Warrenton junior Jerrett Villinger rebounded after his second loss of the season to capture third place in the 160-pound division at last weekend’s Gateway Athletic Conference championships at Lindenwood University.

Villinger (24-2) lost to Fort Zumwalt South’s Chase Mercer in the semifinals, 11-9, in overtime.

“In the first period we controlled the match; we took him down three times and he only scored on escapes when we let him up,” Warrenton Head Coach Kevin Fowler said. “The second period was more of the same, but the third period was different. And it was mostly just a conditioning issue, it wasn’t anything skill-wise.”

Villinger tied it up late in the third period to force overtime, but gave up a takedown in the extra frame.

“Again, that was more on fatigue than anything else because it was the kid’s only takedown of the match,” Fowler said. “But it should give Jerrett confidence because that kid is ranked like fifth in the state and we were in total control.”

While it can be difficult to get significantly better late in the season, Fowler said Villinger’s mistakes are easily correctable.

They were also understandable.

The match was just the third time all season Villinger had wrestled the full six minutes.

“Conditioning is one thing you can fix, so it was a good match to have,” Fowler said.

Villinger responded with a first-period pin of Fort Zumwalt West’s Trey Durbin, which marked the 100th win of his career.

“That’s a big deal, especially halfway through your junior year,” Fowler said. “That’s a pretty good landmark to hit.”

Villinger came back and beat St. Charles West’s Trevor Hachtel in the third-place match via a first-period pin.

“It was good to see him win two after that loss,” Fowler said. “The good thing about Jerrett is he learns from his losses and moves on. He doesn’t let them bother him.”

Teammate Stephen LaMotte (145) lost to No. 2 seed Luke Hardy of Troy in the opening match, but stayed alive with a 16-0 technical fall win over St. Charles’ Nick Thorne.

“LaMotte had a tough draw because he had the No. 2 seed in his first match, but he wrestled a decent kid from St. Charles in the wrestle-back round, and he got a good tech. fall,” Fowler said. “He had been working on some leg stuff on top, and he turned the guy several times with that. So it’s good to see him get better at those.”

LaMotte finished the tournament with a 1-2 record.

Ben Chernaskey (170) and Bobby Dyche (285) also finished 1-2 after losing their first-round matches.

“He wrestled tough, but just lost to a kid that was better than him that day,” Fowler said of Chernaskey’s loss to Fort Zumwalt South’s John Kershman in the quarterfinals. “It wasn’t his best effort, but him and Jerrett are good workout partners and they’re going to have to continue to get better every day.”

The Warriors return to the mat Friday at the St. Charles invite.