Considering that the Dove Creek Bulldogs wrestled their final duals before Christmas with only eight wrestlers, the results were not awful.
Even so, a 3-2 team record at the Panther Duals on Dec. 21 was not as stellar as the Dove Creek wrestling team might have liked.
Leading the way for the Bulldogs as they have for much of the season were sophomore Case Baughman and junior Chance Randolph. Accumulating 5-0 records, both rising stars improved their records to 15-0 on the year.
Also accumulating a 5-0 record over the weekend was senior Nick Jones who improved to 13-2 on the year.
“Nick, Case and Chance are wrestling real well right now,” said Bulldogs’ head coach Shane Baughman.
Other wrestlers competing for the Bulldogs included Collin Hobbs (3-2), Tyler Knuckles (3-2), Tommy Fury (3-2) and Wyatt Applin (3-2).
Applin’s performance was especially impressive to Baughman, who stated that the junior looked “much improved.”
As a team, the Bulldogs recorded victories over Newcomb, Moriarty and Farmington while losing to Ignacio and Piedra Vista.
“It’s very difficult to win duals when you don’t have a full lineup and you’re wrestling against bigger schools,” said Baughman, assessing his team’s performance. “We’re good in spots. We’ve got to work on some things in spots.”
With the first half of their season now complete, the Bulldogs will take a brief respite before returning to action in January.
“Our January is going to get really tough and the kids want that,” said Baughman. “As long as we don’t lose too much conditioning over the Christmas holiday, we’ll be fine.”