After going head to head against On The Mat’s’ No. 1 ranked Class 3A team in Alamosa the week prior, the Montezuma-Cortez wrestling team tussled with another top-five opponent on Thursday.
The Panthers took a hit due to illness and eligibility and sent out just seven grapplers in their 63-9 dual loss to the Mean Moose on Jan. 13. But hosting No. 3 ranked Centauri Falcons on Thursday, they put out their most complete slate since before the break, filling nine weight classes.
“Getting healthy and getting grades back up is helping,” said M-CHS head coach Shad Bellmire. “But there’s still some little things we need to work on.”
Wrestling up a class to get a match, sophomore Shawn Higgins got the Panthers out on the right foot with a 7-2 decision win over 113-pounder Jeramy Coombs. The two were tied 2-2 after the first period, but Higgins took control in the second and rode out the third for the win.
Stevie Fuentes also wrestled up a class to see some action, and he was paired up against On The Mat’s No. 1 ranked Class 3A wrestler at 120 pounds in Joe Chavez.
Chavez tallied a 15-1 advantage after two periods before pinning Fuentes in the third. And although Fuentes likely won’t see Chavez again as he’ll drop back to his natural 113-pound class, Bellmire said it was good for the sophomore to get experience competing with one of the state’s best wrestlers.
Centauri got a forfeit at 126 pounds to lead the dual 12-3, but Matthew Broughton gave M-CHS a boost with a dominating 11-0 major-decision win at 132 pounds to pull the team within five.
The Falcons then rattled off two straight, with No. 1 ranked 138-pounder Quinton Montaque pinning Ethan Root and No. 4 ranked 145-pounder Brandon Buhr coming away with a close 7-4 decision win over Josh Ramos.
M-CHS responded with two of its own consecutive W’s, as Briggs Durbin won by fall at 160 pounds and then Sonny Boren pulled out a 6-4 decision at 170 pounds.
But leading 21-16, Centauri closed things out in the last three classes.
Weston Huffaker defeated Swayde Noyes by fall, Bennie Chacon got a 16-0 tech fall win over Kerwin Tom, and then the Falcons’ heavyweight Casey Fringer tacked on six forfeit points to give Centauri a 38-16 win.
Following the dual, Bellmire said that his team needs to be more aggressive and look for takedowns instead of sitting back and letting opponents come to them.
“We’ve got to be the hammer, not the nail,” he said. “So when we’re on our feet we’ve got to get going.”
The Panthers were scheduled to go to Page, Arizona for a weekend tournament, but it was canceled due to weather.
However, that doesn’t mean that they’ll take the weekend off.
“We’re going to practice on Friday and Saturday,” Bellmire said. “We’re still going to get after it. We’ve got to treat it just like a tournament and get matches in the room. We’ve got to keep our shape and fine tune some things.”