Down 18-0, Bison matches light up crowd in comeback win over Cozad

McCOOK, Neb. — Alexis Steinbeck conquered a seemingly hopeless dilemma exactly how champion workers do just about every day:

Hit restart!

“She had me in a headlock and I thought it was about (done),” the McCook High junior admitted about her wrestling match against Cozad Thursday night. “I needed a raincheck — a restart — and when she (Cozad) got called for an illegal hold, I thought ‘I gotta win it now’.”

Sure enough, Alexis did just that with a 9-5 comeback decision which helped ignite the Bison rally from an 18-0 start.

“We need some lighter-weight wrestlers,” coach Clint Hosick said as the Bison forfeited those first three matches.

From that moment, McCook went 5-0 with four pins and Alexa’s win. It seemed every “match” lit Bison fans more and more on fire.

“The atmosphere was unbelievable tonight with all the people here,” McCook’s one senior leader Meka Daub confirmed. She drew big cheers just for receiving a rare Cozad forfeit for six more Bison points.

“Extraordinary” rolled from Hosick’s mouth and there was not even any hospitality snack room nearby.

Yet Hosick was describing all his Bison wr estlers during this first home dual of 2024-25.

He praised Alexis Steinbeck’s “never stop fighting” approach and the coolness of freshman Eden McPherson as she scored an 18-second pin for McCook’s first points.

Junior Peyton Cock delivered her usual routine — win, baby, win — with a 1:28 pin.

Plus the Bison have added a new mat monster in Kaylee Hunter at 170 pounds.

Kaylee’s a dedicated and proven powerlifter from coach Joe Vetrovsky’s Bison program.

“She is so strong,” Hosick confirmed. “She’s a first-year wrester. She’s very coachable and really coming along.”

However, the win wasn’t complete since Hunter’s win only had McCook leading 27-24.

The heavyweight finale could have still sent Cozad home happy, but sophomore Kayleigh Steinbeck said:

“No, no, no, not here. Not tonight.”

Instead, Kayleigh broke her own McCook High School record for the girls’ wrestling fastest pin when she stuck Samantha Mroczek in 10 seconds FLAT.

“Meka did a pin in 13 seconds, then I did 13,” Kayleigh explained about the now fourth-year Bison program. “Now I’ve done one in 10.”

That will likely fire up the dedicated Daub, but this returning Nebraska state wrestler appreciated what is building around her.

“I think we are doing really well,” Daub concluded as the Bison were fresh off winning Saturday’s Perkins County Invitational. “I’m hopefully suppying some inspiration and confidence.”

McCook 33,

Cozad 24

125 pounds — Eden McPherson, MC, pinned T. Soe in :18

130 — Peyton Cock, MHS, pinned S. Roberts in 1:28

140 ­— Alexis Steinbeck, MHS, won 9-5 over A. Saravaia

170 — Kaylee Hunter, MHS, pinned N. Allen in 4:44

235 — Kayleigh Steinbeck, MHS, pinned S. Mrocek, COZ, in :10

145 — Meka Daub, MHS, won by forfeit.

The Bison girls are right back on mats in Saturday’s Sandhills Valley Invitational starting at 10 a.m.