10 I The Lovell Chronicle I February 16, 2012
Bulldog matmen thrash Thermop
BY DAVID PECK
The Lovell Bulldogs celebrated Se-
nior Night at Winterholler Gym Thursday
night as they hosted Thermopolis for a dual
wrestling match.
The evening marked the final home com-
petition for seniors Preston Blankenship,
Jesse Bassett, Dimas Patina, Adam Beck,
Tony Rodriguez, Eli Moody, Brigham Hopkin
and Mark Grant. It also featured the unveil-
ing of the 2011 Class 2A state championship
football banner and was attended by mem-
bers and coaches of the title team.
An enthusiastic crowd packed the west
lower side of the gymnasium as Lovell
rolled to a 64-12 dual victory.
Thursday's match started at 132
pounds and pitted Jesse Bassett against
tough Zack Larson, who won the Greybull
Memorial on Jan. 28 and placed sixth at
the huge Riverton meet the week after.
After a scoreless first period, Bassett
picked up six points in the second period
on two near falls and went on to win go-
ing away, 9-0, to get the Bulldogs off to a
strong start. Coach Daniel Robertson said
the Bassett win set the tone for the eve-
ning.
"Getting people there and having Jesse
start the match off and beating a real good
kid, I don't know after that. It just kind of
rolled and got everyone excited really ear-
ly," Robertson said. "That was their tough-
est kid they had wrestling, and like Dino
vs. the Gillette kid in Riverton, I was nev-
er worried. He took him to town and beat
him about the head and ears. I kind of liked
that."
At 138, Dimas Patina battled Cody
Shinost. Shinost led 2-1 after the first pe-
riod and 4-3 after the second, but Patina
stepped it up a notch in the third, scoring
an escape, takedown and near fall to beat
Shinost 9-4.
"Dimas started to forget what he's good
NATHAN OSTER
Lovell senior Mark Grant has been tearing up the opposition after returning
recently from an early-season injury. Here, he works to pin an opponent during
the Greybull Memorial Invitational on Jan. 28. The Bulldogs are off to the
Regional Tournament in Shoshoni this weekend.
at, then got in the swing of things and
wrestled for real," Robertson said. "I'm not
a fan of wrestlers locking up and trying to
throw each other. When Dimas just started
taking good shots and playing good defense
on his feet he took the match over."
After Adam Beck won by forfeit at 145,
Nathan Grant battled John Burrows at
152, won easily, pinning him in 39 seconds
to give Lovell a 19-0 lead. Jacob Beck won
by forfeit at 160.
The closest match of the night took
place at 170 pounds, where Tony Rodriguez
took Miles Galovich into overtime at 1-1,
then took him down for a 3-1 win, putting
Lovell on top 28-0. Galovich placed fourth
at the Greybull tournament at 160. Rob-
ertson said the match shouldn't have been
that close.
"Tony is really, really good defensively
on his feet and is a good shooter. When he
ties up and locks up with people it takes
away what he's best at," he said.
With Dino Collins and Eli Moody both
having no opponent at 182 and 195, respec-
tively, the next match was at 220, where
Mark Grant dominated Jeff Bennett, pin-
ning him in 56 seconds.
Thermop was open at heavyweight, giv-
ing Jacob Ashy the forfeit win, and Lovell
led 52-0 on the scoreboard.
Returning to the lower weights, Trey
Smith of Lovell battled Vinchinzo Castle at
106 pounds. The much lighter Smith gave
Castle a battle and was trailing 7-3 in the
second when Castle turned and pinned
him. Thermop had its first points, 52-6.
After Preston Blankenship won by for-
feit at 113, Jaccob Mickelson went toe to
toe with tough Choc Maddock at 120. Mick-
elson got the first takedown, and Maddock
reversed him, but Mickelson escaped to
lead 3-2 after the first period. In the sec-
ond, Mickelson quickly gained the upper
hand, turned Maddock to his back and
pinned him 49 seconds into the period, put-
ting Lovell up 64-6.
"That was amazing," Robertson said.
"Jaccob did incredibly well. He's back to
what he looked like after the Christmas
break."
In the final match of the evening, Col-
ter Brown of Thermopolis pinned Johnny
Mickelson of Lovell in 1:15, making the fi-
nal score 64-12.
REGIONAL TOURNAMENT
The Bulldogs will now turn their atten-
tion to the Class 2A West Regional Tour-
nament, which takes place Friday and Sat-
urday in Shoshoni. Teams competing will
be Lovell, Rocky Mountain, Greybull/Riv-
erside, Thermopolis, Shoshoni, Wind Riv-
er, Wyoming Indian, Dubois, Big Piney,
Cokeville, Hanna-Elk Mountain and Kem-
merer.
Wrestling begins Friday at 4 p.m. and
continues Saturday at 9 a.m.
DAVID PECK
Eli Moody signs his letter of intent to attend Rocky Mountain College on
a football scholarship as LHS coach Doug Hazen (left) and parents Matty
and Brad Moody look on.
Moody signs to play at Rocky Mountain College
BY DAVID PECK
Another Lovell High School athlete
will be taking his game to the next lev-
el.
Senior Eli Moody has signed a let-
ter of intent to play football at Rocky
Mountain College in Billings.
The son of Brad and Matty Moody,
Eli was looking at several colleges in-
cluding Dakota State University in
Madison, S.D., Jamestown College in
North Dakota, the University of Puget
Sound in Tacoma, Wash., and Midland
University in Fremont., Neb., but he de-
cided to stick closer to home and play in
Billings for the Battlin' Bears.
Moody worked most closely with
Rocky defensive coordinator Matt Hol-
lowell during his recruiting process,
he said, since he will is likely to play
defensive end in college. The 6-3/210
Moody also played both defensive end
and offensive tackle for the Bulldogs.
He plans to study physical therapy
in college and at the undergraduate lev-
el will focus on exercise science, which
will allow him tto work as a trainer
while obtaining his advanced degree in
graduate school.
Moody will likely redshirt for one
year, attending school on an academ-
ic scholarship, he said. That will allow
him to learn the system and put some
weight on. He would then go on schol-
arship as a redshirt freshman.
According to Lovell coach Doug Ha-
zen, Moody came on strong as a senior
after he was injured during the middle
of his junior year during Lovell's Home-
coming game with Greybull.
"Eli impressed me because he was
one of the guys who improved the most
from the beginning of the year to the
end," Hazen said. "He broke his ankle
the previous year, and you don't know
whether guys will come back. We want-
ed him to be more physical, and he did
that. He became better at pass rushing
and stripping the football, and he be-
came a more physical presence on the
line.
"He was a good player right away
but not a 'Wow! Look at that guy' play-
er. But by the end of the season he
was a consistent playmaker for us. He
caused two fumbles in the state cham-
pionship game. He went from being a
contributor to being a major factor, a
game-changer."
After the season, Moody was named
first-team all-conference, second-team
all-state and honorable mention Super
25 through the Casper Star-Tribune.
"I think this is going to be great for
him. I'm excited for Eli. This is going to
be a great fit for him," Hazen said.
Grizzly frosh fall to Burlington
BY DAVID PECK
The Rocky Mountain
freshman boys basketball
squad hosted intraconfer-
ence rival Burlington last
Tuesday, Feb. 7, and fell to
the Huskies 37-26.
The game was tied 21-
21 after three quarters, but
the home team outscored
the Grizz 16-5 in the fourth.
Caleb Horrocks and
Jordan Arnold scored 9
points each, Tanner Cole-
man 3; Cris Jurado and
Joey Carroll 2 apiece and
John Higgins 1.
The Grizzlies wrapped
up the season Tuesday, Feb.
14, at home against Powell.
JVS SPLIT
The Rocky Mountain
JVs split a pair of games
over the weekend, falling
to Greybull Friday evening
at home, 44-34, then edging
the Riverside Rebels Satur-
day afternoon in Basin, 45-
44, in overtime.
On Friday, Rocky led
Greybull 16-13 at halftime,
but the Buffs came on strong
in the second half, outscor-
ing the home team 31-18.
Joey Jewell led the Grizz
with 10 points and Xavier
Mangus added 9, Bill De-
spain 6, Cannon Simmons 5
and Tanner Coleman 4.
Saturday in Basin, Riv-
erside led 21-14 at intermis-
sion, but Rocky outscored
the home team 12-5 in the
third to tie the game and
survived to force overtime
during a wild 16-16 fourth.
Rocky outscored Riverside
3-2 in overtime to win 45-44.
Despain led the Grizz
with 13 points and Coleman
scored 9, Jewell and Caleb
Horrocks 6 each, Mangus 5,
Simmons 4 and Jordan Ar-
nold 2...+ +
The'+ "GrizZlies (11:7)
will tra;e|:b5%ovell this +"fer-
noon (Thursday) for a 4 p.m.
tip-off at Lovell Middle School,
then travel to Big Horn Satur-
day for a noon start.
GRIZZ GUYS
Rocky outscored River-
side 14-9 in the second half
but could never make up
the deficit.
"Defensively, we got
things figured out," Sim-
mons said. "We held them
to two field goals in the sec-
ond half, but we needed to
put up points. When you're
down you need to score.
"We got it down to
three or four at one point
with two or three minutes
to go, but there was never
a sense of urgency, no emo-
tional energy. Our young
players never experienced
that kind of drain in mid-
dle school."
The Grizz didn't have
a player in double figures.
Ward and Romero scored
9 points each to lead the
Continued from page 9
team. Wocicki and Bill De-
spain led the team with five
rebounds apiece, and Win-
land led with four steals
and three blocked shots.
The box score:
ROCKY (35)
Michael Bernhisel 1 1-2 3, Shane
Wocicki 1 2-2 4, Joey Jewell 0 0-0 0,
Bill Despain 1 0-0 2, Kirby Winland
2 0-2 4, Derik Romero 3 2-4 9, Can-
non Simmons 2 0-0 4, Bryce Ward 4
0-0 9. Totals 14 5-10 35.
RIVERSIDE (41)
Clint Getzfreid 4 1-2 9, Jordan Her-
man 1 2-4 4, Mike Miller 1 2-3 4,
Bryce Johnson 3 1-4 7, Tyler WU-
liamson 0 0-0 0, Brynnt Wood 7 1-2
15, Ric DeNiz 1 0-3 2. Totals 17 7-18
41.
Rocky 9 12 6 8-35
Riverside 16 16 4 5-41
Three-point field goals - Romero
1, Ward 1. Fouled out - none. Total
fouls- Rocky 17, Riverside 10.
FINAL WEEKEND
The Grizz will play for
a share of the Five Riv-
ers Conference title when
they travel to Lovell to-
night (Thursday) to meet
the Bulldogs at 7 p.m. (JVs
at 4). The Grizz played very
well for three quarters dur-
ing the Jan. 26 game in
Cowley before cooling off in
the fourth in a 67-51 loss.
Simmons said a Rocky-
Lovell game "always creates
its own incubator of emotion"
and added, "We still have
things to work on regardless
of who we are playing."
The Grizz will wrap
up the regular season Sat-
urday when they travel to
Northeast 2A foe Big Horn
for a 3 p.m. tap.
RMMS Lady Grizz sweep
BY CHERYL JOLLEY
In a tight overtime game, the Rocky
Mountain Lady Grizzly A team beat Burling-
ton 23-22 last Thursday in Cowley. Top scor-
ers for the game were Olivia Higgins with 8,
Marissa Arnold 6 and Jamie Kite 5. The B
team struggled, falling 18-5. Lilly Myers and
Taylor Gilford each contributed 2 points. The
C team followed with a win of 16-14, with
Maddison Hocker netting 12 points, Kenne-
dy Despain and Abby Arnold 2 apiece.
At home again on Saturday against
Meeteetse, the A team came out on top
24-15. Arnold was the high scorer with 14
points, while Higgins and Kaitlyn Hayes
each contributed 4. The B team lost 19-15.
Hocker led the Lady Grizz in scoring once
again with 9 points, followed by Arnold,
Brianna Brumwell and Summer Johnson
adding 2 each.
Final games of the regular season were
Burlington, Meeteetse
Tuesday, Feb. 14, at Powell.
The middle school conference tourna-
ment will be held in Meeteetse this year.
On Friday, Feb. 17, the second-seeded Lady
Grizz will meet Cloud Peak at 3:30 p.m.,
with the winner advancing to the champi-
onship game Saturday at 11:30 a.m. The
Rocky-Cloud Peak loser will play Saturday
at 10 a.m. against the Ten Sleep-Meetee-
tse loser, with the winner playing for third
place Saturday at 1 p.m.
Participating in the tournament will be
Sierra Scott, Jamie Kite, Quinn Lily Myers,
Brianna Brumwell, Kaitlyn Hayes, Mad-
dison Hocker, Lindzy Thomas, Diamond
Bettis, Kelsea Mayfield, Marissa Arnold,
Olivia Higgins, Samantha Beltran, Karl
Kawano and Taylor Gilford. Managers are
Daniella Carrizal and Kimberlee Rowland.
Head coach Carol McMillin is assisted by
Doug Arnold and Mike Higgins.
