The pep band warms up the crowd before the special matinee wrestling match Thursday in the Cardinal Dome.

Trey Roets, a Nest Crew member, tries to increase his group’s sales by taking the concessions to the fans in the stands.

High school principal Jeff Wilkie addresses the crowd.

Webb City wrestlers sprint around the mat during introductions.

Wrestling official Tony Philpot slaps the mat to signal that Colton Taylor has pinned his opponent. Philpot wrestled as a Cardinal in the 1980s and is currently the district’s director of transportation.

Wrestling’s the No. 1 sport for a day at WCHS

Webb City’s home wrestling match with Frontenac, Kan., was rescheduled as a matinee Thursday so that the entire high school student body could watch.

From the introductions at 1 p.m. until the buses came, the wrestlers had the largest crowd of home fans they’ve ever had.

The special event was the idea of the Nest Crew, a group of students who run a coffee shop to get business and marketing experience. Besides giving the wrestlers a boost, they wanted to increase their profit with concession sales.

The Frontenac team was agreeable. In fact, Tim Workman, director of finance and data management, recalls when Webb City played a matinee basketball game at Frontenac before the entire K-12 student body.

Frontenac won the match Thursday 39-27. Cardinals Colton Taylor and Aidan Rose won by fall, and Dominic Boles won a 12-6 decision. 

Justin Allen

Aidan Rose

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