose Sanchez
 
160—Erik Alvarado—10—(4-13)
Lost by major decision 3-12 to Jose Sanchez
 
170—Obed Gonzalez—10—(6-0)
Won by overtime decision 9-8 over Jarrell Boettger
 
170—Jacob Wilkerson—11—(14-7)
Won by major decision 12-4 over Jarrell Boettger