Dogies/Bobcats have a busy week

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
It was a busy, competition packed week last week for the Newcastle/Upton wrestling team as they hosted a quad on Tuesday where they took on Torrington, Douglas and Wheatland. Then they finished off the week at the Moorcroft invite on Friday and Saturday.
“The kids wrestled pretty well against everyone on Tuesday, especially because it wasn’t a usual night to compete and we’d only had one practice,” co-head coach Jason Wheeler began. “We dualed Wheatland at the end of the night, and we did much better against them than we did the first time we saw them.”
The Dogies/Bobcats started off the evening against the Blazers of Torrington and handled them with ease, winning the dual 48-18. Blake Durfee (106), Jory McFarland (120), Dillan Wornkey (132), Aidan Coberley (138), Jacob Rhoades (145) and Jacob Prell (152) each won by sticking their opponent.
“It was fun to get that win over Torrington because they are a nemesis from my high school days,” Wheeler chuckled. 
Next up was Douglas, where Newcastle/Upton didn’t fare quite as well. Four open forfeits gave the Bearcats 24 of their 60 points, but they only gave up one forfeit in return. Durfee picked up a win by a close 6-5 decision while Coberley and Prell each got their second pin of the night. Unfortunately, these were the only Dogies to score so they dropped the dual 21-60.
The final match of the night had the Dogies/Bobcats pitted against the Bulldogs of Wheatland, and it was a battle from start to finish. Newcastle/Upton ended up losing, but it was only by a three-point differential. 
“If a couple of our guys could have held out and kept from getting stuck, the end result could have been us winning by three instead,” Wheeler began. “Also, they accepted one forfeit they weren’t expecting when Kale [Corley] didn’t wrestle. If he would have been healthy and able to go, it could have been a different story.”
Durfee accepted a win by forfeit to go undefeated on the day, Rhoades bookended the night with a pin over his Bulldog opponent, and though Prell dropped his final match of the evening, Wheeler was pleased with his performance.
“Jacob Prell is normally a JV wrestler and he really stepped up and got pins against Torrington and Douglas, but couldn’t get past his Wheatland opponent,” Wheeler nodded. “He got in there and wrestled some tough kids and did well, so that was fun to see.”
On Friday and Saturday, the team headed to nearby Moorcroft to compete in a large tournament boasting 19 schools from Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. 
“This was a great tournament for us,” Wheeler stated. “The kids got in a lot of matches in the two days of wrestling and they were quality matches to boot.” 
Durfee (106), Johnny Morgan (120) and Josh Womack (182) all brought home hardware from the weekend. 
Durfee finished in fourth place losing only his first and last matches. In the middle three rounds, he was able to sneak past teammate Cael Holmes by a 4-1 decision, then took care of a Thunder Basin opponent by pinning him just seconds into the second period, and finally making quick work of his Rocky Mountain challenger in only 35 seconds. Unfortunately, he ran out of gas against Natrona in the third place match with only ten seconds to go in the second period so had to settle for fourth place.
Morgan had a full weekend wrestling in six matches over the two days. He finished in sixth place when the smoke cleared, losing in the quarterfinals, the semifinals and ultimately in the fifth place contest. 
“Johnny had an excellent tournament and it was really fun to watch him,” Wheeler began. “He is also one who has been coming up as well, so it was great to see him step up and do well.”
Like Morgan, Womack slipped in the quarterfinals and semifinals as he went up against 4A opponents from Sheridan and Natrona respectively. He was able to rally in the fifth place match to claim the win by technical fall early in the third period. In his two losses, Womack didn’t give up a pin, but lost by major decision in each.
Those who didn’t place in the varsity round, went to the second chance tournament where Wornkey and McFarland each came away with first place. McFarland wrestled in the 121-122 weight classification and got the best of two Sheridan opponents and one from Glenrock to claim top honors. 
Wornkey (133-134) got past Shoshoni and Glenrock to get to the championship match against Thunder Basin where he made quick work of his opponent to finish things up before the end of the first period.
Cael Holmes (104-108) finished second, Coberly (134) was third, and Dylan Drost (143-145), Prell (147-150), and Weston Siminaer (191-202) all finished fourth.
“They ran the second chance tournament by grouping four wrestlers into a weight range which is why the weights look a little different,” Wheeler explained. “That gave each guy three matches on Saturday, and it was great because it gave them each a chance to get better even though they didn’t quite make the second day in the varsity division.”
The squad’s two female wrestlers, Kyah Miller (113) and Isabella Spencer (132) each had a very good weekend. The tournament was unique for them because this was the first option they have had this season to wrestle in a girls only division. 
Miller ended up fourth losing to an opponent from Baker, MT in the first and final rounds, but in the middle, she pinned Rianna Tidwell from Shoshoni in just 56 seconds. 
And that wasn’t the only pin for Miller. She was also entered in the junior varsity division in the tournament and in her first match pinned Aiden Perez of Campbell County in 5:15 for her first ever win against a male opponent.
“She got him down and put a good half Nelson on him,” Wheeler grinned. “She gutted it out and got the pin for the win. Her goal has been just to score points, so she was super excited to get the pin.”
Spencer ended up fifth in both the girls tournament and the JV tournament and didn’t get a win, however she did score two points on a reversal.
Given that there were only 11 girls in the tournament, they divided them into two different divisions with the five lightest in one, and the rest in the other so there was a pretty significant weight differential between opponents. 
“It was fun to see Kyah get fired up and get aggressive, and Isabella made some good improvements,” Wheeler smiled. “It was fun to see them be able to battle because they haven’t had that opportunity often this season.”
This week the team goes to Wright on Thursday and then on to Riverton for the Ron Thon tournament on Friday and Saturday. Nearly every school in Wyoming attends this tournament so it will be the toughest one they see, including the state tournament.