Thursday, December 8 was the first, of the few, home wrestling duals for the 2016-2017 season. It was a night filled with lots of excitement and nail biting matches. The Alliance Bulldogs went head to head against the Scottsbluff Bearcats. During the warm up time for the Scottsbluff varsity wrestlers, the dual spotlight came unhinged from the ceiling and fell on the leg of Elijah Blanco. All the commotion caused a minor delay and a trip for one of Scottsbluffs great wrestlers to the doctor. Thankfully, Elijah was back by the end of the dual to support his team with only a deep bruise to his lower leg.

Before the start of the first match, Coach Duane Dobson was announced “Assistant Coach of the Year”. Then the wrestling began at weight class 132 with Boone Wilson for the Bulldogs and a no weight match for the Bearcats starting Alliance team’s score out with six points. Throughout the rest of the night Scottsbluff had five more open weights, giving Alliance wrestlers Lane Applegarth, Erik Elders, Tyler Trout, Evan Steggs, and Bready Ellis each six points up in the air to grab for the Bulldogs. Alliance only had one open weight that gave points to Scottsbluff

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Scottsbluff took a win for each weight that they did have filled. But don’t ever underestimate the Bulldogs because each wrestler fought as has hard as they could. Jorgan Johnson weight class 132, lost 3-2. Jayden Bauer weight class, 160 was pinned with one minute and eighteen seconds left in the second period. Buster Wilson, who usually wrestles in weight 170, but switched to weight 182, got pinned with twenty-one seconds left in the third period. Ty Redecker lost 10-2 and Lane Lauder lost 11-6. Alliance’s heavyweight, Nathan Lauder lost 3-1 in double overtime. The last match was Bradan Seidler at weight 120, lost by a tech fall.

The Bulldogs ended up with the team win, with the final score being 36-30. One more win at home down in the books and hopefully many more to come. Good luck, from AHS The SPUD to all the wrestlers on the rest of their season!