By Gregg Chappell
Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Valley Wrestling Team hosted its first home tri-duals against the Liberty Patriots and the Skyhawks from Silverado.
The Pirates started the duals head-to-head with the Liberty Patriots and both teams were very evenly matched. At the conclusion of the 14 matches the Patriots slipped by the Pirates by one point to win the dual 39-38.
Wrestlers who scored for the Pirates: 112 pound Jake Repp by pin; 125 pound Nathan Sprague 6-4 decision; 135 pound Shae Bryant 19-3 technical decision; 145 pound Justin Boren by forfeit; 152 pound Trevor Durham by pin; 160 pound Parker Chappell by pin; 285 pound Ray Bellavance by forfeit.
The Pirates next grapple was against Silverado. After a slow start the Pirates gained momentum in the middle weights and never slowed down.
The Pirates defeated the Skyhawks with a decisive victory of 48-30. Pirates who scored against Silverado: 112 pound Jake Repp by pin; 135 pound Shae Bryant by forfeit; 140 pound Jared Repp by pin; 145 pound Justin Boren by pin; 152 pound Trevor Durham by pin; 160 pound Robbie Babb by forfeit; 171 pound Parker Chappell by pin; 189 pound Zach Staley by pin.
The Pirates then traveled to Cedar City, Utah on January 7-8 and participated in the Iron Town Duals. Twelve teams participated in the tournament.
Friday consisted of five duals for each of the participating teams. Moapa had many individual wrestlers who did well but as a team floundered the first night with losses to Richfield, Ben Lomand, Cimarron-Memorial, Desert Hills and Cedar.
Saturday proved more productive, as a team, and started off with four wins in a row to Dixie, Cheyenne, Virgin Valley and Wayne County.
The last dual of the day the Pirates were defeated by the host team Canyon View.
At the conclusion of the duals the wrestlers were awarded medals based on their individual win-loss record during the tournament. The Pirates had five wrestlers that received medals.
At 112 pounds Jake Repp was awarded 4th place with a record of 7-3.
Shae Bryant at 135 pounds won 1st place with an overall record of 9-1.
Jared Repp took 5th place in the 140 pound weight class with a record of 6-4.
Parker Chappell took 2nd place with an overall record of 9-1.
Brandon Reeves also took 2nd place with a record of 8-2.
Pirates have a busy schedule next week as they travel to Boulder City for another tri-dual on Tuesday, and then on to Spring Creek for The Kiwanis Tournament over the weekend. This will be the first look at the northern schools for the Moapa Valley Pirates.
