The Durango High School boys wrestling team dueled a pair of ranked squads on Thursday in Fruita: Fruita Monument and Montrose.
DHS, however, came up short against No. 9 5A Montrose, 53-28, and No. 4 5A Fruita, 69-11. Fruita also beat Montrose, 58-12, in the triangular.
Ryan Dugan, who is ranked No. 4 at 113 pounds by On the Mat, and Wyatt Bartell at 138 both won their two matches for the Demons.
Dugan pinned Ricky Olmos of Montrose in 57 seconds and beat Braxton Stewart of Fruita with a 16-1 technical fall.
Bartell, meanwhile, pinned Montrose’s Austin Zimmer in the second period and Fruita’s Benjammn Romero with just three seconds left in regulation.
Elijah Ponce also pinned his Montrose opponent, Hunter Hess, at 120 and Riley Belt scored an 11-3 major decision over Red Hawk Austin Zimmer at 132. Izik Garrett picked up six team points with a forfeit at 126 while DHS forfeited at 106 and 165 to the Red Hawks, but got pinned in the six of the seven other contested matches and lost by a technical fall in the other.
Against Fruita, the Wildcats picked up six pins and one decision while Dugan and Bartell won for the Demons. DHS forfeited at 144, 150 and 175 in addition to 106 while Dale Harris lost his 190-pound match after he ran out of injury time.
DHS was also scheduled to wrestle at the Sabrecat Slam on Saturday in Castle Rock.
