Indian Wrestlers put up gutsy performance at Gothenburg
GOTHENBURG - The Class B No. 4 Broken Bow wrestling team traveled down the road to the Gothenburg Scramble on Jan. 16 and ended the day finishing 4-1 overall. The Indian’s only loss was a 36-30 defeat by Class B No. 1 Gering.
“We wrestled well against Gering,” Broken Bow Head Coach Ed Schaaf said. “Going into the last match we were down 33 to 30 and had a chance to win. Against a team like Gering all you can ask is for the opportunity to give yourself a chance to win. They are a deep team with lots of great wrestlers. We had a lot of guys keep matches close and not give up bonus points. That was a testament to the grit of our team.”
In the Championship Dual with the Bulldogs, the Indians picked up victories at five different weight classes. They were Jack Myers at 152, Zackary Gaffney at 160, Kaden Powers at 182, Lathan Duda at 195, and Keifer Anderson at 220 pounds.
Winning by pin in the dual were Gaffney in 2:53, Powers in 0:30, and Duda in 0:30. Anderson for the most part controlled his match with Iziah Blanco picking up a 7-1 decision win, and Jack Myers escaped his match with Keenan Allen with a 1-0 decision.
Trailing 33-30 to Gering, everything for Broken Bow came down to the finish between Keagan Shifflet and Schylar Campbell at 132. Shifflet was able to control Campbell from the start, and as a result, pulled out a 7-1 decision victory.
In order to get to the Championship, the Indians started the day off defeating Colby, Kansas 45-27. Earning victories in the dual were Campbell, Connor Wells, Myers, Max Denson, Duda, and Anderson.
All the victories came by pin for Broken Bow, except for Campbell at 132. He defeated Conner Lanning by a 12-7 decision.
Round two pitted Broken Bow up against Adams Central. The Indians ended up defeating the Patriots by a final of 69-6.
Nine different wrestlers picked up wins for Broken Bow vs Adams Central. This included Wilson Cucul Tzin, McFarland, Campbell, Trey Garey, Connor Wells, Myers, Duda, Anderson, and Bumgarner.
A Majority of the wins in the dual came by a pin, but there were several matches that went down to the wire.
At 145, Connor Wells found himself in a heated battle with Jeret Frerichs. After wrestling to a tie in regulation, Wells was able to earn a takedown and won in sudden victory 6-4.
Bumgarner also picked up a close win at 285 pounds. He defeated Tyler Pavelka by a 3-2 decision.
Against Minden in the next round, the Indians used a strong finish by winning the last seven matches of the dual. Earning victories against the Whippets were McFarland, Campbell, Connor Wells, Denson, Powers, Duda, Anderson, Watson, and Cucul Tzin.
Everybody for Broken Bow won by pin or major decision except for Anderson at 220 pounds. He defeated Dalton Kuehn 6-0.
In the Semifinals, the Indians were up against another Class B opponent in Alliance. The Bulldogs were no match for Broken Bow and lost 57-15.
Alliance left a lot of weight classes open in the dual, and as a result, only four Indian wrestlers picked up victories. They were Trey Garey, Connor Wells, Anderson, and McFarland.
The majority of these wrestlers won easily for Broken Bow by pinning their opponents.
Connor Wells was the only one not to win by pin. His match at 145, was back and forth till the very end against Asa Johnson as he held on for a 6-5 decision win.
According to Schaaf, he believed everybody who wrestled for the Indians Saturday did an excellent job. He believes it comes down to the fact that he has some great athletes this year and his kids know how to execute in duals.
“We had a lot of kids wrestle well this weekend,” Schaaf said. “Our kids understand how to wrestle duals. Duals are won and lost by getting bonus points and not giving up bonus points. We had several kids fight for their team to keep off of their backs and keep it within the decision or a major decision and we had a lot of kids that were able to get pins and give us bonus points.”
This week Broken Bow travels to Ord on Jan. 21 for a dual with the Chanticleers. It will start at 6:30 p.m.