ST. GEORGE – The Desert Hills Thunder wrestling team won 66-12 thanks to six pins and three opposing forfeits against the Dixie Flyers Thursday night at DHS.
Dixie took its first and only lead with a pin in the 106 pound weight class, but Desert Hills scored 36 points unanswered.
Thunder head coach Brian Pace was happy with the win, but doesn’t want the wrestlers to get complacent.
“It’s always good to get a win,” he said. “The kids wrestled well. We’ve got things to improve on. We’re also improving though.”
Flyers head coach Jarad Carson wasn’t completely upset about the loss, but is looking forward to the future.
“Desert Hills is a good team, and obviously they went out there and showed they are a dang good team,” Carson said. “I’m proud of my team, they went out there and battled. They didn’t back away; They fought clear to the end. Sometimes just putting in the effort and not backing away from a challenge is always a good thing to see.”
Dixie’s Devon Paxton pinned Jon Saculles in the 106-pound weight class for Dixie’s only lead. The Thunder’s Ryker Boyce pinned Wyatt Altman to tie it up in the 113-pound weight class. Dixie didn’t have wrestlers in the 120 and 126 weight classes, so Desert Hills took a 12-point lead.
“Desert Hills always has a great team,” Dixie 160-pound wrestler Hobbs Nyberg said. “They’ve got some great kids.”
The Thunder’s Zayden Roley next won by decision for three points at 132 pounds, and DH’s Kailor King won by technical fall to gain five more points. DH’s Chance Bundy next pinned Fasiota Faumui to extend the lead to 32-6 after the 145-pound weight class.
“I did pretty good. I get to practice with my match. I get to take him down quite a few times,” Bundy said. “The rest of our matches so far, we’re doing decent, we still got a couple of things we’ve got to figure out. We’ve got to get some lineups, and got to get some guys ready for state, but we’re looking pretty good.”
DH’s Brady Jones won by major decision for four points. Dixie finally scored again when Nyberg pinned Kaden Ricks in the 160-pound weight class.
“I just went out there and tried to win for my team, because we needed the points,” Nyberg said.
Desert Hills won the rest of the matches by pins except one forfeit at 220. The Thunder’s Liam Williams, Byron Anderson, Koa Afualo and Enoka Fuailetolo all recorded the pins, while Elijah Jordan won the walk off forfeit.
Desert Hills will now continue this weekend in the Pine View Invitational Friday and Saturday.
“We just prepared for the dual meet alone. The tournament is separate,” Pace said. “Tomorrow, we will prepare for the two-day tournament. We’ll focus on what the tournament is like and what to prepare for. We expect to get better each match. We want to work on just wrestling and improving, and getting better on all our techniques. If the end result ends in a win, we’ll take it. Right now, it’s just good, competitive practice, which is what we want. We want mat time.”
Dixie will travel to Tooele for the Best of the West Tournament Friday and Saturday also.
“It’s tough because we grind out Monday through Wednesday in the practice room, and then to turn around and have to do Thursday, Friday, Saturday, it’s always tough to try to keep the kids upbeat,” Carson said. “We focus on the positive and try to reload and do good things for our kids for the weekend.”
In other duals Thursday night, Pine View got a pin in the final match of the evening to down Cedar 42-41.
Kyler Bess recorded the pin on Kobe Lata at the 285-pound weight class to lift the Panthers to the team victory.
Christian O’ili (113-pounds), Braden Holmes (126) and Cash Day (170) all won with pins for PV. For Cedar, Tyson Roundy, Mike Anker, Hayden Giles and Quaid Murray all won with pins in their matches and Caleb Weaver won on a technical fall.
PV also got wins by forfeit at 106, 120 and 132.
At Snow Canyon, Hurricane defeated the Warriors 37-27.
Caden Armstrong (138) and Matthew Lemmon (220) both got pins for the Tigers. Hurricane also got technical falls from Gavin Atkinson (285) and Caleb Armstrong (126). Scott Shaw (106), Treyson Abbott (145), Robert Bennett (170) and Shane Farnsworth (182) all won by decision.
SC got pins by Daxton Edwards (120), Devon Leavitt (160) and Tanner Nelson (195).
Kaden Ricks for DH and Hobbs Nyberg for Dixie at 160, Dixie vs. Desert Hills, Wrestling, St. George, Utah, Jan. 12, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Cutler Thomas for Dixie and Byron Anderson for DH at 182, Dixie vs. Desert Hills, Wrestling, St. George, Utah, Jan. 12, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Brady Jones for DH and Chase Lundin for Dixie at 152, Dixie vs. Desert Hills, Wrestling, St. George, Utah, Jan. 12, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Brogan Boyle for Dixie and Enoka Fuailetolo for DH at 285, Dixie vs. Desert Hills, Wrestling, St. George, Utah, Jan. 12, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
File photo of Jason Longmore for Dixie and Liam Williams for DH at 170, Dixie vs. Desert Hills, Wrestling, St. George, Utah, Jan. 12, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Brogan Boyle for Dixie and Enoka Fuailetolo for DH at 285, Dixie vs. Desert Hills, Wrestling, St. George, Utah, Jan. 12, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Darius Hildebrandt for Dixie and Koa Afualo for DH at 195, Dixie vs. Desert Hills, Wrestling, St. George, Utah, Jan. 12, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
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