Particularly proud Thursday night of his squad’s final two bouts against area rival Dove Creek, Montezuma-Cortez wrestling head coach Ryan Daves saw the sort of talent he hopes will continue emerging at subsequent events this winter – including the Western Slope Showdown, which got underway in Montrose the next day at 8 a.m.
“We’ve got a lot of new kids this year, and we haven’t been working on conditioning a whole lot; we’ve been trying to get some moves shown to them,” Daves said at the end of his Panthers’ triangular versus Dove Creek and Ignacio completed. “We just need to work on getting in shape, but that’ll all come with the season.”
Defeated 35-12 by Ignacio after falling 33-18 to the Bulldogs (whose 215-pounder, Frankie Montoya, was not immediately credited with a forfeit win – which would have increased the final margin to 39-18), Daves’ bunch managed to earn 32 points and place 26th – just ahead of Dove Creek (26 points) – at the Showdown out of 30 scoring teams. Cedaredge topped the table with 168.5, beating second-place Aztec by half a point inside an on-edge Montrose County Event Center, and hometown Red Hawks by 14.5.
M-CHS’ Hunter Goodall was particularly impressive at the two-day tourney, following up a first-round bye with five wins in six tries at 190 pounds. Losing only to Mancos’ defending State Champion Cole Dainty-Guilfoyle, via pin with less than 10 seconds remaining in the third and last regulation two-minute period, Goodall – who pinned all five of his victims – recovered and ultimately stuck Nucla’s Paxtin Caruso in only 24 ticks to authoritatively secure third place at the weight.
At the triangular, Goodall had pinned Dove Creek’s Myles Ives 57 ticks into the second period, earned a forfeit against Ignacio, and also pinned the aforementioned Montoya 30 seconds into the second period of an exhibition bout.
Saluted by the second-year skipper for his efforts in a 6-5 loss to DCHS’ Cael Beanland at 120 pounds, and a second-period loss by pin at 113 to IHS’ Aven Bourriague at the tri, Keaton Curleyhair competed at 113 at the Showdown and went 1-2. The 157-pound David Vreeken also went 1-2, but Teagun Samora (106), Zane Frazier (120), Orion Martineau (126) and Dalton Muzzy (175) each went 0-2.
“I was impressed with Keaton’s performances,” said Daves, “and Hunter’s were really nice. And I was impressed with Orion too; he’s doing really well for how green he is to the sport.”
“There’s things that we need to work on, but I’m happy overall,” he stated. “Matches like that will only make us better.”
Beanland went an unlucky 0-2 at 113 in Montrose, but Colten Huskey’s Bulldogs still boasted some strong efforts. Montoya bounced back from an early pin to finish 2-2 at 215, both his wins coming via pin, and Konner Spigner also notched two pins in finishing 2-2 at 150. The 175-pound Taber DeJane, who stuck both Muzzy and IHS’ Kendrick Nossaman at the tri (Dove Creek defeated the ’Cats 42-14), went 1-2 with a pin at the WSS, and Chad Kline went 1-2 at 132.
Twice victorious by pin at the triangular, Teagan Larimore went 2-2 at 120 pounds but Wade Conner went 0-2 at 126.
DCHS will next compete on Saturday, Dec. 16, in Walsenburg at WHS’ Pete and Ina Gomez Invitational; Montezuma-Cortez will return to action on the 15th in Grand Junction, beginning G.J. Central’s two-day Warrior Classic.
And speaking of Mancos, the Blue Jays totaled 108.5 points and placed seventh at the Showdown. Dainty-Guilfoyle went 4-1 and ended up placing second at 190, losing by pin to Meeker’s Brendan Clatterbaugh 1:03 into the first period. Jacob Martin went 3-1 at 165 and also finished as a WSS runner-up after losing 16-3 to Montrose’s Quinn Brown.
Heavyweight Elliot Sam placed second, going 2-1 and losing 4-3 to Palisade’s Angelo Guarente in the finale.
At 157 pounds, however, Mancos’ Brandon Vannest ensured at least one Jay would see the top of the podium; he won his first two bouts by pin, then dealt Florence’s Tanner Kammerdiener a 15-9 defeat, and ultimately pinned Buena Vista’s Abel Flowers 1:08 into the third period to secure first place.
Dillon Eichner went 1-2 at 113 pounds and Colten Vannest ditto at 215, but Tegan Mestas (120) and Quinton Martinez (138) each went 0-2 at the large-scale spectacle.
Up next, the Jays will flock south and west to Fort Defiance, Arizona, for the Window Rock Fighting Scouts’ 9th Annual Veterans Memorial Invitational running Dec. 15-16.
