Defeated in the first four bouts Tuesday evening, Montezuma-Cortez proceeded to take the last four against hosting Bayfield, with only forfeit points separating the 3A Panthers from an Intermountain League dual win over the 3A Wolverines.
Beginning with sophomore Rusty Snyder’s 6-2 win over Reese Appenzeller at 132 pounds, M-CHS began chopping away at BHS’ strong start and got as close as 26-15 – via senior David Vreeken’s first-period pin of Donovan “Dante” Candelaria at 157 – before ultimately losing 38-21. Bayfield’s Keegan Johnston (150), Caelan Ramos (165) and Justin Westbrook (175) each stepped onto the mat unopposed, earning the Wolverines 18 deciding points in what was otherwise a result satisfactory to the visiting skipper.
“I was really happy with my upper weights, from 32s on up; we didn’t lose a match there. But my guys … all performed pretty well,” said Montezuma-Cortez head coach Ryan Daves. “My littler guys, they just need to open up; they’re freshmen, they’re a little timid, and they were having their nerves get to them a little bit. They open up in practice and wrestle really well, but when we go to matches they’re getting a little nervous. So we’ve got to get them over that.”
“We’ve definitely got some advance varsity kids and some beginner/JV kids,” Vreeken said. “It’s kind of hard to tell because our newer kids get tough kids – like Keaton (Pickering) – but I think as a whole, as a team we’ve progressed a lot.”
Often rated this winter in Class 3A’s top five at his weight, the senior Pickering voluntarily surrendered several escape points to Panther freshman Zane Frazier in their tussle at 126 pounds in order to work as many moves as possible. Pickering built up a 16-7 lead during the opening two-minute period with relative ease, then secured a 22-7 technical-fall win during the second – increasing Bayfield’s lead to 20-0, after teammate Porter Sutherlin pinned freshman Orion Martineau in just 29 seconds at 120.
Teammate Hunter Mars had defeated freshman Keaton Curleyhair 8-2 at 113, and Connor Martindale got the show started at 106 by building up a 5-0 lead on freshman Teagun Samora, then notching a pin 0:53 into the second.
But after Snyder at last got the Panthers on the scoreboard, and neither squad sent out a 138-pounder, M-CHS senior Airoughn Morris pinned BHS’ Coan Naranjo 1:20 into their clash at 144. After Johnston claimed his forfeit points, Vreeken – who’d already stepped onto the mat, unaware there was a forfeit preceding his bout – pinned Candelaria, also a senior, with fewer than 10 seconds left in the first period.
“That 150-pounder walked out and I was a little confused,” Vreeken admitted. “My coach told me that I was going to be in a tough match. And it was good, but I was kind of expecting a little more out of it.”
Panther senior 190-pounder Hunter Goodall concluded the dual (neither team had a 215 or 285 available) pinning BHS’ Micah Cornelia in just 30 seconds – a strong way to send Montezuma-Cortez, coming off a fourth-place showing at the Nucla/Norwood Invitational (1/13), into preparing for an upcoming trip to the Jan. 19-20 Page, Arizona, Sand Devil Classic.
Day 1 action is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m., with the Saturday session starting at 9 a.m.
“I don’t know how to explain it, but different states wrestle differently – and Arizona has a different feel,” said Vreeken. “Sometimes it’s easier and other times you’re really confused on what’s going on … so I think it’ll make me better all around.”
“I really like that Page tournament; we go down there and there’s usually 40-plus schools,” Daves said, “from the not-very-good end clear up to the really-good end. For my guys that need to work on things, early in the tournament we can get really good matches. And for my veterans that need good, hard matches, we’ll get them as well.
