Matmen rout Bishop Kelly but lose against Bulldogs

The Mountain Home Tigers kept their conference dual record unblemished with a win over Bishop Kelly but dropped a non-conference match at Nampa.

Mountain Home 84,

Bishop Kelly 3

The Mountain Home Tigers picked up 10 pins during an 84-3 thrashing of the Bishop Kelly Knights last Tuesday in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium in Mountain Home.

The Tigers dropped the first match of the night after David Welle lost a 5-0 decision at 126 pounds. But 10 pins and four forfeits later, the Tigers easily dispatched the Knights in conference action.

Winning by pins were Zack Slack in the 132-pound weight class, Tyler Heath (138), Tanner Sessions (145), Brad Keierleber (152), Tyler McCall (170), Jacob Ryan (195), Josh Deal (220), Hunter McCluskey (98), Pierce Mederios (106) and Kanoa Doronio (113).

Those wining by forfeits were Jeremy Essl (160), Taylor Ogaard (182), Jose Ortiz (285) and Jacob Lucs (120).

Tigers wrestling coach Lynn Knudson knew that Bishop Kelly wouldn't have many of its athletes wrestling, but they stepped up and gave Mountain Home plenty of good matches.

"That was good so our kids could get matches, but it's a good win," the coach said in his comments following the tournament. "It's always good in the conference to take care of business like that, and we definitely did."

Nampa 48, Mountain Home 27

Mountain Home lost its third dual match of the season last Wednesday night, dropping a 48-27 match to the 5A Nampa Bulldogs at Nampa.

Mountain Home fell behind by 16 points before battling back to within one to trail, 16-15. From there, the Tigers fell behind and were unable to come within 10 points against the Bulldogs.

Mountain Home won just five of the 15 matches against the Bulldogs. Winning by pins were Pierce Mederios in the 106-pound weight class, Tyler Heath at 132 and Tanner Sessions at 145. Hunter McCluskey won by forfeit at 98 pounds, and Jose Ortiz won a 4-1 decision in the 285-pound class.

Losing close decisions were Tyler McCall (13-11) at 170 pounds, and Josh Deal (3-0) at 220 pounds. Losing major decisions were Taylor Ogaard (12-0) at 182 pounds, Kanoa Doronio (11-0) at 113 and Andrew Thornburg (12-3) at 152 pounds. Losing by pins were Jacob Ryan (195 pounds), Jacob Lucas (120), David Welle (126), Dillon Park (138) and Jeremy Essl (160).

"Pierce Mederios, Tyler Heath, Tanner Sessions and Jose Ortiz wrestled very well," Knudson said. "But on the other side of that, we had quite a few kids who were in pretty tough matches, and Nampa came out very physical."

The coach admitted that his Tigers struggled getting physical and mentally into the match, which is why they didn't wrestle as well.

"That's where... our varsity team struggles when they get into a tough match," the coach said. "That's just the things that we need to work on getting them physically and mentally ready for their matches for district and state."

The Tigers hosted Buhl and Twin Falls on Tuesday during a tri-match, and participate in the Parma Invitational on Friday and Saturday.