Dec. 22, 2005: Tooele-Transcript Bulletin

Buff Grapplers Lose Region Duals
by Nick Drake

Tooele High dropped a pair of Region 11 duels to region rivals Ogden (Dec. 8) and Bear River (Thursday) to open the 2005-06 campaign.

The Tigers handed the Buffs a 48-28 setback Dec. 8, while the Bears tripped Tooele 50-26 last Thursday at THS.

The Buffs also finished 4-6 in the Juab Invitational Dec. 9-10. Tooele reeled off two victories to open the dual-based tourney and closed out with a pair of wins as well. The Buff dropped six consecutive matches in between the two opening and two closing decisions. Results on the tournament were not available by press time.

Tooele now takes time off for the Christmas break. The Buffs resume action when Tooele hosts the Best of the West Wrestling Invitational at the Deseret Peak Jan. 6-7.

Tooele Coach Codie Miller said his team will need to improve to move up in the Region 11 standings.

"We're a young team," he said. "We have some pretty good talent, but we're inexperienced and young. We should be in the mix at region. Ogden and Bear River are tough. We did pretty good during the (Juab) tournament. We probably could have won a couple more matches because we gave away too many points. We had four or five different matches in a couple of duels where we were winning and then were pinned. So we have some work to do in the wrestling room, knowing how to finish a match when you're ahead. It also hurt us against Ogden. We just have to get better and learn from our mistakes."

Ogden 48 - Tooele 28

The Tigers handed the Buffs a Region 11 setback Dec. 8 at Tooele High.

Tooele's Josh Austin battled to a pin of Ogden's Antonio Ricardez in 5:12 at 119 pounds. The Buff grappler led 11-3 in the match when Austin recorded a takedown and pin 48 seconds into the third period.

Buff teammate Daniel Goode registered an impressive 15-6 triumph over Tiger foe Jason Nestoryake at 130 pounds. The Tooele grappler broke a 3-3 deadlock after one period with a three-point near fall and takedown to build an 8-4 lead headed into the final period of the match. Goode fought to a pair of escapes, takedown and three-point near-fall to dominate the match against his Ogden opponent.

Tooele's Monte Schmalhaus followed suit just one match later when the Buff grappler put Ogden's Andre Nova flat on his back at the 2:58 mark of the 135-pound match. Schmalhaus logged a pair of takedowns, a two-point and three-point near-fall to lead 9-0 before nailing the Tiger to the mat with 1:02 still remaining in the second period.

Buff grappler Austin Hansen made short work of Tiger opponent Jacob Mau at 145. The Tooele wrestler raced to a 5-0 lead with a takedown and three-point near-fall only to record the pin just 59 seconds into the affair.

Tooele teammate Jacob Foster completed the Buff point tally by putting Ogden's Javon Kemp flat on the mat just 3:08 into the 171-pound contest. The veteran Buff grappler logged three takedowns and led 6-0 before pinning the Tiger with 52 seconds remaining in the second stanza.

Bear River 50 - Tooele 26

The Bears recorded six pins and eight wins in all to capture the region dual triumph Dec. 15 at Tooele.

Jake Golden seized a victory for Tooele at 103 pounds with a forfeit victory over Bear River's Casey Sawyer.

Buff grappler Nick Trujillo garnered a hard-fought 10-9 victory over Bear foe Trevor VonNiederhausern at 119. The Tooele veteran trailed 7-3 headed into the final period, but regrouped with an escape and three takedowns to earn the come-from-behind triumph.

Tooele's Eric Graft fought to a pin of Bear River's Jake Moser at 125 in 1:48 to aid in the Buff scoring.

Schmalhaus nailed Bear River's Jim Winters to the mat in 3:24 at 135. The Buff grappler registered a pair of takedowns and two escapes to lead 6-2 before putting the Bear flat on his back with 36 seconds remaining in the second session.

Austin Hansen delivered another triumph at 145 against the Bears. The Tooele grappler nailed Bear River's Austin Terry in 5:30 to complete the Buff team scoring. Hansen trailed 9-7 headed into the final frame but rallied for a takedown and pin with 30 ticks left in the match to record the thrilling triumph.