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