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Bluejays finish second in District Duals

By:  Casey Porter

The Bluejay wrestlers started their weekend with a road trip to Woodward last Thursday for district duals. Guthrie started by losing to perennial power El Reno then beat Woodward 42-40 in a very exciting dual, then dominated John Marshall 84-0. Head Coach Jack O’Connor felt like it was a good weekend. 

“We’re right there with El Reno and we know we can compete with them, and we won all of the swing matches in the Woodward dual, so it was a good weekend for us,” said O’Connor.

Heading into the last match of the Woodward dual the Bluejays needed either a tech fall or a pin by 112 pounder Kolt Rinehart, and that’s exactly what they got. Due to a coin toss and rotating the weights each dual started at, Rinehart’s match ended up being the last match of the dual, and one that clinched second place for the Bluejays. Coach O’Connor was very excited about Rinehart’s performance.

“It was the last match of the dual and the whole gym kind of stopped to watch that match, and Rinehart came through in a big way, O’Connor commented about Rinehart’s clutch performance.

Sophomore Tanner Goddard was bumped up to heavyweight due to David Moody’s injury and was facing a wrestler that was 50-60 pounds heavier than he was.  Although Goddard lost the match he did not get pinned, losing only three team points, which allowed his team the chance to wrestle their way to victory.  Coach O’Connor knew this was a tough situation for Goddard, but did not want to take the forfeit at heavyweight.

“Tanner was outweighed by 50-60 pounds but he really sucked it up and wrestled well.  Only giving up three team points in that match really helped us,” quoted O’Connor.

While Dillon Turpin, John Kane and Corey Cummings all went 3-0 for the weekend, 145 pounder Ryan Bilyeu got to face maybe the best wrestler in the State of Oklahoma at any weight, Corey Dauphin.  Bilyeu wrestled tough, shot in 6 or 7 times, showing a lot of offense, but fell to the Indian superstar in a tough match. 

“Ryan’s style has really changed to be more offensive and aggressive and he is getting better and better at that.  He was really good to begin with, and although he did not beat Dauphin, he came off the mat feeling pretty good,” said O’Connor of Bilyeu’s match against Dauphin.  

130 pounder, Jeff Russell, went 1-2 on the weekend while his older brother had a very good weekend finishing at 2-1.  Jeff and Josh always show the heart and hustle needed to be successful and this weekend it really payed off as they wrestled very well and continued to show major improvement. 

On the down side, the Bluejays are dealing with injury problems.  Heavyweight David Moody continues to suffer from shoulder problems, an injury that has kept him out of action since Christmas, and Alfred Ratcliff suffered yet another knee injury and will have an MRI done to see the extent of the injury.  Senior Corey Cummings also tweaked a knee in practice and is listed as day to day.

The Bluejays will next be in action on Tuesday, January 22 when they host Piedmont for a Suburban Conference dual.  For more information visit the podcast page and listen to the Wrestling Coaches Corner with Head Coach Jack O’Connor.

Junior High

        On Thursday, the Junior High Wrestling team started their weekend by traveling to Woodward for their district duals. They beat Woodward 66 to 13 and then wrestled El Reno handing them a 47 to 24 loss.                                                                                            

Bryan Dutton at 118 pounds pinned both of his opponents. Timothy O'Connor at 78 pounds received a forfeit from Woodward and beat his opponent from El Reno 4 to 2.  Shane Cantrell at 94 pounds pinned the Woodward wrestler in the second period.  Camden Helm at 102 pinned the El Reno opponent in the first period. 

Jake Cook at 134 pounds beat the El Reno wrestler 7 to 5. Devin Bilyeu at 142
pounds pinned the Woodward wrestler in the first period and then received a forfeit from El Reno. Michael Conner at 152 pounds pinned the El Reno wrestler in the first period. 

Landry Chappell bumped up to 165 for this dual and won a major decision over the El Reno wrestler. Austin Oliver also bumped up to 185 pounds for the dual and pinned the El Reno Wrestler in the first period. 
            ”Overall the team wrestled very well and got two impressive wins, “said coach Pearce 

This past weekend the Junior High Wrestling team split up and competed in two different tournaments. The majority of the team went to the Monroney JV tournament.  At this tournament several wrestlers brought home medals. Timothy O'Connor at 78 lbs placed third, Jake Cook at 134 lbs placed fifth, Devin Bilyeu at 142 lbs placed second, Josh Gabbert at 152 placed first and Austin Oliver at 165 lbs placed fourth. 
           The other group went to Chickasha to compete in a Varsity tournament. Ryan Kitch at 110 lbs placed thrid, Bryan Dutton at 118 lbs placed second, Landry Chappell at 152 lbs placed third and Michael Conner placed third at 165 lbs. 
            Pearce and Woodard like the way their team continues to improve “We continue to improve and if we are able to beat Piedmont Tuesday, we will wrestle for third or fourth place in the conference on Jan 29^th, that would be a good accomplishment,“ coach Pearce said of his teams conference chances.      

 The Junior High will next be in action on Tuesday for a dual at the Junior High gym against Piedmont. A win against Piedmont will put the Junior High Jays in position to wrestle for 3rd and 4th place in the conference on January 29th.

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