Dove Creek wrestling finished 2011, winning three of fours duals on Saturday in Farmington, N.M.
The Bulldogs started slow with a 50-30 morning loss to Los Lunas, but rebounded to beat fellow New Mexico schools Shiprock (45-35), Gallup (51-21) and Santa Fe (47-36). The 3-1 dual mark clinched the consolation championship at the Piedra Vista High School tournament.
Dove Creek is 9-3 in dual action on the season.
We started wrestling at 9 after weigh-ins. I dont think they were quite woke up. We started off a little slow against Los Lunas, Bulldogs coach Shane Baughman said. I think we could have at least competed with them. There were a couple things in that match that could have went differently.
Dove Creek received its wake-up-call and wrestled like mean Bulldogs the rest of the day.
The kids came back and wrestled real strong, Baughman said. During the (Christmas) break, were going to go ahead and practice this week. Then come back Jan. 2, and practice for that Vernal tournament. We definitely cant slack off. It just gets tougher from here.
Cole Baughman (126 pounds), Tyler Ebberts (132), Chance Johnson (182) and Jared Galyean (220) all posted 4-0 records at the tournament. Cole Baughman, Johnson and Galyean won all their matches by pin.
We need to get our younger guys on track. A couple are struggling right now, Shane Baughman said. If we can get those guys going a little more aggressive, it will help them and the team. We got a lot of work to do still. We need to keep improving.
Dove Creek will compete next at the Uintah High School, Tournament of Champions on Jan. 6-7, 2012 in Vernal, Utah.