The Montezuma-Cortez and Dove Creek wrestling teams got their money’s worth last weekend, with each taking on top-tier talent.
The Panthers started their weekend on Friday with a dual in Alamosa against the Mean Moose, who were the No. 1 ranked Class 3A team in the state according to Tim Yount’s On The Mat Rankings.
And with Alamosa fielding a full roster and M-CHS sending just six grapplers, the Mean Moose got 48 points from forfeits and cruised to a 63-9 win.
“We got punched in the face with illness and grades,” said M-CHS head coach Shad Bellmire. “It really hurt not taking the full team down there. We still wouldn’t have had numbers in 14 weight classes, but we could’ve given them a little more. So hopefully that stuff is behind us.”
In the six classes they were able to fill, only Stevie Fuentes (113) and Sonny Boren (160) came away with wins. Fuentes won in a 5-4 decision and Boren won by fall.
The Panthers stayed overnight in Alamosa and then competed in the Alamosa Tournament on Saturday.
Senior Josh Ramos went 2-2 and Boren went 1-2 as the Panthers’ top finishers, each placing fourth in their respective weight classes.
They were the only placers for M-CHS, as Kerwin Tom finished 2-2 and Fuentes, Casen Allmon, Ethan Root and Swayde Noyes all went 1-2 on the day.
“We’ve got to get offensive of off our feet,” said Bellmire. “That was a lot of our issues there at the tournament, we weren’t aggressive in the neutral position – so back to the drawing board. We’ve been drilling it in their heads and we’ve got to go for it. We can’t sit around, we’ve got to get takedowns.”
KIBEL SINGLED OUT IN ARIZONA
Junior Derek Kibel was not only the sole Dove Creek representative at the Doc Wright Invitational in Winslow, Arizona last weekend – he was also the only grappler from Colorado.
The tournament, which Dove Creek head coach Eric Stiasny called the toughest his team will compete in all year, featured 44 other schools from Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Nevada.
“One of the nice things is that we don’t see anybody that we know there,” he explained. “So (Derek) can just go out and let it fly and there’s not the pressure of seeing somebody multiple times. And just seeing kids that are above anything that he’ll see this year, he can go into the regional tournament or state tournament and know that he’s already seen the toughest kids he’s going to see.”
Wrestling at 138 pounds, where he’s been since the new year, Kibel won his opening match and then alternated wins and losses to finish 2-2.
“The first kid he got beat by was the runner-up in 4A last year in Arizona,” said Stiasny. “He beat the kids that he should’ve beat, some tough kids. He performed exactly liked we expected and we were happy with it, and he’s progressing each week.”