Tiger wrestlers earn solid win against tough Nampa squad

The Mountain Home Tiger wrestling team battled back from a 27-12 deficit to down the Nampa Bulldogs 45-30 in a conference dual match Thursday night on the mats at Nampa.

Picking up pins for the Tigers against Nampa were James Bailey (285 pounds), Colby Lord (215), Nico Pinque (140), Cal Vivier (152), and Kamron Spaulding (160). Ty Kleffner (135) won on a flagrant misconduct foul by his opponent. Junior Ruiz (145) won by forfeit, and Kaeo Doronio (130) won a 10-4 decision.

Chris Knudson (171) lost a tough, 8-7 decision in overtime, and T.J. Billinger (119) lost a 9-7 decision. DeVonte McClain (112), Erwin Ruiz (125) and Matt Ward (189) lost by pins, and Mountain Home forfeited at 103 pounds.

"It was another big win for the team and I'm very, very happy about how we're doing in duals," said Tiger wrestling coach Lynn Knudson after the Nampa win. "We just need to continue working in the room on some of our little things and we're constantly seeing improvement. I'm really proud of the kids and how they're constantly getting after it and getting better and better so that we're ready for district.

"We had a number of JV kids that won and I'm very happy about how they're improving each match also, and I think we're going to have a pretty good district team overall."

Mountain Home Tigers that picked up wins on the JV mats against Nampa included Luke Loomis (171), who pinned two opponents, Tim Hazelbaker (152), Luke Anderson (171), Jacob Viola (160), Tommy Miller (135), Kevin Anderson (160), Tucker Martin (189), Jesus Ruiz (145) and Sergio Guadaramma (152), who all won by pins, John Deal (130) who won by technical decision (16-0), Travis Goldsby (140) who won a 10-1 major decision, and Zach Pomerantz (119) who won an 11-9 decision.

The Tigers have a busy week of wrestling this week. They hosted a tri-match with Jerome and Kimberly last night, travel to Kuna tonight for a conference dual and head to Pocatello on Friday for the weekend Pocatello Duals.

"We're going to get about seven matches down there is what it looks like," said Coach Knudson. "It'll be interesting. We'll probably see Pocatello again. We have two losses to them, but each time it gets a little bit closer, and hopefully, we can take care of it this time."