Wrestlers lose match to Nampa

The Mountain Home Tigers are coming off a tough week of wrestling that saw them drop a conference dual to Nampa, and finish 26th at the quad-state Tiger-Griz Wrestling Tournament in Idaho Falls over the weekend.

Nampa 42

Tigers 25

The Tigers had a few matches get away from them last Thursday night against Nampa, as they lost to the Bulldogs 42-25 in a conference dual in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium in Mountain Home.

Kaeo Doronio and Travis Goldsby both won by pins at 130 and 152 pounds, respectively. Tommy Miller won by forfeit at 135, Cory Pinque won a major decision at 112 pounds, and Michael Heinen won by decision at 171 pounds.

Ryan Goldsby (140), Joe Russell (160) and James Bailey (285) lost decisions, Tucker Martin (189) lost by major decision, DeVonte McClain (119), lost by technical fall, Erwin Ruiz (125), Cody Staebler (145), and Luis Ibarra all lost by pins, and the Tigers forfeited at 103 pounds.

"We had our chances to win, but we lost a couple of matches there that we were planning on winning, and ended up losing it," said Tiger wrestling coach Lynn Knudson.

"We just need to wrestle better and get ready for each and every match. We also had Tim Hazelbaker out with an injury (at 160), and our backup, Kevin Anderson, is out probably until district, if not the rest of the year because of a shoulder injury, so it's tough to wrestle when you don't have everybody there."

The Tiger went to the tough Tiger-Griz Wrestling Tournament at Idaho Falls over the weekend, where teams from Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Utah competed.

Mountain Home finished 26th out of 32 teams competing there. Kaeo Doronio made it to the semi-finals of the 130-pound weight class before he lost. He ended up in fourth place.

"The Tiger-Griz was really tough this year," said Coach Knudson.

"Kaeo Doronio was our only placer down there, and he even had a tough time, but he ended up placing fourth and did a really good job. Any time you can place down there, you're doing a really good job,"

The Tigers had a relatively light schedule this week, with last night's double dual against Kuna and Timberline in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium the only matches this week. Next week the Tigers will be at Middleton on Feb. 5, and head down to Pocatello for the Dick Fleishman Tournament Feb. 6-7.