BonnerSprings.com

Wichita — With his team’s matches complete, Brandon Jobe kicked back in the upper deck of Intrust Bank Arena Saturday night to watch the remaining championship matches at the Class 5A state tournament.

A smile graced Jobe’s face, and with good reason.

The first-year Bonner Springs wrestling coach had plenty to smile about.

He took five wrestlers to state this season. All five won at least one match. Three of them medaled. One — a freshman — made it to the state finals. All five qualifiers will return next year, forming the nucleus for a program that is poised to take the state’s powers by storm.

Jobe took over the program at an opportune time. He inherited a roster that included a few skilled veterans and a freshman class loaded with talent.

It would seem all of that wrestling potential combined with an eager young coach would be a sure-thing recipe for success, but it wasn’t easy.

Jobe said there were a few battles as athletes adjusted to the new coach’s demands. He ran hard practices and challenged his team daily.

“Something that we’ve talked about all year is building toward the end, and we’re fixing things and fixing things and getting better every day. They’ve bought into the system, and we’ve really instilled a mentality with these guys of winning, and going out and getting better every day and wrestling every match to win.”

That mentality showed through at state. Freshman Aaron Puckett and junior Caleb Seaton both placed fourth in their weight classes. Freshman Jonathan Blackwell took second.

With his team’s medal matches over, Jobe took a few minutes to reflect on his first season with the Braves.

He talked about how hard his athletes worked — those who qualified for state and those who didn’t make it.

He also talked about how much fun it was to watch the excitement around the program grow. That support was at its brightest about 30 minutes earlier when, as Blackwell prepared to wrestle in the state finals, a group of BSHS teammates and fans unveiled bare chests with Blackwell’s name painted across the front.

To Jobe, it validated what he and everyone involved in Bonner Springs wrestling are working for.

“The support that they gave Jonathan in the finals was unbelievable,” Jobe said. “We had a great cheering section and great fans and great parents. Throughout the coming years I think if we get more people that are buying in and if we can get a winning tradition, people love a winning tradition and they’ll buy in. We’ll get more people to the state tournament, more kids wrestling, and it’s just going to get better and better.”

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