Outlaws wrestlers strong in dual meet

The Outlaws wrestled in their first dual match of the season on December 10, against 5A Summit Storm — despite Coach John Downs’ apprehensions.

“To be honest I was very worried about the Outlaws competing in any duals this season because of our low numbers on the team,” he said. “But again the team proved me wrong and impressed me. I told the team before the dual that the team score does not matter. What matters is their individual successes, either making it to the second round, improving their favorite move and of course winning a match. Each wrestler has their own personal goals.”

Despite the low number of wrestlers on the squad, they did an outstanding job competing against the Storm.

“We had 10 wrestlers compete that night, and two of those were JV matches,” Downs reported.

Junior Landon Nothiger (145 pounds) and 285-pound sophomore Jacob Washington both won their matches with falls in the JV matches to start the evening for the Outlaws.

The varsity matches started at the 195-pound weight class and Outlaws senior Ethan Martin won his match by fall, and the wins continued. Freshman 220-pounder Henry Rard and senior Damien King (285) also won their matches by fall, giving the Outlaws three wins in a row.

Then came the forfeits given to Summit. The Outlaws did not have wrestlers at 106, 113, 120, 126 and 132, and this gave the Storm 30 team points without having to wrestle for them.

The Outlaws did have varsity wrestlers again at the mid-weights starting at 138 pounds. Sophomore Wyatt Maffey kept the pins coming and won, and at 145 pounds junior Chaz Patterson also won by fall. Senior Anthony Randolph (152) didn’t win by pin but he did dominate his opponent with a winning score of 10-2.

The Outlaws had two losses that evening. At 160 pounds, Dillon King wrestled through all three rounds with the Storm wrestler but could not pull out the win at the end.

“Jared Miller (170) struggled but wanted to wrestle varsity instead of the JV 160-pound class,” Downs reported. “This was a big step for him and I was proud of his effort on the mat.”

The Outlaws gave the Storm one other forfeit at 182 pounds and this ended the evening with the team score Summit 46 and Sisters 34.

“The stats of the evening are what are impressive,” Downs said. “The Outlaw varsity forfeited a total of 36 points to Summit because of the low numbers on the team, but in the end the team felt they had personally won the dual, winning six of their eight varsity matches, and out of the 10 Outlaw wrestlers that competed, eight won their matches and seven of them won by fall.”