Tiger wrestlers on a roll to district

The Mountain Home Tiger wrestling team continued their winning way last week, picking up three more dual match wins.

Mountain Home 35

Nampa 31

This conference dual came down to the last match, and A.J. Hutchison won by pin to give the Tigers the win last Tuesday night at Nampa.

Mountain Home shot out to a 23-0 lead, winning the first five matches, but dropped the next five to fall behind 25-23. They regained the lead 29-25 as Kaeo Doronio pinned his 119-pound Nampa opponent, but Daniel Doronio (125) and Nico Pinque (130) both lost close decisions to put Nampa back in the lead, 31-29, heading into the final match of the night.

Hutchison's match-winning pin came in 1:28 of the first round.

"We knew it was going to be a tough match, and the kids came up big," said Tiger wrestling coach Lynn Knudson. "It gives us the conference championship with a 7-0 league record."

Other wins for the Tigers in the Nampa match were Kori Andrews (160) by pin, James Greenfield (145) by forfeit, Calvin Vivier (140) by major decision (17-4), Zacq Hale (152) by major decision (14-5), and Chris Knudson (171) by an 8-4 decision.

Mountain Home 53

Timberline-Boise 17

The Tigers also wrestled Timberline of Boise at Nampa last Tuesday night and won 10 of the 14 matches to win decisively.

Winning by pins were Calvin Vivier at 135 pounds, A.J. Hutchison at 140, and Luke Greer at 275. The Tigers also picked up four wins by forfeit: Tyson Sessions (189), T.J. Billinger (103), Alex Lawicki (112), and Nico Pinque (130). Kaeo Doronio (119) won by technical fall (19-3), and Kori Andrews (160) won a 4-3 decision, and Matt Ward (171) won a 10-8 decision.

"The kids kept it up against Timberline and they forfeited four weights, so it went well," said Coach Knudson of the Timberline win.

Mountain Home 62

Jerome 14

The Tigers hosted Jerome last Wednesday night in the final dual match of the regular season and came away with a big win.

Mountain Home dropped the first two matches of the night to fall behind 9-0, but won 11 of the next 12 matches -- eight by pin -- to breeze to the lopsided win.

Winning by pins were Chris Knudson (171), Tyson Sessions (189), Charles Davidson (215), Luke Greer (275), T.J. Billinger (103), Kaeo Doronio (112), A.J. Hutchison (135) and James Greenfield (145).

Travis Goldsby (119) won by forfeit, Nico Pinque (130) won by technical fall (18-2), and Daniel Doronio won a 9-6 decision.

"I was expecting good things tonight," said Coach Knudson after the match. "It's always easier to wrestle in front of the home crowd and the guys get a little fired up and that helps us as coaches, because we don't have to sit there and constantly do all the pep talks and get them all fired up. It's our last dual and it's nice to se them at home and they're fired up and doing some great things."

The win improved the Tigers to 13-5 in dual matches, and was their 10th straight dual win.

Knudson likes where they are heading into the district tournament this week.

"After we wrestled our first dual against Borah this year, I would have never believed we were

going to have that kind of success in our conference, but once we came out and started wrestling a few duals and made some adjustments and started working on some things we were having problems with, the kids really listened to the things that we asked them to do and that's how a team comes together as a team. You could see it against Skyview and against Nampa. When the team comes together, they really come together, and they can do the things that need to be done, so it's great to be having the season that we're having. I still think there's lots of room for improvement and if we work on the little things and things that are critical, we could move up to a whole new level with some of the wrestlers, and I'm looking forward ot it, because I think there's room for improvement."

The District III 4A Wrestling Tournament is this Friday and Saturday at Caldwell. The State Tournament is Feb. 16-18 in Pocatello.