AKRON, Ohio — Kasper McIntosh of Portage, Indiana defeated Stanwood’s Mason Phillips 14-9 in the quarterfinal round of the 63-kilogram (139-pound) division of the United World Wrestling Cadet and University Championships Saturday on the University of Akron campus.
Phillips, who won Friday’s Greco-Roman tournament to qualify for the World team that will represent the United States at September’s Cadet World Championships in Athens, Greece, forfeited a consolation match later Saturday to Cade DeVos of Iowa and was eliminated from the tournament.
Phillips advanced to the quarterfinals barely breaking a sweat, shutting out Jared Viancourt of Ohio 10-0 in a first-round technical fall, blanking Missouri’s Austin Kolvek 10-0 in a second-round technical fall and teching Aury Mutschler of Michigan 11-0 in the third round.
But McIntosh, the fifth-place finisher at 145 pounds at the Indiana state finals after compiling a 41-4 record in his junior season, was a tough riddle for Phillips to solve.
Phillips fell into a 2-0 hole after McIntosh took him down 19 seconds into the bout, and a back exposure from the same action increased the lead to 4-0.
But Phillips quickly rallied, tying the match seconds later with a pair of back exposures of his own.
Another takedown and back exposure by McIntosh made his advantage 8-4 with 30 seconds left in the first period, but Phillips got a point back after forcing McIntosh out of bounds.
McIntosh added a two-point takedown on the edge of the mat with six ticks remaining on the first-period clock to take a 10-5 advantage into the break.
Phillips caught a break just after the second period began, as a video review credited him with four points that were initially given to McIntosh after a tussle 26 seconds into the second period. A 14-5 lead became a 10-9 margin, and Phillips was back in it.
But McIntosh kept coming, exposing Phillips’ back once with 1:05 to go to make it 12-9, then registering a takedown with 45 seconds remaining that produced the final margin.
In an interview with the Herald Wednesday, Phillips said he planned to return home to Stanwood on June 7, and will likely spend a good chunk of time at home after training in Ohio since late February.
However, with Worlds on his calendar for September, Phillips will likely have to head back to Ohio late in the summer to prepare for his international debut.
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