Thursday was the final home Intermountain League dual-meet of the season for the Bayfield High School wrestling team, and fans were eager to cheer on both the Wolverines and Pagosa Springs Pirates.
Pagosa Springs claimed a 48-27 win, and the night was full of excitement on both sides. Bayfield had to forfeit three weight classes to only one by Pagosa Springs, but the matches wrestled brought plenty of excitement.
Perhaps the most thrilling match came at 195 pounds between Bayfield senior Wyatt Freier and Pagosa’s Jaden Hinger. Freier was wrestling his first varsity match after being convinced to join the team a few weeks ago. Freier trailed 8-6 in the third period but scored a two-point takedown right before the end of regulation. The match went through two overtime periods with no change in score, and a late technical violation by Freier gave Hinger a 10-8 lead he would hold onto for the win. Freier lost six points because of technical violations but showed he will be a strong competitior going forward.
Another exciting match came at 138 pounds between Bayfield’s Chris Kane and Pagosa Springs’ Tanner Schlom. Kane was filling in for the injured Taylor Winch and earned a pin victory at 1 minute, 46 seconds of the second period for his first varsity win.
BHS also picked up a win at 145 pounds from Ryan Nava. He earned a pin against Tyler Cowan at 1:54 of the first period. Cowan is a strong opponent, and Nava gained even more momentum after winning the Sun Devil Classic earlier this season.
Bayfield’s Garrett Beebe also defeated Pagosa Springs’ Tate Hinger in a 7-1 decision.
The night ended at 160 pounds, where Macoy Michaeli of Bayfield earned a pin against Caleb Janowsky at 1:53 of the second period.
Wrestling injured, Bayfield’s Cash Snooks tried his best at 170 pounds but was pinned at 1:16 of the second period by Chance McReynolds.
Before the match, BHS honored its seniors Freier, Snooks and Winch as part of senior night.
Bayfield is back in action this weekend at Ignacio’s Butch Melton Invitational.
Pine River Times sports writer Joel Priest contributed to this report.
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
