Before the match begins, a few words were said from the assistant coach of the Tigers, Sean Henry

“I think our wrestlers will do well. They work hard every day and they do their best. I have high expectations.” “Our Varsity team is 2nd in the state-as a team, I think we will do very well. As individuals, they need to try to wrestled the full six minutes and make smart choices,” Henry said.

Starting off the match is our own Talen Valerio, wrestling at 120 pounds against Montrose’s Fabian Lujan at 120 pounds. The match starts off with exchanging swats to the head as they circle around each other. Suddenly, Valerio gets taken down by Montrose. He escapes then is down again, with Montrose on top of him. Yet again, he escapes and gains two fouls(points) as they step out of the ring. Valerio is on top this time as the round continues. Lujan and Valerio grapple with each other to be dominant and hopefully gain a point for their team.

The match suddenly stops as Valerio starts to bleed. He is taken to the side, examined, bandaged, and then the match continues with Lujan being on the top. Valerio struggles to get Lujan off of him but, his efforts were in vain as round three ends with Montrose gaining three points and five fouls(points). After the match, the referee tries to wipe away Valerio’s blood off the mat with his shoe.

As the next two matches progress, the wrestlers manage to end the rounds at 48 seconds and 30 seconds by pinning their opponents shoulder to the mat. Overall, they gained twelve points for the Tigers.The crowd explodes as the Tigers win match after match. People begin to whoop and stamp their feet.

At match 5, the score is favoring Grand Junction at 21-7. Next up is JT Skalecki who wrestles at 160 pounds and is also a football player in the warmer season. Round one begins with Skalecki holding down Montrose’s Cole Simmons in a leg lock as Skalecki forces Simmons on his shoulder. It is evident that Skalecki has stamina and is a very strong wrestler. Suddenly, the buzzer goes off and startles the crowd as they cheer for Skalecki.

Round two commences as Skalecki is on the bottom. He pushes off Simmons easily and gets on top of him, trying to pin his shoulder to the mat. Simmons tries to crawl away and out of the ring but, Skalecki pulls him back in and forces Simmons on his shoulder again. The Montrose coaches yell, their faces turning red as the Tigers coaches stay calm and collected. As they both get tired, Skalecki rests his elbow on the back of Simmons neck which earns him 12 fouls(points) at the end of round two.

Round three starts with Simmons on top of Skalecki again, but he pushes off Simmons as the crowd roars loudly, some laughing, some cheering. Skalecki and Simmons go out. The round ends with the Tigers gaining the win, leading the score with 26-7.

Next up is our heavy weight Uddy Garcia, who wrestles at 285 pounds against Montrose’s Sam Distel who also wrestles at 285 pounds. As both wrestlers step onto the mat, the Tigers wrestlers go wild as they cheer for Uddy. The match starts and Distel and Garcia go at each other like two bulls. They grapple with each other, taking turns pinning each other down. This match has the crowd going crazy. As the wrestlers roll around, everyone cheers and yells, hoping to give their wrestler the energy that they need to win the match. Distel pins Garcia’s shoulder to the mat and that is the way the round ends. The two shake hands and Garcia shakes the coaches’ hands with a smile, seeming to not care about the outcome, only that he wrestled.

“It’s not just about winning, it’s about how you win,” Henry said.

The match ends with the Tigers winning against the Indians at 62-13. What a match!