Warriors fall in season opening dual vs. 4A Sheridan

Sheridan - While the Worland Warriors wrestling team took a 42-27 loss Thursday night at Sheridan High School, they showed they have plenty of fight in them. Subtracting the three open spots the Warriors surrendered, the score was 27-24 in favor of Worland.

"It went really well, we wrestled really tough. Sheridan is a good 4A school and our kids came out and battled. We lost the dual but at one point we were up 23-0, we got on a roll there and started racking up the pins. We ended up losing the dual when they were able to get some pins on us, but it was a great dual from start to finish. We gave up three opens, which hurt us since that's six points each," said WHS wrestling coach Josh Garcia.

Senior JR Hofmann got the Warriors rolling with a win in the 182-pound match. Hofmann, along with Goncalves brothers, Isaac and Luke, Alex Beck and Morgan Tigner, impressed Garcia by taking down tough 4A competition.

"JR Hofmann started us off at 182 pounds tonight and did a really nice job and beat a really good kid tonight. Isaac Goncalves wrestled really well and was able to get a pin for us. Alex Beck beat a really good kid too. Morgan Tigner, we bumped up to heavyweight, and he wrestled a big ole' boy. He was giving up 50 pounds, but he did a really nice job. Another one that stood out was Luke Goncalves, he's a freshman of ours and he got a big win for us at 145 pounds," said Garcia.

Today and tomorrow the Warriors will compete in the Rapid City Invite in Rapid City, S.D. Along with wrestling in as many matches as they can, Garcia is looking for his team to also get in quality matches that push them to grow.

"We want them to wrestle in matches that are going to push them and get them out of their comfort zones. We want them to be able to learn and grow and have those long grueling matches so they know how to grind through them. You don't always get those matches, but that's what we're looking for this weekend," said Garcia.

Full results from the Invite will be in Tuesday's edition of the Northern Wyoming Daily News.