BonnerSprings.com

What a difference a week makes.

After a miserable performance at the Bobcat Classic two weeks ago, Braves head coach Dan Burns challenged his wrestlers to raise the level of intensity.

The Braves did just that Saturday, finishing fourth in the Blue Valley Northwest 19-team, two-day Invitational. This coming after a lackluster performance Friday evening when the Braves were in 10th place after two rounds of competition.

"We really raised the level of intensity this week," Burns said. "We started out slow Friday, but on Saturday we went to the mat with the mindset we were going to wrestle to the best of our ability no matter who we were against."

The Braves grew a lot in the past week. Enough to bring home a tournament trophy and seven top five placers. The Braves crowned two individual champions, had three fourth place finishers and two fifth place performers.

"We wrestled much better this week," said Burns. "Competing in two-day tournaments in consecutive weeks can take its toll on you, but we answered the challenge."

Eric Ratliff (103) improved his season record to 14-3 and is quickly becoming one of the top 103-pound wrestlers in the state.

In the finals, Ratliff defeated Wichita West's Raul Rios 6-4. The difference in the match was Ratliff's ability to take his opponent down, utilizing a take-down in both the first and second periods.

"Eric is one of our most improved wrestlers this year," said Burns. "He works hard every day. The lesson he learned from the Bobcat Classic is it doesn't matter who he is wrestling he has to go hard for six minutes."

Matt Middleton improved his record to 22-5. The sophomore did not have a point scored on him until the championship finals.

"Matt wrestled with great intensity," said Burns. "He learned the same lesson as Eric; you have to go hard no matter who the opponent. I was glad to see him bounce back this week and finish strong."

Jeff Burns was also impressive in his fourth-place performance.

After losing in the opening round, Burns won four consecutive matches to advance to the consolation finals. In the consolation finals, Burns was pinned by Hutchinson's Tyler Perry in 4:02. It was a great performance for the Bonner Springs junior considering he was fighting sickness all weekend.

"Jeff is one of the hardest workers on the team," said Coach Burns. "He was battling not only his competitors, but at the same time fighting off the flu."

David Bass finished the tournament with a 4-2 record. He won two of his bouts by fall, one by major decision, and one by a 7-2 decision. Bass improved his overall record to 9-8. He did so in a weight class consisting of three state placers from a year ago.

"He is a battler," Burns said of Bass. "His weight class was quite possibly the most competitive in the tournament."

Vandenberg won by forfeit over SM South's Ali Sulatani in the fifth-place match while Spencer Buck won by technical fall over Newton's Colby Houser, 15-0. Each wrestler won four matches in the tournament.

On the downside, Braves senior Nick Border (145) ended his season in the second round when he broke his leg against Andover's Junior Allen. Border led 7-2 at the time of the injury and he showed a lot of courage trying to convince Burns to let him finish the match. It was not known until later that the leg was actually broken.

"We are going to miss Nick's leadership," said Burns. "He worked hard every day and had no quit in him. This is a tough way to end your high school wrestling career."

Overall, Burns was pleased with the performance, but believes there is still room for improvement.

"We want to get better every week," said Burns. "We wrestled extremely well and I am pleased with our performance, but we have to continue working hard and continue raising the level of intensity."

The Braves have a rare week off. They will host Ottawa and Topeka Seaman in a double dual Thursday, Jan. 31. It will be the Braves final home meet of the year.