WEBB CITY — A mouthful of blood and three loose teeth didn't take anything away from the feeling of fulfillment for Nate Brower on Saturday.
Brower captured his first COC Tournament championship by claiming the 175-pound title with a 10-5 victory versus Republic's Connor Sandridge.
Action twice carried Brower and Sandridge off the mat and Brower took a hit to his face that knocked his teeth loose.
"He head-butted me. But that's just how it is, that's wrestling," Brower said. "It was kind of scary at first. I thought my teeth were gone. They were just knocked loose. (My Mom's) not going to be happy.
"(The championship) makes it worthwhile," he added. "Every single thing is worth it. After the day is over and I'm on my way home, I can say I'm proud of myself for that match."
Brower (32-7) did not place at the tournament last year.
Brower repeatedly scored Saturday on blast double leg takedowns.
"(Sandridge) knew my double was coming. Everybody knows it's coming," Brower said. "I'll hear it all the time from the corner from my opponent's coaches, 'Watch the blast double.' But it still works.
"I think it's a strength of mine because of football," he added. "It's kind of a football tackle. You get a good setup and just run through people. It was something I really focused on last year and have done good things with it. I like to pick people up, get big takedowns and catch people on their back."
Nixa also received championships from Zan Fugitt at 132 and Brennan Carey at 215.
Fugitt (38-1) pinned Carthage's Bradyn Tate in 1:43 in the final round.
Carey (35-5) pinned Willard's Alex Nunez in 5:41 in their title tilt.
The Eagles' Avry Rutherford and Garrett Davidson were second.
Rutherford (26-10) lost 8-6 in overtime to Neosho's Ulysses DeLeon in the 190 final.
Davidson (20-7) was pinned in 5:18 by Willard's Brady Griffin in the 285 final.
Nixa freshman Curtis Glossip continued his late-season surge by placing third at 144. He pinned Neosho's Johnny Chrisco in their third-place match.
Glossip upped his record to 23-10.
All this after Glossip nearly lost a finger on his right hand due to a freakish injury involving a chair.
"I sat in a chair while I was working at a tournament. It collapsed and cut my finger pretty deep," Glossip said. "The chair caught my finger. It was pretty bad. I had three stitches. I was off for a week or two. I couldn't wrestle at the (Kansas City) Stampede.
"It was tough. The blood would scare me a little bit," he added. "I practiced a little with it still stitched up and it would start bleeding. I had to work my way back. Once I got the stitches out, I've been rolling. It's been going good."
Glossip has won 11 of his last 13 matches. He was also third at the Winnetonka Tournament.
"I'm continuing to improve," he said. "I'm trying to make State and make a name for myself. If I can place, that would be great. I'll want to come back my sophomore year even better."
On Friday, Nixa's girls repeated as COC Tournament champions.
The Lady Eagles' individual champions were Kelsey Watts (115), Addison Harkins (125) and Brenya Crahan (135) and Carlyese Dupree (155).
