Dogies/Bobcats qualify nine

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Newcastle/Upton grapplers went into their quadrant regional tournament last Friday determined to continue their season, and when the day was done they had qualified nine to move on to the state tournament. Five of those will enjoy the benefit of being seeded, which is a little better than what co-head coach Lee McCoy expected. 
“That was excellent because I had kind of penciled-in a best case scenario where we would take nine,” McCoy began. “But there were a few that actually did a little better than what I was expecting, so that’s always good.”
Blake Durfee went into the tournament as the No. 2 seed at 113 pounds, therefore he drew a bye in the quarterfinal round. First up for him was a Douglas kid in the semifinals whom Durfee was able to get the better of in 1:39. From there, he was pitted against another Douglas kid in the finals who was ranked number two in the state in the weight class. 
This was not the first time these two had met up during the season. The first time, the Bearcat defeated Durfee by eight points, but this match was a little closer.
“It was a one-point match and then Blake tried a move which didn’t work out and he ended up on his back and got stuck,” McCoy explained. “At the time, he was right with the kid and was wrestling him pretty tough.”
The second-place finish has Durfee drawing a bye in his first round at the state tournament.
“Blake has a pretty good draw for the brackets this weekend,” McCoy determined. “He will have the winner of the Pinedale/Star Valley matchup. He wrestled the Pinedale kid earlier in the season and it was a one-point match. It should be a really good match and he should have a good shot at making it into the semifinals.”
Cael Holmes also is moving on to the state tournament after finishing third at 120. He also received a bye in the quarterfinals and went on to drop his semifinal match to Christian Johnson from Douglas in a tight 1-2 decision. 
Unfortunately, in the consolation semis it was Dogie against Dogie as Holmes defeated Kyah Miller to advance to the third/fourth place matchup where he made quick work of his Douglas opponent pinning him in 1:52. 
Holmes’ first match on Friday is against an opponent from Burns/
Pine Bluffs.
“This is probably one of those instances where his loss may end up being a blessing in disguise,” McCoy surmised. “He should have a decent match in the first round and then probably a Powell kid in the quarters if he gets there. I think he ended up on the good side of the bracket.”
Johnny Carlson (126) was one of McCoy’s wrestlers who did a bit better than expected. 
“I knew he would be in the top four, but he just wrestled really tough to get the third place finish,” McCoy exclaimed. “He lost to a Douglas kid in the first round. It was a good match, but he made a mistake leaving his head on the mat and got turned over.”
Carlson came back and beat a pretty tough opponent from Douglas in the consolation semis, then got the
better of a tough Worland opponent to finish third. According to McCoy, Carlson is also set up pretty well in the state bracket.
Aidan Coberly at 138 had an outstanding tournament by finishing second place. McCoy had figured he would end up second or third, so he was pleased to have him get the higher finish. Coberly started off strong with a major decision win over a Worland opponent, and wrestled the No. 2-ranked wrestler in the state from Douglas in the championship match.
“Late in the first, Aidan was winning and he kept it close into the second,” McCoy stated. “Aidan had taken him down and got back points, but then he was reversed and pinned.” 
Kale Corley went into the tournament ranked first in the state at 145 pounds. However, the favorite for the regional title tweaked his knee in warmups. Corley wrestled his first two matches, pinning his opponent in the quarterfinals in just 44 seconds, and dominating in the semis winning in 1:25. Having secured his seeding for the state tournament, the decision was made to injury default the championship match just to be safe and to make sure he was in good shape for the state tournament on Friday.
“We didn’t want to risk causing any worse injury,” McCoy nodded. “He will have to overcome some adversity next week, but Kale is tough and I’m pretty confident he will do whatever he has to at state.”
“It was definitely disappointing, but I’m glad it happened early enough that we were able to make a plan and for him to get his mind straight rather than having to make decisions on the fly,” he continued. “He’s such a mentally tough kid, and it takes a lot to rattle him so he was able to overcome the situation.”
Jacob Prell at 152 finished second where McCoy had him penciled in taking fourth, but the sophomore had other ideas.
“He had an outstanding tournament,” exclaimed McCoy. “He got a win in the quarterfinals and the semifinals and then fell to a pretty tough Worland kid in the championship round.”
Skylar Jenkins (170) fell in his first match, then won in the consolation semis, but lost in the third/fourth place match. On Friday, he’ll face off against a Green River wrestler first who doesn’t have a winning record, but McCoy cautioned that it may not mean much.
Josh Womack at 195 battled a Bearcat in the semifinal round and emerged victorious with a pin in 4:24. In the finals, he had his work cut out for him as he took on the top wrestler in the state from Worland who got the best of him in 1:05. 
“That was probably one of the most impressive wins I have seen against Josh. Josh didn’t wrestle badly, and he did everything he could, but that kid was tough,” McCoy emphasized. “That was one of those instances where I told Josh that sometimes he’s the hammer and sometimes he’s the nail. He was the nail in that one, but we were sure proud of him and he had a good tournament.”
Weston Simianer was able to get in one match this season before the regional tournament, and knew going in with just four wrestlers competing at 220 that he would advance to the state tournament, however how he would place was up in the air. 
“He was winning his first match and was doing pretty well, but he got rolled through in a takedown and pinned,” McCoy described. “He then pinned his opponent in the third place match and was looking pretty good, so that was awesome. For him being a senior, we really wanted him to be able to complete his last season.”
As a team, the Dogies/Bobcats finished third behind Douglas and Worland who were able to run away with the tournament given they had two wrestlers at each weight. 
The 3A State Tournament will take place this Friday at the Casper Event Center. Action will begin at 8:30 a.m. with the 106-pound weight class and will conclude with the championship matches at the end of the day.
The state is selling 2,000 tickets to the event based on a first-come, first-serve basis.