Bulldogs battle in 3 close home duals

HAMPTON – For the want of a nail.

The Bulldog wrestlers were missing a few weight classes and despite their talent were only able to nab one of three home duals, losing two key North Central Conference match-ups against Humboldt (36-31) and Clarion-Goldfield-Dows (39-33).

Plus, when it came down to the final match against the Cowboys at heavyweight, the Bulldogs were at a distinct disadvantage with Alex Koch weighing in 60 pounds lighter than his opponent that helped decide the final score.

“He weighed in at 216,” Bulldog head coach Patrick Hansen said, “and that (Clarion) kid came in at 276, yeah. It’s rough for him and it’s only his third year of wrestling. He’s getting better every day. These are the kind of matches we want to wrestle, though.”

The lone dual win for the night was against non-conference team, Pocahontas, at 48-26, despite starting in a 12-0 hole with a loss by Koch and a forfeit at one of the Bulldogs’ open weights, 106.

“We’re 5-5 now,” coach Hansen said. “We’re in the same spot as last year at this time. We’re getting to the part of the season where the schedule is a lot more favorable for us. We’ve got duals coming up that we want. We just now got our full lineup, still missing Bryan Flores. We have Bryan (tonight), we win all three of these today. David (Cornejo) being back helps a lot.”

Flores has suffered his second concussion in as many seasons and is out at least until 2020.

With his weight class open – 170 – coach Hansen employed a little strategy against Clarion that he thought might help his team win the dual.

He bumped sophomore 160-pounder Braden Hansen, no relation, to 170 while inserting junior varsity wrestler Carter Hobson at 160. It nearly worked. Though Hobson was pinned, Hansen won 12-6 against Cael Ahrens as the Bulldogs clung to a 27-21 lead.

“The Clarion ’60-pounder is pretty tough,” coach Hansen said. “So, we bumped Braden because I knew he could beat the ’70-pounder. I was hoping he would pin him, but he tried his butt off.”

However, after Hansen’s win, Aleks Salinas was pinned to tie the score at 27; Logan Walker earned a pin at 196 to go ahead 33-27; then Elias Cortez lost by fall to re-tie the score at 33 to set up the finale in which Koch was pinned by the much larger Daniel Chavez.

In the dual loss to Humboldt, the Bulldogs started a comeback trail that started with a gutsy comeback win by Jakyb Kapp at 120 in which he fell behind 5-0 to win 7-6 against Class 2A No. 7 Cresten Craven.

“That was a good win,” coach Hansen said. “When he’s good, he’s really good. That last match, he needed to get a pin, but he wasn’t quite ready to go. That is the kind of hot and cold of Jakyb. He’s a great wrestler and good kid.”

Before his match, the Bulldogs were down 21-0. They proceeded to win the next four matches with a pin by Tomas Cavazos at 126, a major decision by Jaycob Martzahn (132), a decision by Carl Barkema (138) and a pin for Cornejo (145).

Martzahn was one of five wrestlers that won all three of their matches for the night as the senior improved to 15-3.

“He’s got 10 pins already,” coach Hansen said of Martzahn. “He’s pinned ranked kids, I was surprised he wasn’t in the rankings this last round. Just like Jakyb and Jack, Carl…I think they are going to be making noise. All four of them could be at state and maybe place.”

Humboldt 36

Bulldogs 31

220– Colton Goodell (Hum) pinned Elias Cortez 3:04; 285– Josh Beldin (Hum) pinned Alex Koch 6:27; 106– Jayden Gargano (Hum) won by forfeit; 113– Cole Nelson (Hum) dec. Jack Showalter 2-1; 120– Jakyb Kapp (H-D) dec. Cresten Craven 7-6; 126– Tomas Cavazos (H-D) pinned Colby Clarken 5:53; 132– Jaycob Martzahn (H-D) major dec. Ty Gargano 13-2; 138– Carl Barkema (H-D) dec. Jordan Jensen 7-2; 145– David Cornejo (H-D) pinned Joe Weydert 1:13; 152– Fletcher Satern (Hum) dec. Tate Schmitt 6-5; 160– Braden Hansen (H-D) pinned Christian Alcala 4:50; 170– Tanner McKimmey (Hum) won by forfeit; 182– Logan Nilles (Hum) pinned Aleks Salinas 0:36; 195– Logan Walker (H-D) dec. Walt Delanoit 10-7.

Bulldogs 48

Pocahontas 26*

285– Dane Johnson (P) pinned Alex Koch 3:28; 106 – Tyce Ruffridge (P) won by forfeit; 113– Jack Showalter (H-D) won by forfeit; 120– Jakyb Kapp (H-D) pinned Carter Beschomer 0:48; 126– Tomas Cavazos (H-D) dec. Brandon Lenz 8-3; 132– Jaycob Martzahn (H-D) won by forfeit; 138– Carl Barkema (H-D) pinned Jeremy Carranza 3:30; 145– David Cornejo (H-D) pinned Trevor Frerk 0:35; 152– Tate Schmitt (H-D) won by forfeit; 160– Thomas Melohn (P) dec. Braden Hansen 7-0; 170– Deontez Williams (P) won by forfeit; 182– Keaton Bindel (P) pinned Aleks Salinas 1:50;195– Logan Walker (H-D) dec. Trey Sandvig 6-1; 220– Elias Cortez (H-D) pinned Drake Jones 1:46.

* point was deducted for coach misconduct

Clarion-Goldfield-Dows 39

Bulldogs 33

106– Rigo Bobadilla (CGD) won by forfeit; 113– Jack Showalter (H-D) dec. Tyler Stein 5-3, SV-1; 120– Jakyb Kapp (H-D) dec.Cale Kirstein 9-7; 126– Tomas Cavazos (H-d) pinned Ethan Traub 4:00; 132– Jaycob Martzahn (H-D) pinned Ben Oehlert 2:20; 138– Carl Barkema (H-D) won by forfeit; 145– Reed Abbas (CGD) dec. David Cornejo 10-5; 152– Garrett Seaba (CGD) pinned Tate Schmitt 2:40; 160– Bryce Allen (CGD) pinned Carter Hobson 0:29; 170– Braden Hansen (H-D) dec. Cael Ahrens 12-6; 182– Camden Hanson (CGD) pinned Aleks Salinas 1:12; 195– Logan Walker (H-D) pinned Rafael Jimenez 4:37; 220– Kain Nelson (CGD) pinned Elias Cortez 1:31; 285– Daniel Chavez (CGD) pinned Alex Koch 3:07.