Ramage’s victory in season debut pushes Pirates past Blue Devils in competitive dual

QUINCY — The shoulder brace Hannibal wrestling coach Jake Borgmeyer helped senior Koen Ramage strap into and adjust prior to Tuesday night’s dual looks cumbersome and uncomfortable.

Ramage shrugs off the inconvenience.

“I’m getting used to it,” he said. “I’ll get comfortable and I’ll get there.”

His first step was clearly a step in that direction.

Wrestling for the first time this season in the 150-pound match against Quincy High School, Ramage looked like the left shoulder injury suffered last summer was a non-factor as he earned a 14-2 major decision over the Blue Devils’ Eli Roberts.

“I can’t complain,” Ramage said. “It’s a win.”

His victory in the second-to-last match of the dual gave the Pirates an insurmountable lead in their 35-33 victory at the QHS gym. 

“That feels good,” Ramage said.

It’s a boost for the Pirates and a reality check for the Blue Devils, who finished third in their first two tournaments of the season and won last week’s dual at Fort Madison, Iowa.

“It gets us a lot of good matches and shows us where we are and where we need to get to,” said Quincy’s Gunner Derhake, a senior wrestling at 157 pounds. “It shows us how much harder we need to work in the wrestling room compared to the work we’ve already put in.”

How much harder is that?

“We’re not there yet, so we have to work extremely hard,” Derhake said. “Until we have a bunch of state champs, we’re not there yet.”

The loss to Pirates will be motivation moving forward.

“Tonight didn’t go our way and we gave up too many matches,” said Quincy’s Owen Uppinghouse, a senior wrestling at 165 pounds. “Right now, that sucks, but in the long run, it means the wrestling in the area is getting better. This is a rivalry and a match that has a lot of tension behind it. 

“I think them winning this year is good because it lights a fire and pushes us to be better the next couple of years.”

The Pirates see it as a harbinger of good things to come.

“Overall, we wrestled well,” Ramage said. “There are some improvements we can make, but overall, we did good. There were some injuries and some guys out, but we had people step up. I think we did good as a team.

“If we just keep grinding, keep staying on the mats, we’ll be fine. I don’t think we’ll have any problems if we keep working, and hopefully we can win state as a team.”

Both teams looked capable of big things at different times in the dual.

Uppinghouse opened the dual by pinning Jackson Essig in 1 minute, 16.5 seconds.

“I went out there and tried to light a fire with our guys being the first match,” Uppinghouse said. “It didn’t quite go our way, but hopefully we bounce back this weekend and make a statement.”

Payton Eddy’s first-period pin of the Pirates’ Memphis Craig and a pair of forfeits gave the Blue Devils a 24-3 lead through the first five matches. Hannibal’s Ryan Ross won the heavyweight bout with a 7-2 victory over Jerzy Knaff.

When the dual rolled over to the lower weights, Hannibal showed its power.

Hannibal’s Austin Brown pinned Hugh Sharrow in 2:27 at 113 pounds, and Reign Creech followed suit with a pin of Quincy’s Wyatt Boeing in 5:07 at 120. A 14-0 major decision by Korbin Howe at 126 kept the train rolling, and the Pirates’ Tristan Essig pinned Austin Ragar in 2:24 at 132 pounds.

Drake Brinkley’s pin of Cale Mixer in 1:34 at 138 pounds gave the Pirates five straight victories. The Blue Devils’ Brody Baker broke the string with a 7-3 victory at 144 before Ramage put the dual out of reach. Derhake finished things for Quincy with a third-period pin of Austin Closser. 

“Overall, I was really aggressive,” Derhake said. “I stayed on him. I didn’t back down and let him make moves.”

That’s how he and the Blue Devils have to wrestle moving forward.

“We’ve been putting in the work and everyone is seeing we’re going to be one of the best wrestling teams at QHS,” Derhake said. “It all comes down to what we do on the mat and everyone sees that.”

The Blue Devils want people to see they’re putting in the work.

“A lot of the kids on the team enjoy the grind,” Uppinghouse said. “We like getting in the wrestling room, fighting, finding out about ourselves, getting stronger. I think this is just another reason to get back in the wrestling room.”