Rifle a decisive victor in triangular

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. — There were a lot of good matches on Thursday night on the wrestling mats at Glenwood High School, and Rifle's Tad Davis was at the center of two of them.

Down 10-6 to Steamboat's Lane Shipley going into the third period of a 285-pound showdown, Davis muscled up the strength for a comeback. Overcoming a hit to the face that left his nose bloody and bruised, Davis pinned Shipley in the closing seconds of the match.

"That kid from Steamboat is a good wrestler. He's strong as an ox," Rifle head coach John Wisniewski said of Shipley. "Tad has really been in his shell and been timid, and tonight he really broke out and he just went after him. It was awesome to see that spark in him."

Rolling with momentum of the first win, he finished the night undefeated with a pin in 3:10 over Glenwood's Nick Croissant.

"Maybe he was still ticked off from that first match and he was ready to get that second match over with," Wisniewski said.

With Steamboat only having three wrestlers, Thursday's would-be triangular meet ended up being more of a Rifle-Glenwood dual.

The Demons wrestled their way to two wins over the Bears as Blake Newby won by a 9-6 decision over Jacob Counts in the 125-pound weight class and in the heavyweight battle, Greg Orosz pinned Kyle Coombs in 4:45.

"I think we are getting better and better every time we are on the mat," said Glenwood coach Miles Cook. "We are just trying to build up for regionals. If I have to pick between winning them now or winning them at regionals, I'd pick regionals."

Although Rifle won the dual match-up with the Demons, 50-21, there were a handful of close matches.

Rifle's Brian Key and Glenwood's Tyler Rossow had such a close match it went into overtime. Key came out on top with a 7-5 victory.

At 160 pounds, Demon Lance Tsosie and Bear Abram Dennis wrestled in one of the closest matches of the night with points being traded back-and-forth all six minutes. At the end, Dennis had the edge and won, 6-5.

Matt Davis of Glenwood and Brandon Buhlman of Rifle also went the full six minutes, but Buhlman took the match with a 6-0 decision.

"We have a couple who are right on the edge - Matt Davis, Lance Tsosie, Tyler Rossow. One or two mistakes is the difference in those matches," Cook said.

For Rifle, James Conrardy (119 pounds) and Dane Fugita (130) recorded pins in times of 1:13 and 4:42 respectively. Mario Navarro was awarded a technical fall over Hunter McCallum at 135 pounds and James Martinez posted a major decision (19-7) over Greg Mills at 112 pounds.

Rifle beat Steamboat 66-9 and Glenwood topped the Sailors by a score of 66-18.

Up next, Glenwood will be traveling to the Rangely Tournament this weekend and Rifle will be on the road for a six-team dual in Longmont.