Heritage matmen are starting to shape up.
In the Eagles’ second Continental League match of the season,
Heritage beat Gateway 40-32 Dec. 10 without its football players
being in the line-up.
“It was a tough win, as we lost our 119-pound wrestler, Brandon
Gallagher, to a dislocated and broken elbow,” Eagles coach Ray
Barron said.
Winning for Heritage were Josh Bohney at 125 pounds, Billy
O’Brien (145), Jesus Flores (171), Brennan Weiding (215), Joy
Encinias (285), Shane Evans (103) and Kris Thomsen (112).
“Gateway was a very athletic team with some very strong
wrestlers,” Barron said.
On Dec. 6, Heritage traveled out to Brush for team tournament
action with most of its football athletes in the lineup but only
used a minimum amount.
“They are in football shape and not wrestling shape at this
time,” the coach said. “We wrestled some good teams and didn’t have
the best of days.”
The Eagles came away from the tournament with a record of 1-4
for the day. Heritage was forced to forfeit its 160-pound class
matches all, which Barron believes made the difference. Heritage
loss to Fossil Ridge 39-22, Valley 35-31, Brush 48-28 and Mountain
Range 63-6.
The Eagles won over Mesa Ridge 51-21. Their only undefeated
wrestler of the day was Michael Miller, who went 3-0.
Losing only one match for the day were Hunter Pinon (4-1),
O’Briend (4-1) and Logan Steppan (4-1).
Evans, Nick Ramos and Weiding went 2-3 and Drake Solomon, Bohney
and Zach Carrizales was 1-4.
Encinias went 3-2, while Adam Wojteczko and Flores went 0-2.
Billy Jackson went 0-3, and Thomsen went 0-5.
“It was a tough day, as we exposed a number of things we need to
work on,” Barron said. “We also ended up on the short end on a
number of close matches, which made a big difference in three of
our losses. “
The coach said Mountain Range was solid from top to bottom and
understood how it beat Ponderosa recently in a dual meet.
Heritage followed with dual action against Bear Creek Dec. 17
and traveled to Eaglecrest Dec. 19 for another team tournament to
close out the first half of the season. Results of the two events
were unavailable by press time.
