The junior varsity exhibition matches went pretty well, but the varsity action was a different story Tuesday night when the Wood River High School wrestling team observed its "Senior Night" in Hailey.
Honored from coach Tyson Young's wrestling team were seniors Collin Hand and Rickey Maxwell. But the Twin Falls Bruins had most of the bragging rights, whipping the banged-up and shorthanded Wolverines by a score of 79-0.
Sophomore Nick Chase dropped a 8-3 decision to Twin Falls soph Will Keeter at 125 pounds and junior 160-pounder Alex Jones fell by a 10-0 major decision to senior Grayson stone of Twin Falls.
Freshman Andrew Orr, sophomore Juve Ruiz and Hand were pinned at 152, 171 and 189 pounds respectively by sophomore Zak Slotten, senior Tommy Keeter and senior Brent Martinez of Twin Falls. Also pinned was freshman 103-pounder Tyler Bartlett by Bruin freshman Tyler Black.
Wood River forfeited eight of the 14 weight classes Tuesday.
In the preliminary exhibitions, Wood River won four of the five matches.
At 125 pounds Chase pinned freshman Toni Cuellar at 1:08.
Sophomore Tyler Jaramillo had a close match at 152 pounds before prevailing 7-6 over sophomore Kevren Freeman. Jaramillo led 4-2 after two periods but was in danger of losing the lead when Freeman landed a two-point near fall. Jaramillo reversed and hung on to win.
Twin Falls senior Chance Requa pinned 160-pound freshman Willie Dugger in 1:19, but Wood River's Brandon Condon bounced back with a 2:31 pin over Ethan Rigsby at 160. At 103 pounds, Bartlett battled hard and beat Danny Hernandez of Twin Falls 9-5.
Young said, "It's hard to stomach such a loss when looking at the score, but as coaches we look at individual accomplishments and that keeps us in a positive frame of mind.
"Wrestlers like Tyler Bartlett, Tyler Jaramillo, Brandon Condon and Nick Chase did a great job in the exhibitions. Others in the varsity dual might not have pulled out wins but they did some great things in their battles."
Wood River High School wrestler Collin Hand poses with his mother Karen. Photo by Jeff Cordes
