The Bayfield High School wrestling team had a win within reach against Montezuma-Cortez in a Tuesday night dual meet at BHS. But the Wolverines were unable to get wins in the lower weight divisions and lost 42-36.
The Wolverines were pinned six times on the night. Despite gaining 24 points from four forfeits, BHS could not capitalize.
“Their lineup, hats off to them, they’re solid all the way through, just about every one of their kids is a ranked kid, and it shows,” BHS head coach Todd McMenimen said. “They’re well-coached, and it was a good battle, but we gave up too many pins and too many bonus points. That’s something we have to work on, understand the situation in the match and be able to contain some of those bonus points a little bit because if two of our guys lose by a decision instead of a pin, we win that dual.”
The Wolverines lost both matches that went the full three periods, as Tom Kerwin outlasted Shane Moore at 170 pounds with an 8-7 decision win, and Jayven Valdez picked up two points deep into the final period to earn a 9-7 decision win against Simon Schneider at 113.
“Simon wrestled really well and had a couple of little issues right at the end there,” McMenimen said. “He and I talked about it after the match, that final minute or so that got in trouble, but I thought he wrestled a great match.”
Bayfield had two wins via fall on the night. One of those came from Daniel Westbrook (220), who pinned Devan Frost in 1:45 in the first period. The senior thought it was a good match but hoped to see a bit more fight from the rest of the Wolverines.
“The team as a whole definitely got pinned quicker than I thought they should have,” Westbrook said. “We definitely had something going on, and I know we can wrestle better than that. I think it was just one of those nights. We got off to a bit of a slow start, and we couldn’t take advantage when we had our shots. For me, though, I wanted to get a match in before this weekend so I could stay fresh.”
Cortez head coach Shad Bellmire knew his side had to be tough despite not having a full lineup.
“We knew we had to give up four weights, and so our game plan was to get as many pins as possible,” Bellmire said. “After last week’s performance, we had to be tougher, and I thought we did that. Last week, we didn’t have that in our belly, our grit, so we had to step it up. We’re getting down toward the end of the season with everybody heading toward regional, so it’s time to shift a gear.”
Bellmire was impressed with Matthew Broughton (152), the second-ranked wrestler in Class 3A at 152, according to the latest On the Mat rankings. Broughton helped Cortez maintain an early lead after he was able to pin Kobe Prior at the 1:02 mark of the first period.
“(Matthew) hit some other shots that he normally doesn’t go for, but we’ve been working on them,” Bellmire said. “Because some people are used to his style, so we have to go to a Plan B, have a little bit more variety of moves. Hopefully he can keep working on it this weekend and beyond.”
One of the best matches of the night came from BHS’ Trey McKee (145), as he got a pin in the third period against Ethan Root.
“I thought Trey fought hard tonight,” McMenimen said. “He’s been nursing a little bit of an injury, but he came out strong. He stuck through it and wrestled really well, and they had a solid, solid kid in Ethan, and Trey battled tonight.”
Bayfield will be tested this weekend when it will travel to the Mel Smith Husky Invite on Friday and Saturday in Florence. “It’s the premier 3A tournament in the state, without a question,” McMenimen said. “It’s tough from top to bottom. All of the best 3A teams will be there, so we’ll get a good idea of where we’re really at right now. It’ll tell us where we need to go, what we need to work on and how far we’ve got to go before February before the state tournament.”
bploen@ durangoherald.com
