ST. LOUIS – The No. 21-ranked Maryville wrestling team earned a big result to begin Great Lakes Valley Conference action, defeating the Drury Panthers 33-13. The Saints used three falls, all coming in the last four matches of the day, to upend the visiting Panthers.
 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The day began with an exhibition bout for Lucas Laux, who is graduating at the semester, wrestling his last match in front of his home crowd. He did it in style as well, earning a fall in 2:30.
 
Heading into the official matches, the Panthers got off hot, scoring a fall at 125, but back-to-back wins by the Saints, a Evan Binder 9-3 decision and a major by Kody Ketchum 10-0, brought the lead back to Maryville.
 
 
Maryville rattled off another win as JP Homfeld earned a 7-6 win with some late action. Back-to-back wins at 157 and 165 brought the lead back to the Panthers. Just as before, the Saints got the lead right back with Cole Ritter putting on a takedown show, earning a 20-4 tech in 6:28 in his first dual appearance after moving up to 174.
 
 
That win from Ritter signaled the end of the dual for the Panthers as Dalton Litzsinger at 184 and Ryan Herman sandwiched a 197 forfeit by Drury to score 18 points in a row, finding the final 33 point total.
 
#21 MARYVILLE 33, DRURY 13
125: Bryson Humphries (DU) over Sam Shafer (MU) (Fall 6:27)
133: Evan Binder (MU) over Kyshin Isringhausen (DU) (Dec 9-3)
141: Kody Ketchum (MU) over Nathan Wishne (DU) (MD 10-0)
149: JP Homfeld (MU) over Trevor Christian (DU) (Dec 7-6)
157: Joe Kuster (DU) over Javier Gutierrez (MU) (Dec 5-4)
165: Will Kuster (DU) over Evan Morris (MU) (MD 20-8)
174: Cole Ritter (MU) over Jeremiah Halter (DU) (TF 20-4 6:28)
184: Dalton Litzsinger (MU) over Tristan Staat (DU) (Fall 1:58)
197: Jeremiah Larson (MU) over (DU) (For.)
285: Ryan Herman (MU) over Jack Stoffel (DU) (Fall 0:40)

UP NEXT
The biggest tournament in all of Division II is here as the Saints head to Indianapolis for the 45th Annual Midwest Classic, hosted by the University of Indianapolis. The two-day tournament is set to begin on Saturday Dec. 14 and conclude on Sunday, Dec. 15.