By Kristin Carpenter, Mountain Valley News staff
The Rifle Bears visited the Hotchkiss Bulldogs on Thursday night for a late season wrestling dual. On “Faculty Appreciation Night,” the Bulldogs did what they needed to pull out the win, beating the Bears with a team score of 48-30.
“It’s always good to win a home dual against someone in your own league,” Head Coach Glen Suppes said. “Especially during faculty appreciation night, it’s good when everything can come together as one.”
The home team had a new wrestler hit the mat. Jacobe Galley competed for the first time this season. Galley began the winter sports season playing basketball, and switched to wrestling mid-way through. He wrestled in the 182-pound weight class against Clayton Coombs from Rifle. Galley wrestled like he has been doing it all season and pinned Coombs, fitting into the team by posting six points to the team total.
According to Suppes, the Bulldogs, who are currently ranked in the state in class 3A, are still trying to put it all together.
“We did not wrestle to our full potential, I am okay with us not firing on all cylinders,” Suppes said. “That’s the thing about wrestling; 99 percent of it is mental, we still have 10 practices to get them ready.” He was referring to the regional tournament, which will take place on Feb. 10 and 11 in Montrose.
Suppes and his coaching staff plan to use the next two weeks, to get the team into, “wrestling shape.” Not focusing on physical conditioning but rather the mental part of the sport. There will be a lot of individual attention given to wrestlers, sharpening situational awareness, body positioning and clock awareness.
“The team chemistry is good, we have good moments, but the regional tournament is individual. We are a good dual team, but ultimately it is an individual thing,” Suppes said.
The regional tournament will decide the wrestlers that will compete in Denver at the state tournament. The top four performers in each weight class will get a bid to state.
