Boys wrestling: Bulldogs return home with Iowa Alliance wins

Jan. 5—OTTUMWA — The first of four straight days of wrestling at Evans Middle School Gymnasium began with a bang for the Ottumwa Bulldogs.

Competing at home for the first time since sweep a season-opening quadrangular against Davis County, Lynnville-Sully and Pekin, Ottumwa maintained its perfect dual record on the season with a pair of Iowa Alliance south division wins. The Bulldog boys rolled to a 65-6 win over Des Moines Lincoln, then pulled away for a 60-15 win over Des Moines Roosevelt winning six of the final seven matches in the triangular.

"I thought we came out in the first dual and had a good spark to us," Ottumwa head wrestling coach Jeremy Frueh said. "We were a little flat coming out for the second dual. We might have lost a couple matches that I think we should have won, but overall, it was a pretty good performance top to bottom."

Ottumwa improved to 8-0 in duals this season, winning in their return to the mats at home for the first time in 37 days. The Bulldogs were also returning from the holiday break having last competed in a triangular at Ames with the Little Cyclones and Mason City back on Dec. 18.

Kaden Hubbell got Ottumwa off to a fast start, pinning John Cherry in just 82 seconds of the 157-pound opener with Des Moines Lincoln. Carlos Jimenez added a late fall in a 175-pound match with Elias Cortez, securing the win with 35 seconds left ending an exciting final period that saw the wrestlers exchange three late reversals.

"We got some really good work in during the holiday break," Frueh said. "You could tell our conditioning was really good. We did some personal workouts and it showed. You could tell the kids that didn't miss a practice and worked hard over the break."

Daltin Doud jumped right back into action successfully, scoring a pair of pins at 132 pounds on Thursday. Doud needed just 56 seconds to secure a win over Des Moines Lincoln freshman Tegan Gomez before working through two full periods against Des Moines Roosevelt freshman Oliver Tice, scoring five takedowns including three in the second period before scoring the fall with five seconds left in the period.

"I didn't get to work as much as I would have liked to during the first match. I was able to work a couple of different moves, a couple of different set-ups and a couple of different takedowns," Doud said. "That's going to help a lot as we get later into the season.

"I really liked how I was able to work out of the front-head position a lot. We don't usually get to get there a lot. There are a lot of guys on the team that like to scramble more than wrestle that front headlock. That was nice to wrestle there in this match."

Koby Chanthalavanh matched Doud in securing a pair of falls for the Bulldogs, pinning Des Moines Lincoln sophomore Caden Hass in 55 seconds before clinching a fall 30 seconds into the second period of a 144-pound match with Des Moines Roosevelt junior Louden Plumb. Ottumwa's two returning state qualifiers also showcased their skills as Braylon Griffiths scored a pair of wins, including a first-period fall against Des Moines Roosevelt senior Jaxson Holec and a 20-5 tech fall in 3:17 scored at 150 pounds against Des Moines Lincoln junior Erik Alvarado while Ashton Grace secured a 16-0 tech fall by the end of the first period at 113 pounds over Roosevelt senior Zane Kenney.

There were Bulldog wrestlers, however, that spent plenty of time on the mat on Thursday. Tayton Frueh went the distance to score a pair of decisions at 120 pounds, winning 5-2 over Lincoln junior Angel Sanchez and 14-2 over Roosevelt freshman Jameson Jordan while OHS heavyweight Dylan Forney returned the mat to earn a 3-2 win over Lincoln sophomore Jahir Gutierrez and a 6-2 decision over Roosevelt freshman Anders Lange.

"Dylan hasn't been able to practice a lot because he's been nursing a lower leg injury," Frueh said. "It was awesome for him to get that much work in and get his lungs right. It's going to be a long day on Saturday with five or six matches coming up."

Saturday will be the third of the four days of wrestling at Evans Gym with the annual Ottumwa Invitational scheduled to take place on Saturday. The Bulldog girls will take the mat for their home invitational tournament on Friday before the Ottumwa Alpha Dogs host their youth wrestling tournament on Sunday.

Many of those Ottumwa youth wrestlers were part of the festivities on Thursday, coming out to be honored during the Iowa Alliance triangular. The evening also included several kids receiving autographs from current OHS wrestlers in something of a full-circle moment.

"We were talking about what it was like when we used to come down here and look up to the high school wrestlers back then," Doud said. "Now, we're in their shoes. It's cool looking back and seeing those things all come together."

PREP WRESTLING

Ottumwa 65, Des Moines Lincoln 6

106: Logan Hubbell (OTTU) over Cameron Harms (DML) (Fall 1:56) 113: Ashton Grace (OTTU) over (DML) (For.) 120: Tayton Frueh (OTTU) over Angel Sanchez (DML) (Dec 5-2) 126: Brock Garcia (OTTU) over Jeremy Swafford (DML) (Fall 1:20) 132: Daltin Doud (OTTU) over Tegan Gomez (DML) (Fall 0:56) 138: Nick Davis (DML) over Jonathan Wailes (OTTU) (Dec 9-2) 144: Koby Chanthalavanh (OTTU) over Caden Hass (DML) (Fall 0:55) 150: Braylon Griffiths (OTTU) over Erik Alvarado (DML) (TF 20-5 3:17) 157: Kaden Hubbell (OTTU) over John Cherry (DML) (Fall 1:22) 165: Konner Smith (OTTU) over (DML) (For.) 175: Carlos Jimenez (OTTU) over Elias Cortez (DML) (Fall 5:25) 190: Neo Guida (OTTU) over (DML) (For.) 215: Lance Clark (DML) over John Hardin (OTTU) (TB-1 5-4) 285: Dylan Forney (OTTU) over Jahir Gutierrez (DML) (Dec 3-2)

Des Moines Lincoln 42, Des Moines Roosevelt 30

165: Elian Robles (DML) over (DMR) (For.) 175: Elias Cortez (DML) over (DMR) (For.) 190: Damien Surrette (DMR) over Kyler Petithory (DML) (Fall 3:14) 215: Lance Clark (DML) over Sam Norris (DMR) (Dec 5-1) 285: Anders Lange (DMR) over Jahir Gutierrez (DML) (Dec 5-4) 106: Cameron Harms (DML) over Will Klein (DMR) (Fall 0:29) 113: Zane Kenney (DMR) over (DML) (For.) 120: Angel Sanchez (DML) over Jameson Jordan (DMR) (Fall 1:11) 126: Jeremy Swafford (DML) over (DMR) (For.) 132: Oliver Tice (DMR) over Tegan Gomez (DML) (Fall 0:37) 138: Eddie Fulton (DMR) over Richard Shepherd (DML) (Fall 0:38) 144: Louden Plumb (DMR) over Caden Hass (DML) (Dec 9-4) 150: Erik Alvarado (DML) over Jaxson Holec (DMR) (Dec 6-2) 157: John Cherry (DML) over (DMR) (For.)

Ottumwa 60, Des Moines Roosevelt 15

175: Carlos Jimenez (OTTU) over (DMR) (For.) 190: Damien Surrette (DMR) over Neo Guida (OTTU) (Fall 4:29) 215: Sam Norris (DMR) over John Hardin (OTTU) (Dec 4-3) 285: Dylan Forney (OTTU) over Anders Lange (DMR) (Dec 6-2) 106: Logan Hubbell (OTTU) over (DMR) (For.) 113: Ashton Grace (OTTU) over Zane Kenney (DMR) (TF 16-0 2:00) 120: Tayton Frueh (OTTU) over Jameson Jordan (DMR) (MD 14-2) 126: Brock Garcia (OTTU) over (DMR) (For.) 132: Daltin Doud (OTTU) over Oliver Tice (DMR) (Fall 3:55) 138: Eddie Fulton (DMR) over Jonathan Wailes (OTTU) (Fall 1:53) 144: Koby Chanthalavanh (OTTU) over Louden Plumb (DMR) (Fall 2:30) 150: Braylon Griffiths (OTTU) over Jaxson Holec (DMR) (Fall 1:36) 157: Kaden Hubbell (OTTU) over (DMR) (For.) 165: Konner Smith (OTTU) over (DMR) (For.)

— Scott Jackson can be reached at sjackson@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter@CourierScott.