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Durango boys wrestling goes 2-0 at La Plata Tri

Bayfield went 1-1, Ignacio went 0-2 inside Durango High School
Keenan Aragon of Durango High School and Coan Naranjo of Bayfield High School wrestle in the 144-pound weight class on Tuesday at DHS. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald)

Durango boys wrestling celebrated its five seniors in style on Tuesday night inside Durango High School. The Demons went 2-0 against Bayfield and Ignacio in the La Plata Tri. Durango beat Bayfield 50-10 and Ignacio 41-20.

“The team's really jelling,” Durango boys wrestling head coach Jason Silva said. “They're starting to hit their peak at the right time. We're led by our seniors and they're pushing the pace in the room; it's reflecting with our younger kids who are starting to feel comfortable at the high school level.”

The Tri started with Bayfield and Durango facing off. Hudson Taylor gave the Wolverines a 6-0 lead after he pinned Durango’s Wesley Megorden in 65 seconds at 113 pounds.

Durango’s Ryan Dugan continued his strong season with a pin over Bayfield’s Connor Martindale in 2 minutes, 29 seconds at 120 pounds to tie the dual at 6-6. The Demons won at 126 and 132 pounds for an 18-6 lead before Bayfield bounced back with Logan Valencia. He won 20-11 at 138 pounds over Asher McKinnie to cut Durango’s lead to 18-10.

Bayfield continued to wrestle well; Wolverine Coan Naranjo pinned Durango’s Keenan Aragon at 144 pounds after leading 10-0. Durango led 18-16.

Durango pulled away thanks to Wyatt Bartel pinning Daemon Christner at 150 pounds and Cole Pontine beat Bayfield’s Cade Grover at 157 pounds.

Pontine had an impressive throw into a near fall for an early 3-0 lead and led 6-1. Pontine continued to dominate and was on top of Grover for the first part of the second period. Pontine then cruised to a 20-2 win in the second period.

Jacob Belt and JJ Vickers both won by forfeit for Durango. Bayfield’s Noah Westbrook won 11-2 over Durango’s Julius Arredondo at 175 pounds. But it wasn’t enough as Durango won 41-20.

Arredondo started his match with a technical point against him and Westbrook capitalized on that with a near fall for a 4-0 lead. Westbrook had a near-pin for a 7-2 lead in the second period. The wrestlers battled on the mat for most of the match.

Westbrook started the third period with three points from a near-pin for an 11-2 lead. Westbrook held that lead into the third period for the victory.

“We wrestled Durango hard,” Bayfield wrestling head coach Adam Mars said. “Durango is a solid team; they've got a bunch of really solid guys. A really great match was with Logan (Valencia) and Asher (McKinnie). Asher's going to be a salty kid when he comes around and gets a little more experience.”

Asher McKennie of Durango High School and Logan Valencia of Bayfield High School wrestle in the 138-pound weight class on Tuesday at DHS. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald)

After the Bayfield vs. Durango duel, Durango’s five seniors (Dugan, Elijah Ponce, Bartel, Pontine, Arredondo) were honored after the Durango and Bayfield match. Demons assistant coach Jeremy Dugan had some nice words for the seniors, many of whom he coached since they were 4 or 5 years old.

“Since I've been helping out as an assistant or a head coach, this is the first group of kids I've had as freshmen,” Silva said about the seniors. “They mean a lot to me. They're very important and they're the anchor of the rebuild we've had in Durango wrestling. They're the cornerstone of what we're going to build moving forward over the next decade or so.”

Bayfield vs. Ignacio was the next dual and Martindale bounced back from his loss against Dugan and wrestled a great match against Ignacio’s Aven Bourriague at 120 pounds. Martindale took a commanding 10-0 lead and led 10-2 after two periods before winning 17-2. This gave Bayfield an 11-0 lead.

Ignacio won its first match of the dual when Joshua Kerrigan won 17-2 over Max Johnson from Bayfield at 126 pounds.

Two of the more impressive pins of the night happened in this dual. Bayfield’s Payson Blouin pinned Ignacio’s Cameron Bell in 29 seconds at 132 pounds and Ignacio’s Zane Pontine pinned Grover in 18 seconds at 157 pounds.

Bayfield beat Ignacio 40-17 to finish the Tri 1-1.

“They're in a good place,” Mars said about his team. “We need to do a few things, keep doing little conditioning and keep that stuff going. I feel like we're in a good spot as far as not being injured and stuff right now, so we'd like to hold on to that. But we're in a really good spot to end this season.”

The final dual of the night was between Ignacio and Durango. Dugan finished the night 2-0 after he beat Bourriague at 120 pounds. Scoring was hard to come by for the first minute and a half but Dugan pinned Bourriague with 39 seconds left in the first period.

Kerrigan finished the night 2-0 after he pinned Durango’s Cash Silva at 126 pounds.

One of the more anticipated matches of the night was between two cousins. Durango’s Cole Pontine and Ignacio’s Zane Pontine battled at 157 pounds for the first time, with Cole coming out with the victory 14-8.

Ignacio’s Lincoln deKay had a strong performance against Durango’s Jacob Belt at 165 pounds; he won 17-3.

Durango ended the night with a 50-10 victory.

“We're still recovering from the beginning of the season mishaps, but the kids are rebounding in such a good way,” Silva said. “We're going to be ready for regionals and state within the next seven to 10 days.

bkelly@durangoherald.com