The Wood River wrestling team's season debut against conference foe Jerome on the road Wednesday night was described by first year head coach, Logan Brower, as "an eye opener."
The Tigers manhandled the Wolverines all night, shutting out Wood River 79-0 in the team scores.
"The kids looked like they'd never been in a wrestling match before," Brower said. "Nobody was ready, it was dead."
Brower said the team wasn't necessarily unprepared and out of shape, they just didn't show up to the match ready to wrestle and compete.
"Their desire to win just wasn't there," he said.
Brower said the team took the loss hard, and didn't make any excuses.
"I didn't really have to say much to them, they knew, it was pretty somber on the bus ride home," Brower said, adding that some positives can be drawn from the poor performance.
"It showed them they need to have more inward drive, I can't teach them to have the passion to win, that has to come from themselves," he added. "And I know they want more from themselves."
The Wolverines host Century and Challis—a perennial powerhouse that has won three of the last four State 2A titles—tonight at Wood River High in Hailey.
"They better be ready, they better be ready for Challis," Brower said.
Brower's brother, Dillon, is an assistant coach for Challis, where both wrestled in high school. Logan graduated from Challis High five years ago.
The match starts at 5 p.m.
