Coming off nice outing at the Ron Thon, No. 2 Warrior wrestlers return home for dual vs. Panthers
Worland vs. Powell at 6 p.m.
January 31, 2018
WORLAND - Battling among 39 schools, from classes 4A to 2A, at the Ron Thon wrestling tournament in Riverton last weekend, the No. 2-ranked Worland Warriors showed they can hang with the best as they placed 13th, scoring 87 points.
The Warriors had three wrestlers place in the highly contested tournament, 285-pound senior Morgan Tigner finished third, 182-pound senior JR Hofmann was fourth and 145-pound freshman Luke Goncalves came in fifth.
"Overall, I am ecstatic where we placed as a team. Morgan Tigner had a nailbiter in the semifinal, he wrestled well and we just into a kid from Natrona and we had our hands full there. He was our highest placer and Luke Goncalves wrestled lights out. He placed fifth as a freshman. Then JR Hofmann just had a tremendous weekend, oh my goodness. He didn't place in Lander, it is weird how things shake out sometimes, he wasn't even seeded and kept beating some high-seeded kids," said WHS wrestling coach Josh Garcia.
To finishing third, Tigner defeated Pinedale's Gage Northup by tiebreaker TB-1 4-1; defeated Thunder Basin's Zachary Shippy by 6-2 decision; defeated Cutter Foster of Rawlins by 7-3 decision in the quarterfinals; lost to Trevon Smith of Natrona County by 3-1 decision in the semifinals; defeated Dalton McInerney of Thunder Basin by 8-5 decision; then for the third-place match defeated Eric Flores of Cody by 3-1 decision.
After struggling the past few tournaments Hofmann bounced back in a big way to finish fourth in one of the toughest tournaments of the season. Hofmann defeated TJ McNeil of Rock Springs by pin; defeated Cody's Charlie Beaudrie by 7-5 decision; lost to Green River's Parton Tucker by pin in the quarterfinals; defeated Lander's Brody Dempster by sudden victory 5-3, defeated Cheyenne Central's Coby Goossen by 4-3 decision; defeated Matt Hunting of Star Valley by forfeit; then lost to Ian Arnold of Glenrock by pin in the third-place match.
Freshman Luke Goncalves had an impressive showing in his first Ron Thon taking fifth. Goncalves pinned Cheyenne South's Jacob Wood; pinned Ira Dickinson of Green River; lost to Trevor Jeffries of Thunder Basin by major decision 15-4; pinned Wheatland's Seth DeWitt; defeated Kyle Hardee of Cheyenne Central by major decision 15-2; lost to Buffalo's Ben Elmlinger by 9-7 decision; then defeated Thermopolis' Koy Myers by major decision 19-7 in the fifth-place match.
Goncalves, Hofmann and Tigner almost had a few of their teammate's join them as placers but ultimately, they came up short. The disappointment of not placing was evident for those Warriors but Garcia encouraged his non-placers to learn from their mistakes.
"We're looking for good things out of all three of those guys, even the rest of our guys. We had several of our kids who were a round from placing. I know some of them might get frustrated but like we tell them, we're all about learning. Take something from each match and be willing to move on and improve. We're happy with where we're at right now," said Garcia.
With the Ron Thon behind them, the Warriors turn their focus toward a home dual as they host the No. 4-ranked Powell Panthers 6 p.m. Thursday.
The M.O. Thursday night is simple for Worland, rack up as many pins as possible.
"My expectations are to be able to compete, battle and get some pins. I've been telling them all week you only have one match this week and that's all. So we need them for six minutes of just battling and not giving up takedowns, near falls or anything like that. I'm really looking forward to it because we haven't been home since the second week in December, it has been awhile and we're definitely due," said Garcia.