Grapplers clean up in Wheatland

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Dogies/Bobcats wiped the mat with the Bulldogs, Trailblazers and Wolves on Friday, which after a long, tough week prior was pretty sweet for co-head coach Lee McCoy’s crew.
“We did pretty good going 3-0 in Wheatland, and the kids wrestled pretty well,” McCoy grinned. “Hanging one on Moorcroft was awesome because they are the 2A defending state champs, and though we still have things we need to improve upon, I was proud of the way we bounced back from the week before where we took a little bit of a beating.” 
The day began with a dominating win for Newcastle/Upton as they defeated the Torrington Trailblazers 51-6, their only loss of the match coming from an open forfeit at 220. The ‘Blazers gave up two open weights, but on the mat, Blake Durfee (113-pound class), Kale Corley (145), Jacob Prell (152), Skylar Jenkins (170) and Josh Womack (195) all stuck their opponents while Caleb Hossfeld (132) won by an 8-5 decision.
Moorcroft proved to present a little more of a challenge for the Dogies/Bobcats. Both teams gave up two weights to forfeits, however the Wolves were only able to come out on top in three actual matches, while six Dogies took wins. Once again, Corley, Prell and Womack pinned their opponents and Aidan Coberly (138) also stuck his opponent. Cael Holmes (120) and Johnny Carlson (126) won their matches as well, Holmes by Major Decision 10-1, and Carlson by a pretty decisive 8-1 decision. 
Durfee was handling his opponent pretty well, however a mishap during the match may have contributed to Moorcroft stealing the victory at 113.
“Blake was winning 14-4 when he got bounced on his head and got his bell rung a little bit,” McCoy admitted. “He then ended up leaving his head on the mat and got stuck, and that was hard to take because he was dominating. He seemed to be okay after that, which is awesome, but he would have won had it not been for that.”
McCoy went on to explain that, after that, there was a little back-and-forth between the two teams. Winning six matches to their three was indicative of his claim that his squad actually took it to Wolves pretty good, and that the 43-30 score was actually closer than it should have been. 
The final dual of the day was a rematch with the Bulldogs of Wheatland. The last time these two teams met, Wheatland took the 39-30 win due to Newcastle giving up 18 points in three open forfeits. This time Newcastle was open at only one weight which evened the playing field and when the dueling was over, there was a 33-33 tie on the scoreboard proving these were very evenly matched squads.
“The last time we wrestled them we lost because of our forfeits so vengeance was sweet,” McCoy smiled. “They gave up forfeits this time and it was kind of nice to be on the opposite end of that.”
Corley finished his day with a perfect record, defeating his opponent in 2:35, while Durfee had cleared his head and also got a pin in just 48 seconds. Carlson was the only other Dogie to pick up a win which wasn’t a forfeit, when he won his second match by decision, this time 9-2.
With a tie at the end of the match, in order to determine a winner, it came down to a list of criteria which McCoy explained.
“The first is who won more matches, and we had both won the same. Next is how many pins each team had and again we were tied,” he began. “Then it goes to if anyone was called for a flagrant violation and neither team had, so it came down to the next criteria which is who gave up more forfeits and Wheatland was the loser on that one having had two more than we did.”
The tie-breaker gave Newcastle/Upton one extra point so they took the 34-33 win.
The reduction in the number of open weights was due in part to the return of Upton senior Weston Simianer at 220. 
“Weston got to come back with a conditional clearance to get into the warmups and suit up for forfeits or for easier matches, so it was great not to have to give up those points against Moorcroft and Wheatland,” McCoy nodded. “We are hoping for him to have full clearance by this weekend.”
The Dogies/Bobcats will host a dual against Wright in Newcastle on Friday beginning at 5 p.m., and then will travel to Douglas for a quad on Saturday where they will compete against Douglas Hulett and Sundance.