Just over a week into the new year, Montezuma-Cortez High School wrestlers took to their home mats in front of a spirited crowd and squeaked by Monte Vista High School by a score of 30-27 on Jan. 9.
Setting the tone for the Panthers was 170-pound senior Casen Allmon, who opened with a pin victory over Monte Vista’s Dusty Duran in a back-and-forth match that ended with one second left in the opening period.
“I just wanted to push my (conditioning) and get better,” Allmon said. “(Duran) was a pretty strong kid, but we’ve got strong kids at state that are a lot stronger than him and probably even me, so I’ve got to keep pushing.”
Helping to drive Allmon to victory were ruckus cheers from home fans, who filled nearly three quarters of the bleachers along one side of the M-CHS gym.
“(The crowd) drove me a lot,” Allmon said. “We had a pretty good turnout tonight. ... You always get that adrenaline rush from the crowd.”
Joining Allmon on the win list was 126-pound junior Austin Featherman, who capped a dominant performance by pinning Monte Vista’s Nathaniel Juarez with five seconds left in the opening period.
“Austin came out and wrestled good,” M-CHS head coach Shad Belmire said. “He brought the type of intensity that we need.”
Other M-CHS wrestlers who emerged victorious in dual matches included Anthony Abeyta, who pinned Pablo Rivera in the 152-pound match, and Ethan Root, who registered a pin victory in a the 160-pound match, which was not official due to his opponent missing weight.
“I did a good job with shots and moving him,” Root said. “To quote (former M-CHS wrestler) Swayde Noyes, (who graduated last year), he rode me pretty good, but I rode him better.”
Also competing for M-CHS were Jayven Valdez, who lost a tough 6-5 decision to Monte Vista’s DeAngelo Archuleta at 120 pounds, Devan Frost, who was pinned by Monte Vista’s Ethan Hotz at 220 pounds, and Jaquin Laner, who was pinned by Monte Vista’s Hunter Pacheco at 132 pounds.
M-CHS’ Caden Cote earned a forfeit victory after Monte Vista failed to produce a wrestler for the 138-pound match. M-CHS forfeited the 106-pound and 113-pound matches because it had no wrestlers at those weights.
“We’ve got a lot of stuff to work on, but we just worked some rust off,” Belmire said. “All in all, we did fairly good.”
Next up for the M-CHS will be a trip to Pagosa Springs for the Rocky Mountain Wrestling Invitational on Jan. 11.