Red Demon Wrestlers out dual Colby

John Zetmeir

DODGE CITY DAILY GLOBE

The short handed Dodge City High School wrestling team was able to sneak out of Colby with a 36-34 dual win over the top-ranked team in 4A.

Dodge City was without junior Devon Plaza but a total team effort made up for the absence of the 126-pound standout.

“It really has been a grind,”Dodge City head coach Lars Lueders said.”We went to the toughest tournament in Iowa and then went tothetoughesttournamentin Kansas,inmyopinion.Weare alittleworndownbuttohavea toughschedule,atoughweek of practice and still bounce back and give everything that wecaninadualagainstatough team, that really speaks a lot forourmentaltoughness.”

The Red Demons will host Liberalfortheirlastbitofregular season competition next week.

WRESTLING

Red Demons hit the road for dual

By John Zetmeir

Dodge City Daily Globe

The Dodge City High School wrestling team will travel to Colby on Friday for their final road dual of the season.

Friday’s dual will showcase two of the best teams in Kansas. Colby is the top-ranked team in 4A while the Red Demons remain in the No. 2 spot in 6A.

“They are a really good dual team,” Dodge City head coach Lars Lueders said. “It’ll be a big challenge to beat(Colby) in a dual meet. We beat them in the Rocky Welton tournament but they are definitely built for duals. They are always a very fundamentally sound team and a mentally tough team.”

The Red Demons have just two regular season competitions left until the host the regional tournament on February 20.

“These duals are more for preparation for regionals,” Lueders said. “We want to win them and obviously that’s important but more than anything we want to see how we’ve progressed.”

Over the weekend, the Red Demons had six wrestlers place in the topsix at the Rocky Welton Invitational in Garden City. Dodge City took sixth place with a team score of 147.5. Garden City was the lone team from Kansas to finish above the Red Demons, taking second place.

“You could tell that our legs just weren’t underneath us,” Lueders said. “We were wrestling extremely hard but we weren’t moving very well and we were still in third place for most of the tournament. To see that we can still perform at a high level even though we were exhausted was a good thing for sure.”

Only eight and a half points separated Dodge City from Kearney, the team that finished in third place.

The dual is scheduled to start at 6 p.m on Friday at Colby High School.

By John Zetmeir

Dodge City Daily Globe

After two strong team performances last week, the Dodge City High School wrestling team moved from No. 5 to No. 3 in the 6A state wrestling team rankings.

Head coach Lars Lueders is happy to see his team win but he often emphasizes that it is not just about winning matches. He wants to see his team wrestle to their full potential every time they step out onto the mat. Last week, particularly in their 34-29 dual win over Garden City, Lueders saw that from his team.

“The dual against Garden was the best team effort that I’ve seen from a Dodge City wrestling team since I’ve been here,” Lueders said. “They really wrestled for the team.”

The Red Demons will host Hays in their third home dual on Thursday night. While the Indians may not test Dodge City the way Garden City did, Lueders is making sure his team does not lose focus like they did against Great Bend.

“We don’t want to have another let down like we had at Great Bend where we come out thinking that we should win and they’ll roll over for us,” Lueders said. “Our kids need to come out prepared. If they are wrestling a kid maybe not as tough, they need to come out, dominate and get a pin.”

After losing to Great Bend to start their Western Athletic Conference schedule before winter break, the Red Demons responded by beating Garden City, the No. 1 ranked team in 6A last Thursday.

On Saturday, Dodge City closed out their week by taking first place at the Maize Invitational. The biggest difference between the team now and the before winter break has been the leadership, particularly from the upperclassmen.

“I think a lot of us upperclassmen just weren’t 100 percent focused on getting the team ready,” senior Clay Weil said. “We were more worried about ourselves and getting to the next level. After the loss to Great Bend I think we all realized that it’s not just us that want to get to the next level, it’s a team deal.”

The Red Demons have six wrestlers ranked in their respective weight classes. Weil and fellow senior Howard Johnson along with juniors Devon Plaza and Tylor Garcia are ranked in the top-three of their weight classes.

The dual is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. on Thursday night at Dodge City High School.

The Dodge City High School wrestling team closed out a strong week with a first place finish at the Maize High School Invitational with a team score of 244 on Saturday. The Red Demons had four wrestlers take first place in their respective weight classes.

Dodge City will host Hays this Thursday in their third WAC dual of the season. The Red Demons beat Garden City last week after falling to Great Bend in their conference opener.

Results 106- Joel Ostrom 2nd 113- Couy Weil 1st 120- Devon Griego 6th 126-Devon Plaza 1st 132-Clay Weil 2nd 138-Tylor Garcia 1st 145-Howard Johnson 4th 152-Carlos Rojas 10th 160-Preston Moon 8th 170-Weston Moon 8th 182-Cole Trent 3rd 195-Ansony Quezada 7th 220-Zerek Rodriguez 1st 285-Evan Darville 5th.