<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/2/1614288532809.jpeg" alt="Mid-Buchanan practices ahead of Saturday's Class 1 Section 4 wrestling meet, which will be hosted by the Dragons. Mid-Buchanan has 14 wrestlers competing this weekend with a chance to go to state. Photo by Tommy Rezac." />
                        <figcaption>Mid-Buchanan practices ahead of Saturday's Class 1 Section 4 wrestling meet, which will be hosted by the Dragons. Mid-Buchanan has 14 wrestlers competing this weekend with a chance to go to state. Photo by Tommy Rezac.</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>By TOMMY REZAC</p><p><i>St. Joseph Post</i></p><p>FAUCETT - Six months ago, it wasn't exactly clear how many high school sports could play, and for how long.</p><p>Wrestling, especially. How can such a high-contact sport, which builds its season around multi-team tournaments and traveling, go on in the midst of a pandemic?</p><p>"There was some time of worry in November," Mid-Buchanan head wrestling coach Daniel Kountz said, when local hospitalizations peaked and the statewide positivity rate was near 25 percent.</p><p>"We thought we were going to get shut down any minute."</p><div><iframe width="100%" height="300" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/993165079&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/tommy-rezac" title="KFEQ Radio, St. Joseph Post" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">KFEQ Radio, St. Joseph Post</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/tommy-rezac/mid-buchanan-head-wrestling-coach-daniel-kountz" title="Mid-Buchanan head wrestling coach Daniel Kountz" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Mid-Buchanan head wrestling coach Daniel Kountz</a></div></div><p>Competing in smaller tournaments and duals with almost no spectators present, the elimination of handshakes, the increased cleaning and the enforcement of mask wearing off the mats helped the 2020-21 wrestling season transpire without major incident.</p><p>"We tried to just kind of take care of ourselves and do our thing and protect ourselves," Kountz said. "We're excited. Obviously, we'd have missed out on a wonderful season, had it not happened. So, we're very grateful to everybody for doing their part and allowing us to wrestle."</p><p>Kountz, a Mid-Buchanan alum and a three-time state wrestling champion himself (1998-2000), is overseeing one of the Dragons' best seasons ever in his 16th year as head coach.</p><p>Of the 28 boys on his roster, 12 of them are district champions, and 14 qualified for sectionals on Saturday, including four of the six seniors.</p><p>After sending a remarkable 11 wrestlers to state last year with four of them medaling, Mid-Buchanan has at least one competitor in every weight class with a chance to go to state this year.</p><p>"You know, not every team is like us," said senior Chase Davidson (160), who medaled 4th at state in 2019 and has amassed 169 career wins. "We have solid kids all around, from 106 to heavyweight. We can compete with anyone in the state, really."</p><div><iframe width="100%" height="300" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/993165640&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/tommy-rezac" title="KFEQ Radio, St. Joseph Post" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">KFEQ Radio, St. Joseph Post</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/tommy-rezac/mid-buchanan-senior-wrestler-chase-davidson" title="Mid-Buchanan senior wrestler Chase Davidson" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Mid-Buchanan senior wrestler Chase Davidson</a></div></div><p>Mid-Buchanan went a perfect 14-0 in duals this season, walloping schools like West Platte 71-9, or Lathrop 75-3, for example.</p><p>They went on to take the KCI Conference crown and the Class 1 District 8 title for a second year in a row.</p><p>In any season, 12 district champions on one team is remarkable. But due to smaller tournaments and brackets this postseason as part of COVID-19 protocol, Kountz says getting so many individual titles was more doable.</p><p>"In a typical year, getting 12 district champions would be really, really, really hard," he said. "It's broken down a little bit, now with sectionals. So, that made it a little easier to have district champions with smaller brackets, but in the same breath, we had to win some big matches, and we did that."</p><p>Normally, the top four placers from each weight class&nbsp;at districts  would qualify for state - a total of 16 qualifiers from each weight class.</p><p>This year, the number of state qualifiers has been reduced to 12 per weight class, “in order to comply with National Federation of High School rules regarding the maximum number of matches in a day" at the state tournament, which was moved from Mizzou Arena in Columbia to Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence.</p><p>Previously, the three-day tournament was set for Feb. 18-20. Now, it's March 9-13. The five tournaments, which includes four classifications for boys and one for girls, will each occur separately during those five days.</p><p>Also new this year is the aforementioned sectional round.</p><p>With each class having eight districts this year instead of the usual four, the top four placers from each weight class in each district qualified for sectionals, in which only the top three from each weight class will qualify for state.</p><p>For Mid-Buchanan senior Butch Walters (138), the toughest part has been the two-week layover from districts to sectionals, and then the extra 10 days of waiting before state.</p><p>"With the time they put in between each tournament, it drags," Walters said. "You've got to have a tough mindset to make it all the way through the season."</p><div><iframe width="100%" height="300" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/993166171&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/tommy-rezac" title="KFEQ Radio, St. Joseph Post" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">KFEQ Radio, St. Joseph Post</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/tommy-rezac/mid-buchanan-senior-wrestler-butch-walters" title="Mid-Buchanan senior wrestler Butch Walters" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Mid-Buchanan senior wrestler Butch Walters</a></div></div><p>Walters is determined to make it through this season, having just eclipsed 100 career wins at districts. He now shoots for his third state appearance and his first state medal.</p><p>"Since it is my senior year and my last year and my last chance to place at state, it's been setting in for awhile," Walters said. "We honestly didn't know if we'd even have a season this year. So, it's kind of nice to get to have one."</p><p>Mid-Buchanan got its first taste of hosting district wrestling last year, and did it again successfully in 2021. Now, they're hosting sectionals Saturday, with competitors from 13 area schools coming in.</p><p>And just like <a href="https://stjosephpost.com/posts/0b177aff-206b-4f75-8482-355a4ab59f46">girls' sectionals in Platte City</a> last week, the stands will be near capacity once again.</p><p>"The whole community is getting in on it," said senior Creed Webster (195), a three-time state qualifier and two-time state medalist. "It's just really cool to see the stands fill up."</p><div><iframe width="100%" height="300" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/993166789&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/tommy-rezac" title="KFEQ Radio, St. Joseph Post" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">KFEQ Radio, St. Joseph Post</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/tommy-rezac/mid-buchanan-senior-wrestler-creed-webster" title="Mid-Buchanan senior wrestler Creed Webster" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Mid-Buchanan senior wrestler Creed Webster</a></div></div><p>With only the top three going to state from each sectional bracket, Kountz admits there'll be more heartbreak, but also more energy and excitement in what's already been an extraordinary season.</p><p>"Somebody's not getting through that normally would," Kountz said. "So, there's going to be some more energy. You know, usually the bubble match as we call it in wrestling, that's the exciting one. Now, there's almost two bubble matches, so to speak. Not only to you have to get to the third place match (to qualify for state), but now you have to win it to move on."</p><p>Webster, who medaled fourth at state last year and has piled up over 160 career wins, has lofty goals as his final season comes to a close. Whatever happens, Webster and his teammates are simply grateful that this season happened at all.</p><p>"I figured, you know, maybe, there'd have to be some sort of restrictions at some point," Webster said, "because it's such a contact sport. And then, to see that we don't have any, I mean, that was nice. We don't have to worry about masks on the mat or anything.</p><p>"And getting to finish out the year...I mean, not many people thought that would happen."</p><figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/2/1614288734269.jpeg" alt="Mid-Buchanan's Chase Davidson (top) will try and get to state for a fourth straight year at the Class 1 Section 4 meet hosted by the Dragons this Saturday. Photo by Tommy Rezac." />
                        <figcaption>Mid-Buchanan's Chase Davidson (top) will try and get to state for a fourth straight year at the Class 1 Section 4 meet hosted by the Dragons this Saturday. Photo by Tommy Rezac.</figcaption>
                    </figure><p><i>You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.</i></p>

Mid-Buchanan builds on last year's success, goes on historic run in a season threatened by COVID