March 2007: Cottonwood/Holladay Journal

Bengal Wrestlers Show Heart at State
by Shad West

Building blocks are keys to success, and a strong showing at the 5-A Wrestling Tournament at the UVSC McKay Event Center is keeping the Brighton Bengals optimistic for next season.

Under the tutelage of first-year head coach Wade Brown, the Brighton grapplers finished with two state champions and a strong fifth-place finish overall.

“You know it’s not really that bad,” Brown said. “We were hoping to finish higher; it’s a little disappointing but we have a strong foundation to take into next season.”

The Bengals had two state champions in K.C. Nate, who won at 145 pounds, and Cole Schafer who topped the 171-pounds division. Schafer was also named the Outstanding Wrestler in the upper weights division.

While Nate is looking at options at the college level, Schafer will return to help bring depth to the Bengal squad, something Brown said was needed.

“We have four placers coming back next year,” Brown said. “We just need to work on our depth a little. We should be competitive; we have some great wrestlers coming back.”

Brown said other wrestlers had tremendous seasons also.

“Ky Lucero had a really good season,” Brown said. “It is unfortunate that he was under the weather during the tournament. These are a bunch of good kids and it was a fun season. We ended on a high note.”

The 5-A state wrestling tournament proved to be competitive, with Weber High winning (241.5), Viewmont (150) taking second, Bingham (137) placing third and Pleasant Grove (124) and Brighton (104.5) rounding out the top five.