By EARL WATT
Leader & Times
The Big House erupted when Liberal’s Jaime Arenivas pinned Dodge City’s Santonio Turner in the final contested match of the night in a dual with the Redskins and Red Demons.
But there wasn’t much else that gave Redskins fans much to cheer about in a 52-15 loss.
Zeth Mansell won at the heavyweight division since the Red Demons were open, and Enrique Franz was the only other Redskins to get a win.
Liberal lost two matches in overtime.
“It wasn’t very good overall,” Liberal coach Kyle Molina said. “I did a bad job of coaching. I didn’t have my guys prepared. We have a whole week to right this thing. We have regionals, so we will get after it.”
Liberal had three seniors compete for the last time in The Big House, and all three have been under Molina’s system throughout their high school career.
“This class is important to me,” Molina said. “They only know me as a coach. They know what we’ve implemented. Frank (Gomez), Jaime (Arenivas) and Zeth (Mansell) have been fighting for me for the lat four years. I couldn’t be more proud of those guys.”
Liberal’s record may not e the best, but Molina intentionally sought the toughest competition to prepare the Redskins for the post-season.
“They won’t wrestle anybody any better than they’ve already seen,” Molina said. “We make sure our schedule is as tough as it can be. Garden, Dodge and Great Bend are all top five teams, and we went to the Rocky Weldon tournament. Hopefully this prepares them competition wise. We will start fresh and new. Everyone is 0-0.”
Liberal finished 2-4 in duals and will travel to Topeka Washburn Feb. 22 for the Class 6A West Regional.
TEAM SCORE
Liberal 15
Dodge City 52
Individual Results
Weight-Name-Grade-Record
106 — Denis Duran-11-(7-11) Loss by decision Juan Castro (5-3 OT)
113 — Gaspar Falcon-10-(8-16) Loss by fall Damian Mendez (1:40)
120 — Irving Mendez-10-(19-13) Loss by decision Ismael Ramirez (9-6 2OT)
126 — Tommy McClure-09-(9-18) Loss by decision Chad Nichols (4-10)
132 — Enrique Franz-10-(5-8) Win by decision Alejandro Ramirez (9-5)
138 — Cristobal Sanchez-11-(6-10) Loss by fall Rudy Hernandez (2:46)
145 — Trystian Juarez-09-(18-11) Loss by major decision Garret Edwards (3-11)
152 — Jose Beltran-11-(15-7) Loss by fall Luke Barker (3:24)
160 — Easton Zapien-10-(9-7) Loss by fall Marcelino Otero (3:45)
170 — Tony Rivero-11-(18-9) Loss by major decision Ruben Rayas (6-14)
182 — Daniel Grandez-10-(6-15) Loss by Technical Fall Ryan Parga (7-22)
195 — Frank Gomez-12-(8-13) Loss by fall Josh Bertholf (5:08)
220 — Jaime Arenivas-12-(27-9) Win by fall Santonio Turner ( 2:59)
285 — Zeth Mansell-12-(14-5) Win by forfeit