BERTHOUD — It didn’t matter that Greeley Central didn’t have as many wrestlers in Saturday’s championship finals as the host Spartans at the Soeby Spartan Classic at Berthoud High School. What counted was the opportunities the Wildcats had ahead of them entering the finals and consolation finals.
Those opportunities were aplenty — 12 if you don’t count two who wrestled unattached.
Thanks to the Wildcats’ persistence, especially in the third-place matches, Greeley Central won right under Berthoud’s nose. The Wildcats finished with 190 points to 186 for Berthoud. Eaton took third with 130 points, followed by Platte Valley, Rampart, Mountain View and Highland.
“We knew we were going to be real close just because of the amount of kids we put in for third and fourth and first and second,” Greeley Central coach Eric Penfold said. “We just told the guys that every point counted, every last point. And you know what, it paid off. We got the team win today.”
Just how close was it? Greeley Central didn’t secure the victory until the last two heavyweight matches. The Wildcats’ A.J. Poland scored a pinfall over Highland’s Frankie Barrientes in 2 minutes, 27 seconds of the consolation finals to give his team the lead. But it wasn’t until Rampart’s Kyle Starling upset Berthoud’s Jared Wikre 36 seconds into overtime that victory was Greeley Central’s.
The Wildcats helped their cause in one of three championship matches that pitted one of their wrestlers against Berthoud when 171-pounder Brice Wolf pinned the Spartans’ Josh Atkinson in 1:46.
“Every match I just go out and do my best,” Wolf said.
The Spartans won the other two matches in the championship finals with 103-pounder Tylor Bethel scoring a 16-1 technical fall on Greeley Central’s Logan Crisel and Marcus Lucero, at 145, pinning the Wildcats’ Mikail Mekhraliyev in 1:20.
Berthoud added championship victories with Robbie Workman (112) and Alex Sadlo (130). But it lost just as many in the finals, including two in overtime.
On the flip side, Greeley Central scored two overtime wins in either the finals or consolation finals, including a pinfall for Michael Rangel at 140.
Yet, it was the seven wins in eight consolation matches that was the difference.
