A day that began with positive results ended with tears from the Dove Creek High School wrestling team after two Bulldogs wrestlers fell in the state semifinals.
Baughman drops tight decision
Kicking off a difficult evening at the Pepsi Center on Feb. 20, Dove Creek sophomore Case Baughman (39-10) lost 4-3 to Rocky Ford High School’s Jeremy Fraser in the semifinals of the Class 3A 126-pound division.
“It was close,” said Dove Creek head coach Shane Baughman. “Case had a great match this morning and he needed to follow it up with another great match. He wasn’t able to do that.”
Throughout the first period, the two evenly matched wrestlers grappled circled one another and battled for position before Fraser scored a takedown with 55 seconds left in the opening period.
Although Case Baughman escaped late in the period to cut his deficit to 2-1 and escaped to open the second period to tie the score 2-2, Fraser scored his second takedown midway through the second period to move ahead 4-2.
Baughman escaped before the period’s end to pull to within 4-3, but was unable to escape throughout the third period after choosing to begin the period on the ground.
The Dove Creek sophomore nearly escaped several times in the period, but each time, he was caught and returned to the ground.
“(Case) got to his feet three or four times and couldn’t get out,” said Shane Baughman. “He was very close.”
Now hoping to score a third place finish, Case Baughman will next wrestle against either Fowler High School’s Drew Corsentino (33-8) or Swink High School’s Noah Farris (27-10) on Feb. 21.
Randolph loses on points
Wrestling in the Bulldogs second match of the semifinal round, Bulldogs 138-pound senior Chance Randolph (40-9) lost 7-1 to Baca County’s J.D. Chenoweth (34-5).
“I knew (Chenoweth) was tough,” said Shane Baughman. “Chance beat him in the quarterfinals last year in a close match.”
The match was tied 0-0 at the end of the first period before Chenoweth escaped off the bottom to begin the second period and later took Randolph to the ground to move ahead 3-0.
Although Randolph escaped to begin the third period, another takedown by Chenoweth made the score 5-1. Trailing 7-1 just before the final buzzer, Randolph scored a reversal to make the final score 7-3.
The Dove Creek senior will next face either Crowley County High School’s RIgan Pfeiff (27-14) or Norwood/Nucla High School’s Aiden Dabal (32-13) on Feb. 21.