IHS boys beginning ’26 at Pirates’ RMI 

Seeing very literally about all the opposition available in western Colorado, Ignacio’s boys went into the now-concluded holiday break needing, well, a break after getting a good idea of where they stand in the state’s wrestling hierarchy. 

Or, at the very least, in the 2A San Juan Basin League. 

Competing December 12-13 at the 2025 Western Slope Showdown in Montrose, Colo., Alamosa racked up a winning 213 points, and the event-hosting Red Hawks followed with 161.5. Colorado Springs Sand Creek came in third – out of 41 teams – with 158.5, Cedaredge was a close fourth with 156, and Aztec, N.M., rounded out the top five with 129. Tops amongst SJBL crews contending, IHS’ varsity scored 77.5 points and placed 14th between Grand Junction (80.5) and Gypsum Eagle Valley (72). 

Senior Lincoln deKay went 4-0 at 165 pounds and captured first place by defeating Montrose’s Trevan Anstine 7-3. Anstine was the top-seeded deKay’s only opponent to register even a single point; following a first-round bye, deKay pinned Mancos’ Levi Gardner in just 60 seconds, beat Bennett’s Kenneth Jordan by 8-0 major decision and then, after building up a 13-0 lead in his semifinal bout, pinned Hayden’s Ryder Weber 1:21 into the second period. 

Senior Aven Bourriague began well at 120 with a comprehensive 16-1 technical-fall victory over Montezuma-Cortez’s Teagun Samora, and then put away Bennett’s Daniel Jordan 16-0. Bourriague then earned a tight 5-3 win over Monte Vista’s Matthew Rodriguez, but then suffered a humbling 17-0 tech loss to Cedaredge’s Cash Martinez (the weight’s top seed). 

Bourriague bounced back with a vengeance, defeating Rangely’s Reid Zadra by 17-4 major decision, and locked up third place by beating Broomfield Holy Family’s Kaden McCracken 9-6. 

Senior Zane Pontine went 4-2 and ended up fourth at 157 pounds after losing 6-4 to Aztec’s Cory Douglas. Pontine had won his first three bouts by, respectively, pin, tech and major before he lost to Montrose’s top-seeded Trey Clarkson (Pontine was the No. 4; Bourriague had been his bracket’s No. 5) by pin 1:02 into the third period of their semifinal clash. 

At 144 pounds, senior Dillon Brann pinned Buena Vista’s Dexter Whitmore, but then faced a long road back towards the podium after dropping a 14-13 decision to, coincidentally, Bayfield’s Reese Appenzeller. Unfortunately, said road was closed for construction; Brann was eliminated by a 17-0 tech courtesy of Oak Creek Soroco’s Cavit Gregory. 

And at 132, senior Josh Kerrigan received a first-round bye, then beat Delta’s Braylon Davis 6-3. A 15-3 major-decision loss to Gunnison’s Julian Patrick complicated Kerrigan’s tourney, but Kerrigan recovered to beat Soroco’s Arthur Redmond 6-3 before, while still needing one more win to earn top six status, losing 1-0 to Nucla’s Jackson McCabe. 

Closing out ’25 at the next weekend’s Warrior Classic in Grand Junction, the Bobcats managed 43.5 points and finished 31st (between Montezuma-Cortez, 44, and Hayden, 41) out of a whopping 52 teams. Vernal, Utah-based Uintah – unquestionably eyeing a sixth straight UHSAA Class 4A crown – racked up 256.5 and took first over closest challengers Falcon (181) and Fort Collins Rocky Mountain (179.5), with Aztec (147) and Fort Lupton (131) filling out the top five. 

Bourriague led the Bobcats with his fifth-place outcome at 120; he went 5-2 for the tournament, booking two techs and one pin, and defeated Central’s Micah Bautista 7-5 to finish on a high note. After pinning his first two foes and then beating Falcon’s Jackson McDaniel in the quarterfinals, deKay then lost 5-4 to Aztec junior Cory Douglas – who, as a 139-pounder, placed fifth at last season’s NMAA Class 4A State Championships – and ultimately forfeited his final two bouts due to injury. 

Pontine also started well, defeating his first two opponents at 157 before then losing to Green River, Utah’s unbeaten senior Maddux Hintz (who went on to win the weight and improved to 17-0). Pontine managed to then down Hayden’s Jarrett Davis 9-6, but was then eliminated via an 11-1 major decision courtesy of Grand Junction’s Alan Delimont. 

132-pounder Kerrigan also did not place at the Classic, despite posting a 2-2 tourney record. Stephen Romero earned a medical-forfeit win over Dolores’ Zaiden Suhr, but ended up 1-2 at 138 after being pinned by Bayfield’s Payson Blouin. Brann went 0-2 at 144 pounds, and freshmen Phillip Velasquez (175), Zackariah Loudenburg (215) and Maximus Growler (285) fared likewise in their respective divisions. 

The ’Cats will resume competition on Saturday, Jan. 10, at Pagosa Springs’ Rocky Mountain Invitational, duel both Bayfield and Durango for La Plata County supremacy on Thursday, Jan. 15, at BHS, and then hit the Aztec-hosted 1/16-17 Clash at the Coliseum, held at McGee Park in neighboring Farmington, N.M. 

 

ADDITIONALLY: Ignacio Boys’ Basketball was set to host 5A Durango on Saturday, Jan. 3, but head coach Trae Seibel said the afternoon of the 2nd that the non-league game has been relisted for Feb. 3. That made the 3A Bobcats’ first contest in 2026 their 1/8 trip to 2A Del Norte, but results (of both the boys’ and girls’ games) were unavailable at press time. IHS will then host 2A Dove Creek on Saturday, Jan. 10.