Larsen’s ’Cats defeat hosting Panthers
Starting from the bottom position with only 8.5 seconds left in the third and last two-minute regulation period Thursday night, Dec. 7, with the score in his bout against Montezuma-Cortez’s Orion Martineau tied at 8-all, Ignacio’s Dillon Brann not only had enough strength left to get to his feet, but goad the Panther into committing an illegal-hold violation to prevent a likely escape into neutral position just before the buzzer.
Not surprisingly, Brann was awarded one penalty point – which he’d have earned anyways with an escape – and a win setting in motion the Bobcats’ eventual 35-12 victory concluding the triangular inside M-CHS Gymnasium. IHS had got the event underway facing San Juan Basin League rival Dove Creek, but bowed to the Bulldogs, 42-14, after DCHS won five of seven contested weights by pin and also claimed two others by forfeit.
“Came out a little flat that first dual,” Ignacio head coach Jordan Larsen admitted. “I think some of us had stars in our eyes, but we had some good matches too from some of our more experienced kids. But yeah, we had a little talk then got a little warm-up in before the last dual, and it seemed like the kids really had more fire and came out fighting.”
“There wasn’t a lot of give-up on our back; there was a lot of fighting,” agreed sophomore Lincoln deKay. “When people would go to their backs, they weren’t happy being there.”
“Dillon was a brand-new wrestler last year, and he stuck through that first season – which is always tough as a freshman in high school, even if you’re not new – and we got him to go to three summer camps,” Larsen noted. “He chose to go to them and he’s just been working his tail off. We’re really proud of him.”
Against DCHS, sophomore Aven Bourriague defeated Cael Beanland 4-0 at 120 pounds to put the ’Cats up 3-0 early, but after 126-pounder Joshua Kerrigan lost to Teagan Larimore by third-period pin, the ’Dogs didn’t look back. Wade Conner pinned Judah Ashley 27 ticks into the second at 132, Chad Kline pinned Brann 27 ticks into the first at 138, and Cody Alexander stuck Zane Pontine 1:42 into the first at 150 for a 24-8 advantage trimmed only by deKay’s 15-0 technical-fall win over Konner Spigner at 157 pounds, and heavyweight Kyle Rima’s dual-ending forfeit win.
Dove Creek then defeated M-CHS 33-18 on the scoreboard (215-pounder Frankie Montoya was not immediately credited with a forfeit win – which would have increased the margin to 39-18) while the Bobcats regrouped, and after Brann got the team off on the right paw, Ignacio’s lead on the Panthers grew to 17-0 via a forfeit to Pontine at 144, deKay’s 12-7 win over David Vreeken at 157 and Kendrick Nossaman’s second-period pin of Dalton Muzzy at 175.
M-CHS’ Hunter Goodall received a forfeit win at 190 pounds, but a forfeit to Rima rebuilt IHS’ lead to 23-6 – putting Montezuma-Cortez mathematically out of contention. Panther Teagun Samora won by forfeit at 106, but it was all over when Bourriague took a 5-0 lead on Keaton Curleyhair through one period at 113, then pinned his opponent with 48.4 seconds left in the second. Kerrigan would have then won by forfeit at 120, but when Ashley eagerly leapfrogged him in the order, the six points awarded Kerrigan were taken off the scoreboard.
Ashley wasted little time earning a somewhat-apologetic win, pinning M-CHS’ Zane Frazier in just 36 ticks at 126 and polishing off a dual which had also started with the ’Cats losing a team point (Brann had reported to the scorers’ table still wearing some warm-up garb, and Ignacio incurred an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty – reducing the Bobcats’ initial 3-0 lead to 2-0).
Though irked by the mental errors, effectively costing IHS seven points, Larsen wasn’t exactly unsurprised.
“Looked like the start of the season, probably, as it does most everywhere,” he said, “but the boys are hungry. And I’m proud of Judah; this was his first tri – he didn’t wrestle last weekend (at Bayfield) because he had some sickness rolling around – but he’s going to be tough. They’re all going to be tough, and we’re really looking forward to the rest of the season.”
“I feel like we’ve definitely improved from last year; we’re taking more shots and being more aggressive than we were last year,” said Bourriague. “We’ve kind of switched the whole mentality in the mat room.”
“Everybody’s got flaws in their game and we went back to the drawing board,” he continued, alluding to Ignacio’s showings against BHS and Pagosa Springs at the season-opening triangular inside BHS Gymnasium. “I’m not in the shape I would like to be, but I feel like I’m in better shape than I was at State last year. Really tried to put in that off-season work to get ready.”
“We’ve been drilling on everything – top, bottom, neutral – to improve everything. If you want to work on your own thing, you can always grab a coach after practice … and try to work, like, a specific move,” said deKay. “Hopefully by regionals we’ll be in a lot better shape than we are now; we were a little asleep in the first dual, but we definitely woke up in our second. Really, we’re just trying to work hard and improve in every dual, every match, every day.”