Dogie/Bobcat wrestlers best the Tigers

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Editor
 
The Dogies/Bobcats didn’t have the start to the season that they anticipated, but when winter weather shut down school and canceled all activities on Friday, having the opportunity to get some kind of competition in on the weekend was welcomed by head coach Lee McCoy and his crew.
“We were really hoping to get four or five matches in on Friday, but that was not an option for us,” McCoy began. “We were pretty glad to at least get a dual in on Saturday, though.”
With a mix of veteran and rookie wrestlers on his squad, McCoy was anxious to see them in action, so everyone could get an idea of where they stand and what they need to do to improve. Though they only had one opportunity to compete, it was enough to give McCoy the information he needed moving forward.
“From what I saw in our one match on Saturday, we need a lot of mat time because we have a lot of work to do,” he said. “It was great that we won, and Lusk looked pretty good, but it could have been by a bigger margin because there were a couple of losses that should have gone the other way.”
After a double forfeit at the 106-pound weight class, Haven Vrana of Upton was the first on the mat at 113. He was bumped up from 106 so he would have the chance to get on the mat, and despite giving up some weight to his opponent, gave him a battle before losing by a 2-4 decision. 
The Bobcats’ Jackson East was up next at 120 pounds where he also lost by decision with a 0-16 technical fall.
After the first two matches, it was pin or be pinned, with a forfeit win sprinkled in here and there, for the remainder of the contest.
Newcastle’s Johnny Carlson took care of his opponent in pretty short time at 126, sticking him shortly into the second period. Cael Holmes also got a quick pin in 1:47 at 138, Cullen Davis (160) had the fastest pin of
the day in just 1:37, and Ian Simmons (195) also stuck his opponent in 3:35. Aidan Coberly (152) and Josh Womack (220) won their matches
by forfeit.
“I would have liked to start out a little better, but I can’t be too disappointed because it’s a long season and we’ve got time to get things cleaned up,” McCoy said. “But, even though it was our first match of the season, we were making some pretty fundamental mistakes which cost us the match in some cases. We have a lot of work to do and a lot of cleaning up to do, but it’s early.”
There were also a couple of exhibition matches in order to offer more wrestlers the opportunity to compete. Junior Kyah Miller wrestled the Tigers’ 113-pounder, but ended up on the losing end of that match. 
“He was pretty strong, but Kyah could have looked better,” Lee admitted. “We are just not in competition mode yet and we have to
get there.”
Aidan Coberly also wrestled Lusk’s 145-pounder in an exhibition match due to the Tigers having no one for him to take on at 152. Cael Holmes ended up with two chances to get
on the mat as he had an exhibition match at 132. However, he didn’t fare quite as good as he had in his 138 varsity match.
Robert Hobbs was another who got in an exhibition match, at 160. As a first-timer, McCoy was pretty impressed with how Hobbs did despite a loss.
“He’s athletic, he’s smart, and he’ll get it figured out,” McCoy said. “I’m not sure what he was expecting, but I know he was pretty disappointed. However, he will only continue to improve and I was pretty happy with how he did.”
This week the squad will travel to Buffalo for a dual on Thursday, then continue over the mountain to Worland for the Battle of the Big Horns on Friday and Saturday. They are in a pool with Rock Springs, Riverton and Powell in Worland, so it will present some challenges to the Dogies/Bobcats.
“It’ll be good for our more experienced kids,” McCoy said. “It’ll also be good for our younger kids to see where they need to get to by wrestling some really tough competition.”