There was no need for decisions Tuesday at Durango High School.
In the first home wrestling meet of the season, the Demons welcomed the Bloomfield Bobcats of New Mexico for a dual-meet. Nine out of a possible 14 matches were wrestled, and all nine ended via pin fall.
With the team scored tied at 36-all going into the final match, Durango heavyweight Zayne Gillen stepped onto the mat to face Bloomfield’s Sean Phillips.
The first period ended in a scoreless tie. Gillen turned the tide of the match and the dual-meet with only 10 seconds remaining in the second period when he scored a takedown and three-point near-fall to claim a 5-2 lead going into the third period.
Gillen didn’t waste any time in the third period, as he secured a pin to give the Demons a 42-36 victory.
“You gotta think you can do it and win it not just for yourself but for the team, too,” Gillen said. “It’s a good feeling. You always like to get the win, and it’s fun when you’re with your teammates.”
The Demons were sharp technically for early in the season and showed good stamina throughout the evening. Tristan Martinez, who won his match at 132-pounds against Lane Rightmire with a pin in the final minute of the third period, embodied just that, as he won with technical prowess and unmatched energy in the third.
“I’m feeling good, starting out a lot better than last season,” said Martinez, who placed second in his weight class in Flagstaff last weekend. “Technique is a real big thing with us. Conditioning, too. Coach pushes that on us.”
The evening began with 106-pounder Gabe Vasquez earning a pin victory against Seth Martinez of Bloomfield. DHS earned a forfeit win at 113 pounds but gave up the 120-pound class back to the Bobcats.
Sterling Rightmire of Bloomfield was able to pin Durango’s Julian Gonzalez to tie the team score before Martinez’s pin at 132 gave the Demons back to lead at 18-12.
Durango then won two competitive matches, beginning with Cameron Jacobs at 138 pounds. Jacobs and Jeremiah Ortega went back-and-forth before Jacobs took control late in the second. He finished off the match with a pin with only 10 seconds remaining in the third period.
“Cameron is really coming on this year,” DHS head coach Leo Garand said. “He was fourth in Flagstaff and wrestled very well.”
Jordan Belt secured a pin of his own at the 2:51 mark of the match against Bloomfield’s Tylon White. That gave DHS a 30-18 lead at a critical time in the dual.
“I had to push it,” Belt said. “I did a lot of offseason work and put in close to 900 hours going to camps and working real hard to come out on top in matches like this.”
Dron Smith of Bloomfield gave the Bobcats six points with a pin of Caleb Brown. Then, Bloomfield defending state champion Avery Scott earned a quick pin against Durango’s Nick Vasquez, and suddenly Durango’s lead was down to 30-24.
But Kaleb McMunn earned a big pin victory of his own at 170 pounds, as he defeated Haze Gomez.
DHS gave up forfeits at 182 and 220 pounds, and both teams had no wrestler at 195. That left the match tied until Gillen and Phillips squared off.
“It’s a dual we usually don’t win,” Belt said. “We didn’t plan on it. We were talking earlier about the facts, because it looked like we would lose giving up more forfeits. We came away with a lot of pins and won, so we’re all happy with that.”
DHS doesn’t have any wrestlers to fill the three upper-weight classes it forfeited. Gillen will eventually drop to 220 pounds, leaving heavyweight open.
The Demons were also without some projected varsity wrestlers because of illness, so it was a big win for Garand’s lineup.
“We put some first-year freshmen in there, and they performed great,” he said. “I feel like if we had a full lineup it might not have been that close, but, hey, that made it fun.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
