Uppinghouse continues undefeated run through top competition, three other QHS wrestlers finish in top three at holiday tourney

GRANITE CITY, Ill. — Owen Uppinghouse’s mission is clear.

Show no mercy.

The Quincy High School senior wrestler won another tournament title this week, outgrappling a talented field at the 62nd Red Schmitt Holiday Tournament to earn the 165-pound championship and improve to 25-0 overall. That helped the Blue Devils finish sixth in the 27-team event.

Uppinghouse won his first three matches in dominant fashion, pinning Plainfield North’s Samuel Zito in 1:51, Tinley Park’s Angelo Juro in 53 seconds and Bloomington’s Maddox Kirts in 3:43. In the quarterfinals, he pinned Oak Park-River Forest’s Hugh Vanek in 45 seconds.

That left two undefeated wrestlers in his path.

In the semifinals, Uppinghouse defeated Columbia (Mo.) Hickman’s Luke Hayden 2-1. Hayden won the third-place match and is now 20-1.

In the championship, Uppinghouse earned a 1-0 victory over Gary Walker of Willard, Mo., who is a three-time state medalist and the No. 1-ranked wrestler in Missouri Class 3. Walker took third at the state tournament last year and is 17-1 following the loss to Uppinghouse.

Quincy’s Bryor Newbold finished second at 175 pounds.

Newbold navigated a talented field to get to the championship match. He opened by pinning Wentzville (Mo.) Holt’s Jacob Ketterman in 3:54 and Paducah (Ky.) Tilghman’s DJ Wilson in 3:34 before losing a 1-0 decision to Hickman’s Beau Waldron in the final match of pool play.

In the championship bracket, Newbold won a 5-3 decision over Lafayette’s Carter Brown in the quarterfinals and pinned Willard’s Jase Motlaugh in 5:39 in the semifinals. In the title match, Newbold suffered a 6-5 loss to Bolivar’s Mason McCurry.

Newbold is now 23-3 and wrestled four consecutive wrestlers with a combined record of 67-9. 

The Blue Devils’ Payton Eddy (190 pounds) and Todd Smith (285) each finished third.

Eddy lost back-to-back matches to fall into the championship back draw and responded with three straight victories. He pinned Waterloo’s Jaxson Mathenia in 2:48 and advanced to the third-place match due to a medical forfeit. Eddy scored a 5-3 sudden victory over Mahomet-Seymour’s Brock VanDeveer in the third-place match.

Eddy is 18-10 overall.

Smith started with a pair of pins before losing his final pool bracket match and then getting pinned by undefeated Belleville East senior Jonathan Rulo. After earning a medical forfeit victory in the championship wrestlebacks, Smith earned a 3-1 sudden victory over Tinley Park Andrew’s Michael McDonough. He scored a 5-4 victory over Hickman’s Levi Harrell in the third-place match.

Smith is 18-6 overall.