2A No. 3 Bobcats down 3A Buffalo and 3A No. 3 Douglas

THERMOPOLIS - With a supportive home crowd backing them, the Hot Springs County Bobcats wrestling team went 2-0 during their home quad dual Thursday night at Hot Springs County High School, on senior night.

The Bobcats took down two 3A teams Thursday night beating the Buffalo Bison and the No. 3-ranked Douglas Bearcats.

"Those are big ones because I don't know if we have ever beat Douglas before," said HSCHS wrestling coach Travis McDermott. "We looked really good conditioning wise and I'm happy to see that, because we were concerned about that a couple of weeks ago. The seniors came out and went after everybody. We had a goal of going have everybody and they did just that. We got quite a few pins and the whole team looked sharp. It's a good start to the weekend."

With Thursday night's great performance it was tough to single out just one wrestler for McDermott. The entire 'Cat roster turned in some of their best performances to date and senior Jeffery VanAntwerp, wrestling in his final home meet, helped guarantee victory against Douglas with his major decision win.

"The whole team between both of those duals we had everyone step up and wrestle very hard. Jeffery VanAntwerp, we were down three points to Douglas and we needed a major [decision]. He had to turn the kid in the last 30 seconds to get that major, that was pretty big for him and that secured the win. We got put behind the eight ball by a couple guys but he saved us there," said McDermott.

Today and tomorrow the Ron Thon tournament will be underway in Riverton at Riverton High School. The challenges will be plenty but if the 'Cats can bring the same level of determination they had on Thursday night, they'll certainly turn some heads over the weekend.

"We know where we stand tomorrow, it's just going to be tough. We just want to bring that same enthusiasm for the weekend. Bring that level of enthusiasm and energy to matches, you never know, we may get a couple big ones," said McDermott.