Wrestlers get to work

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Bighorns were bursting with wrestling action last week as the combined Newcastle/Upton grapplers competed in a dual against Buffalo on Thursday, Dec. 19, and then headed over the mountain to Worland on Friday and Saturday, the 20th and 21st for the Battle of the Bighorns tournament.
“The guys got in a lot of matches over the three days, and I was pretty pleased with how we did,” head coach Lee McCoy nodded. “The weekend exposed the areas we need to improve upon to be competitive with other 3A teams, and it’s good to have that early in the season. It’s also good that it’s December because we have time to work on those things.”
On Thursday, the team stopped for a quick 35 minute competition against the Bison in Buffalo. The Dogies were in and out and picked up the 46-36 win as a team. Blake Durfee (106), Dillan Wornkey (138) and Weston Simianer (220) each won their matches by pinning their opponent. Jory McFarland (120) won by major decision 9-1, while Cael Holmes (113), Kale Corley (145), Jacob Prell (152) and Josh Womack (195) each claimed wins by forfeit to give the team its 46 points.
“We matched up with Buffalo pretty well, and though they were missing a few guys we handled them pretty good,” McCoy stated. “It made it a pretty quick dual and we were able to get on the road to Worland by about 6.”
The Battle of the Bighorns tournament is a large preseason event with 20 teams from 2A to 4A in attendance. It is set up in a dual format, with pool play matches on Friday to set up brackets on Saturday. 
Competition opened up as the Dogies faced off against Glenrock in their first dual on Friday, and the squad made quick work of the Herders running away with the 71-15 victory. Durfee, Wornkey, Corley, Prell and Womack each pinned their opponents with only Womack’s match going into the second period.
Their second match of the day was against a loaded Powell Panther team, and the Dogies felt what is was like to be on the other end of the final result as they were defeated 67-6. Corley was the only Dogie to score points in this matchup, and he did so by sticking his opponent in 2:25. 
“That match was not very fun,” McCoy admitted. “They are tough and they exposed our inability to move and wrestle off the bottom. That is a big weakness for us, but we expect some of that because we have a lot of freshmen and in middle school, bottom wrestling is not a big thing so it’s something they will need to learn.” 
Next up for the Dogies were the Pinedale Wranglers. Once again, the Dogies found themselves on the losing end 34-42, but according to McCoy it was a much better match.
“I thought we wrestled better, but we were still not moving well off the bottom,” he began. “They have a good team with some pretty talented wrestlers, and it was a pretty good dual.”
Holmes, Wornkey, Corley and Skylar Jenkins (160) each took their opponent by a pin to contribute to their team score.
The final match of pool play had the Dogies pitted against Shoshoni, and they rebounded to take a 42-39 victory with Durfee, Corley, Jenkins and Womack each pinning their opponents. The team ended the day with a 2-2 record so took third place which advanced them into the silver bracket on Saturday.
In their first match, they drew Rock Springs whom they defeated 48-24 to advance to the semifinal round against Riverton. Durfee, McFarland and Corley each pinned their opponents to contribute to the win.
“We wrestled really well against Rock Springs,” McCoy began. “The kids were hustling and just came out ready to go.”
Unfortunately, the hustle ran a little thin in their second match of the day, and they lost the contest 18-51.
“We came out flat against Riverton,” McCoy frowned. “They were tough through the middle and upper weights and they had a lot
of upperclassmen who just outworked us.”
Corley faced his toughest opponent of the weekend in Ridge Briggs from the 4A school. Both Corley and Briggs are state champions who are tough competitors. 
“Ridge is a senior and he ended up beating Kale 7-0,” McCoy stated. “It was a good match though, and it was by far the closest match he’s been in all season. Kale didn’t allow him to get the pin, and it really was the match of the weekend.”
The loss put the team into the third place match against Wheatland, and the Dogies couldn’t quite get past the Bulldogs so finished in fourth place with the 39-42 loss.
“I think the guys were just wiped out by that time,” McCoy sighed. “Skylar hurt his ribs so he wasn’t in the lineup, and we gave up a couple of pins that we shouldn’t have which cost us the match so they were able to squeeze one out on us.”
As a team, the Dogies finished up action with the Wheatland dual however Corley still had one more to go. Throughout the tournament, officials tracked the records of the athletes and at the end, they took the top two kids from each weight to have them wrestle in a best-of-the-best match for top honors. 
Corley and Briggs were selected to duke it out for the title at 145 so Corley got another shot to even the score. 
“Kale wrestled him better this second time, but ended up getting caught in a bad position and got pinned,” McCoy began. “Up until that moment, it was a much better match than the first one.”
Corley wasn’t the only Dogie to have a successful weekend. Durfee went 8-1 on the weekend losing only one match in Worland. According to McCoy, he was close to making the best-of-the-best wrestle off, but got bumped out based on criteria. 
“Blake looked good all weekend, and it’s nice to have a junior at 106 because that gives us some maturity at a weight that is usually younger kids,” McCoy declared. “His goal is to be a state champ along with Kale, Josh, Skylar and Jory. They’ve made it to state and know they are running out of time.”
The Dogies have a few weeks to work on some of those trouble areas McCoy identified over the weekend, and will be back in action on Jan.  9 when they will host Glenrock in Upton, and then on the 10th and 11th, the squad will head to Douglas for the Shane Shatto tournament.