Now, after a third place finish at the Class 2A state tournament on Feb. 21, the sophomore ends this season as the Bears highest ranked wrestler.
Competing against Merino High School's Trevor Elliot (32-9) on Feb. 21 with third place on the line, Ward battled from start to finish in route to a 2-1 ultimate overtime victory.
By the time the marathon match was over, both wrestlers appeared visibly tired. Ward could not help but smile however, as the significance of what he accomplished this year sunk in.
"My season started off a little bit shaky," said Ward. "I went to Montrose and went two-and-out. The next weekend, we had off and I guess it did me good because I placed second in Page and everything took off from there."
Ward came thorough with one of his finest performances of the season in his final match, which was tied 1-1 at the end of the third period.
After Ward and Elliot battled to a stalemate during the first three overtime periods, the two wrestlers began an ultimate overtime period.
Because Elliot had scored the first point of the match, he was given the choice to begin the ultimate overtime period on the top or on the bottom.
Elliot chose to begin the overtime period on the bottom and because he was unable to escape Ward's grasp within 30 seconds, the Dolores sophomore was awarded the victory.
"Brandon had never been to ultimate overtime, so he didn't really know what it entailed," said Dolores head coach Leo Garand. "He had to hold on for 30 seconds and not only did he hold on, but there were two times that he almost had (Elliot) on his back."
With the victory, Ward finished his season 31-12 record. The sophomore said plans to continue improving in hopes of placing even higher at next year's state tournament.
"My goal for next year is to place better than I did this year," Ward said.