Red Demon wrestlers earn WAC honors

March 1, 2018 By DCHS Sports

By: Shelton Burch

Dodge Globe Sports Editor

After a 2017-18 season that saw them send 10 wrestlers to the 6A state tournament,the Dodge City Red Demons got good news Tuesday.

Two wrestlers earned First-Team All-Conference selections, while three others were Second-Team selections. Head coach Lars Lueders was selected as the Western Athletic Conference’s Coach of the Year.

The Red Demons won the WAC this season.

Sophomore Anthony Mariche and junior Evan Darville took home First-Team Selections. Seniors Ansony Quezada and Cisco Soto, as well as sophomore Jashon Taylor earned Second-Team Selections.

Lueders said the boys’ selections were a testament to how consistent they were this season.

“Overall we were consistent in our WAC duals and against WAC opponents, so for a young team consistency was really great this season,”Lueders said.

The Red Demons concluded their season last weekend,finishing 11th at the state tournament.

It the final season for seniors Preston Moon, Weston Moon, Cisco Soto, Ansony Quezada and Carlos Marquez.

“They’ve been a great example of how to work in the offseason, how to be there for your team, how to show up consistently, how to work hard every single day,”Lueders said.“I think they were great role models and just showing our younger guys how to grind through a season and the day-in and day-out struggles of being a wrestler.”

Lueders coached all of them from freshman year on. He watched them mature mentally and grow phyisically.

“That’s one of the coolest things about being a coach is seeing ‘em (mature),” Lueders said.

He knew many of them even before they were high schoolers, he said.

“I’m really involved in the middle school, and so I knew these guys when they were in seventh and eighth grade, and to even see ‘em grow up from that stage in their life is pretty amazing and pretty cool and I’m excited to watch them in their next stages and see what kind of men they grow up to be as well,” Lueders said.

Lueders himself earned recognition for his efforts as a coach this season in the WAC.

“(I) feel honored that my peers voted me on for that,” Lueders said. “Anytime that you get an award that’s voted no by your peers, that really means a lot just because it shows a level of respect from the other coaches, not just maybe for me but for our program and our assistant coaches and just overall the whole wrestling program.”

Though the team finished 11th at state, Lueders said this season reminded him of another one not long ago, that ended similarly.

“This reminds me a lot of actually four years ago,” Lueders said.“We had (finished) 11th at state, we had a bunch of freshmen, and the next year we got third in state. So this group reminds me a lot of four years ago, and I think the experience level is gonna be huge for next year. I think having so many young kinds in the varsity lineup, and it’s not just the guys that went to regionals, we had other guys that really were varsity almost all year that didn’t go to regionals and are young.”

Just like that year, this year could end up setting the stage for a strong performance by the team next year.

“I think basically looking at next year, just the level of experience that we gained this year was huge,” Lueders said. “Like I said, (it) just reminds me a lot of four years ago, and that’s exactly what happened with that team that had a lot of freshmen (and) a lot of sophomores that got experience, and the next year they were ready to roll.”

Three Red Demons place at state wrestling tournament

February 27, 2018 By DCHS Sports

Three Red Demons place at state wrestling tournament

Day 1

Darville advances to State Championship

By Shelton Burch

Sports Editor

The Dodge City Red Demons wrestling team opened their 6A State Tournament bracket with multiple loses in the first round, and an even higher percentage in the second round.

Despite that, nearly all the Red Demons will wrestle in Saturday’s final day of the Tourney.

The Red Demons will have nine of their original 10 wrestlers competing Saturday. This proved the case despite four losing their matches in the first round, and five losing their matches in the second round.

Athletes had to win at least one match Friday to advance. Senior Weston Moon lost his first and second matches Friday.

Red Demon head coach Lars Lueders said second day wrestling is pretty typical, and three of the four who lost in the first round survived to wrestle again Saturday with wins in their second matches.

“It’s good for those three guys getting through,” Lueders said. “They wrestled really well. They adjusted well and they wrestled a lot better than they did the round before so that’s the main thing that we’re excited for and we’ll those nine guys tomorrow and try to win a couple matches and try to nine to place tomorrow.”

The day finished on a high note for the Red Demons however. Junior Couy Weil advanced to the semifinals before

losing on a pin, but junior Evan Darville won a 5-3 decision in his final match of the day.

He’ll wrestle for the 6A State Championship in the 285 weight division.

He had beaten his two previous opponents by pinning them in the first period of each match Friday, but won by just two points in a match that lasted all six minutes against Marcus Hicks of Wichita Northwest.

“Hicks is a good competitor and so is everyone else,” said a winded Darville. “It’s just he knows what to do with his hips and he couldn’t get thrown.”

Darville said it felt really good to advance.

“Last year I just came out here,(and) didn’t place at all, and this is a big up,” Darville said. “(I’m) looking to prove myself here.”

The close match between Darville and Hicks was something Lueders said was expected.

“We’ve wrestled him twice before and we’ve beat him twice by one point so we knew it was probably gonna be a close match,” Lueders said. “What I liked was the composure of Evan. He got taken down in the first period, was losing right away, but then we ended up turning him and getting the win and we actually won by two points.”

That composure, Lueders said, made the difference.

Here are the Tournament records for each Red Demon through Friday:

– 113: Couy Weil went

120: Daniel Rojas went 1-1

– 126: Edwin Estrada went 1-1

– 132: Garrett Edwards went 1-1

– 138: Cisco Soto went 1-1

– 152: Weston Moon went 0-2

– 160: Jashon Taylor went 1-1

– 195: Ansony Quezada 1-1

– 220: Cody Terrell 1-1

– 285: Evan Darville went 3-0

Day 2

Red Demon wrestlers Evan Darville, Ansony Quezada and Couy Weil medaled at the 6A State Wrestling tournament this weekend.Overall, the team finished in 11th place with 68 points.

The tournament took place Friday and Saturday in Park City, Kansas. The Red Demons took 10 wrestlers to the event; three seniors, two juniors, three sophomores and two freshmen.

“I think more than anything what I’m taking away is just it was a learning experience, because we return a lot of kids, and we even have kids that didn’t come to the Regional or State Tournament that have a lot of potential and could be state-placers for us next year,” Red Demon head coach Lars Lueders said.

That bodes well for next year.

“Number one, looking at next year it was a great learning experience and I think what we learned this weekend will pay off dividends next year,” Lueders said.

The other takeaway was how hard the kids worked.

“I think our kids really wanted it and they gave 100-percent effort, and that’s all you can ask of the kids,” Lueders said. “We prepared them the way that we thought we should, they did everything on their end, and so we’re proud of their effort and proud of how they represented Dodge City High School this weekend.”

One major lesson the team learned was how important it is to win close matches.

“It’s all about the match-situations, the certain situations you get into in a big-time pressure situation,” Lueders said. “So what we learned was how to handle pressure and how to win close matches.”

The Red Demons were led by junior Evan Darville, who entered the Saturday as the lone Red Demon unbeaten after the first day.

He lost in double overtime, finishing second in the tournament. Weil, a junior, and Quezada, a senior, also medaled, each earning fourth place.

Saturday’s second-place finish for Darville was the end of a strong season for him, and one that ended with him medaling, something he was unable to do last year.

“The growth from Evan is amazing,” Lueders said. “I mean it’s awesome to see where he was last year to this year. He beat a kid in the quarterfinals that knocked him out of the tournament last year. The kid that beat him first-round last year didn’t even place in his bracket this year.”

That itself shows the growth Darville made this season.

“It’s not really surprising by seeing how much work he put in the offseason and how much work he put in the weight room and the things that he did to prepare himself,” Lueders said. “So yeah, it’s awesome to see, but at the same point it’s not surprising.”

That effort led to Darville finishing 40-10 overall this season.

“This season I just worked harder than I had ever before, dedicated myself to wrestling and it just shows in the placing,” Darville said. “I obviously didn’t finish where I wanted to but I still placed higher than I did last year.”

For Darville, however, Saturday showed he isn’t done.

“There’s still more to improve on and I’ll just be doing that (in the) off season and looking to get better,” Darville said.

Top team scores

Olathe North 1512. Topeka-Washburn Rural 149.53. Manhattan 142.54. Derby 140.55. Garden City 1166. Wichita-South 1117. BV Northwest 918. Haysville-Campus 89.59. Olathe South 88.510. Hutchinson 73 Individual results

113 – Couy Weil (26-14) placed 4th and scored 15 team points 120 – Daniel Rojas (26-24) place is unknown and scored 5 team points 126 – Edwin Estrada (18-19) place is unknown and score 3 team points 132 – Garrett Edwards (27-11) place is unknown and scored 2 team points 138 – Cisco Soto (20-8) place is unknown and scored 1 team point 152 – Weston Moon (23-23) place is unknown and scored 0 team points 160 – Jashon Taylor (32-19) place is unknown and scored 1 team point 195 – Ansony Quezada (24-9) placed 4th and scored 17 team points 220 – Cody Terrell (23-19) place is unknown and scored 2 team points 285 – Evan Darville (40-10) placed 2nd and scored 22 team points

Red Demon wrestling sending 10 to state tourney

February 27, 2018 By DCHS Sports

Red Demon wrestling sending 10 to state tourney

The team finished 8th at the Regional event this weekend

By Shelton Burch

Sports Editor

A year ago, the Dodge City Red Demons sent eight wrestlers to the 6A state tournament. Six of them came back with medals.The team itself took sixth place.

This year even more Red Demons are going.

The Red Demons finished eighth of 16 teams in the Wichita-South Regional Tournament Friday and Saturday. A total of 10 Red Demons placed in the top eight, qualifying for the State Tournament scheduled to be held in Park City,a suburb of Wichita, Feb. 24-25.

Head coach Lars Lueders said it was the athlete’s mindsets that were the things he liked the most.

“Just their approach to the matches was awesome,” Lueders said. “They were very aggressive from the get-go, they knew what they wanted to get to during the matches and they never got frustrated. We had a lot of kids that were down in points and they battled back and won a lot of those matches that they may have been down in.”

Those going to state include: – Couy Weil, who placed third in the 113 division- Daniel

Rojas, who placed fourth in the 120 division- Edwin Estrada, who placed fifth in the 126 division- Garrett Edwards, who placed seventh in the 132 division- Cisco Soto, who placed eighth in the 138 division- Weston Moon, who placed sixth in the 152 division- Jashon Taylor, whoplacedfourthinthe160 division- Ansony Quezada, who placed second the 195 division- Cody Terrell, who placed sixth in the 220 division- Evan Darville, who placed fifth in the 285 division Last year’s eight state competitors included four seniors.

This year, the group going is full of youth, with one less senior but two extra wrestlers. Five of the 10 wrestlers are underclassmen, and two of those are freshmen Edwin Estrada and Daniel Rojas.

“I think that’s the thing that is most exciting, is how young we are and the ability to qualify (so many wrestlers),” Lueders said. “Obviously we’re still thinking about this year but when you look at next year, no matter how the state tournament goes we’re gonna have a lot of guys with state tournament experience, which is important.”

That could help when those athletes get to the state tourney in the future, he said.

“When they get to the state the second time around, they’ll be less nervous, they’ll know what to expect and they should even perform better next year than they did this

year,” Lueders said.

Darville, Weil and Quezada are three who have been to state before and could make some noise in the standings this weekend.

“Obviously those two and Ansony Quezada, those three have been there before. They’re primed and ready to make a state-championship run,” Lueders said. “The rest of our guys haven’t been to the state tournament before, so I’m really interested in seeing how they’ll handle the pressure and handle the big venue.”

Mostly though, the team’s strategy going in is to take it one match at a time.

“I know the expectation for all our kids is to win that first match, and so once we win that first match we’ll go from there,” Lueders said. “(I’m) just excited to see how our kids do and see if they can stay consistent on a big stage.”

Friday and Saturday’s events take place at Park City-Hartman Arena at 8151 N. Hartman Arena Dr., Park City, KS 67147.

Tickets are $10 dollars for K-12 students and $12 for adults. There is no parking fee and gates open at 8 a.m., according to the Kansas State High School Activities Association website.

Red Demon Wrestling takes on Hays tonight after victory in Maize

January 9, 2018 By DCHS Sports

Red Demon Wrestling takes on Hays tonight after victory in Maize

By: Shelton Burch

Courtesy of Dodge Globe Sports Editor

The Dodge City Red Demons wrestling team won the Maize Invitational Saturday, taking the team title for the second year in a row.

They take on Hays Tuesday night in a dual at the Dodge City High School Field House. Varsity takes the mat at 7 p.m.

Maize, the No. 2 team in the 5A state rankings, came in second Saturday behind the Red Demons, who are currently ranked No. 7 in 6A.

Sophomore Garrett Edwards finished third in the 132 division after getting his first varsity win last year.

“We had a lot of comments about him just from other teams too about how impressive he looked,” head coach Lars Lueders said. “He’s doing a great job for us and is really consistent, which is what we like to see, so having him in a lineup and having him be consistent and just a tough wrestler just really helps us out and is something that we’re excited to see.”

Saturday’s team win came on the heels of a narrow victory over Garden City last week.

The 2018 calendar-year opened the same way as the 2017 one, with Dodge City winning the Maize Invitational and a dual.

Last year, however, the dual the team opened the new year with was against Hays, the team’s opponent tonight. Garden City, who had been scheduled last year as the team’s first opponent, had to be wrestled later in January of 2017 after an ice storm forced a postponement.

The Red Demons ultimately lost the rescheduled dual against Garden City.

Lueders said it’s great to have finished the Garden City dual this year as the team originally planned.

“We set up our schedule for a reason,” Lueders said. “We want these two tough weeks and then we want a week off and then come back at the Garden (City) tournament.”

The Red Demons take on Hays tonight in a dual, then wrestle in the Newton Invitational tournament Friday and Saturday. Garden City, which the Dodge City beat in a dual last week, hosts an invitational tournament Jan. 26, and Jan. 27.

Between the Newton Invitational later this week, and the start of the Garden City one, the team will have 13 days without competition.

“Obviously because of the ice last year, we had to squeeze the Garden dual in right after the Newton tournament, so I believe that hurt us for the season,” Lueders said. “We kind of started to decline a little at that point, so having that Garden dual out of the way and being able to wrestle the schedule that we had intended for will be big for our teaching process and hopefully we’ll make sure that we wrestle well at Regionals and at State.”

The Dodge City Red Demons face the Hays Indians at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Dodge City High School Field House.

Team scores from Saturday’s Maize Invitational:

1. Dodge City (282 points)
2. Maize (275.5 points)
3. Emporia (192.5 points)
4. Pratt (181 points)
5. Goddard-Eisenhower (177.5 points)
6. Andale (162 points)
7. Wichita-Heights (106 points)
8. Liberal (101.5 points)
9. Maize South (78.5) points

Individual results:
– 106 division: Antony Marichie placed first and scored 32 team points
– 113 division: Couy Weil placed second and scored 25 team points
– 120 division: Daniel Rojas placed third and scored 24 team points
– 126 division: Edwin Estrada placed fifth and scored nine team points
– 132 division: Garrett Edwards placed third and scored 18 team points
– 138 division: Cisco Soto placed second and scored 27 team points
– 145 division: Carlos Marquez placed fifth and scored 14 team points
– 152 division: Weston Moon placed third and scored 20 team points
– 160 division: Jashon Taylor placed fifth and scored 10 team points
– 170 division: Jullian Galindo placed second and scored 24 team points
– 182 division: Tyler Pipenger placed fifth and scored 13 team points
– 195 division: Ansony Quezada placed second and scored 28 team points
– 220 division: Cody Terrell placed sixth and scored 10 team points
– 285 division: Evan Darville placed second and scored 28 team points

Red Demons prevail in first ever “Battle for the Bell”

January 8, 2018 By DCHS Sports

Red Demons prevail in first ever “Battle for the Bell”

By: Shelton Burch

Courtesy of Dodge Globe Sports Editor

It took a comeback. It required an overtime win by one of the team’s key wrestlers. In the end though, the Dodge City Red Demons prevailed in the first ever “Battle for the Bell.”

The Dodge City Red Demons wrestling team beat the rival Garden City Buffaloes Thursday night by a score of 33-27. It was the first year the teams awarded a trophy for the winner of their annual dual.

“The Bell” will stay in Dodge City this year until at least next year’s dual meet.

Thursday night’s competition was indeed a battle, requiring strong efforts from both teams.

It started off tough for the Red Demons. The Buffaloes opened the dual winning the 120, 126 and 132 matches by decision to take a 9-0 lead.

Red Demons head coach Lars Lueders said he wasn’t too concerned early despite falling behind by that much.

“I kind of knew that it might start that way,” Lueders said. “They started it out really tough in those weights, and we knew that we were underdogs, and we almost got a couple of ’em. We were right there in a couple of those matches. So I wasn’t panicked.”

The Red Demons got on the board for the first time with the 138 match after senior Cisco Soto won 9-6 by decision over Elijahblu Ruiz-Hernandez of Garden City.

After that, Garden City won the next two matches, first in the 145 when Trey Medina beat Dodge City’s Carlos Marquez by decision 5-0. That gave Garden City a 12-3 lead.

Garden City expanded their lead to 15 points, the largest of the night, in the very next match after Curtis Near won by fall over Dodge City’s Weston Moon.

Dodge City, however, fought back, and it started in the 160 division. In the first match after Moon’s loss, sophomore Jashon Taylor won by fall over Jacob Sims.

Garden City followed up with another win by fall, but Dodge City again responded, earning a win by fall in the 182 division, a win by forfeit in the 195, and then another win by fall in the 220 division.

All in all, every time Garden City won a match by a fall Thursday night, Dodge City won at least one the next match the exact same way.

“We responded really well,” Lueders said. “We never got down and looked at the scoreboard and were like ‘aw, we’re losing.’ We responded awesome. The way that we approached the matches when we came out was amazing, and that’s just a continuation of Bishop Carroll and we saw improvement on some technique as well, which I’m really impressed with and excited for.”

Dodge City led 27-24 as junior Evan Darville and Garden City sophomore Refujio Chairez took the mat in the 285 division. Darville, most recently the No. 5 wrestler in the state in the 285 division was to take on Chairez, the No. 4 ranked wrestler in the same division.

Both battled, at multiple points it seemed like one or the other would lose by fall. Ultimately, it ended up going to overtime, where Darville won by decision with a score of 11-9.

That gave the Red Demons a 33-24 lead.

“That was huge,” Lueders said. “That was pretty much the dual.”

Darville said he had one mindset as the two wrestled.

“It was ‘Just don’t get pinned no matter what,’” Darville said. “That’s the only thing that went through my mind so I don’t give up any unnecessary points to put us behind in the dual.”

The Red Demons next are in action in Maize, Kansas for a tournament, then will return home to take on Hays in another dual next Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the Dodge City High School Field House.