PHS rolls past challenging Worland on Thursday

Powell High School head wrestling coach Nate Urbach suggested Thursday that his team may be enduring some growing pains.

“These kids need to look in the mirror and say ‘I’m not done growing as a wrestler,’” Urbach said.

In the meantime, it certainly appeared as though the Panthers have outgrown Worland.

Aside from a few tough matches, PHS secured its ninth dual victory with a 52-16 showing on Senior Night at the Panther Gym in Powell.

Urbach said before the meet that he expected the Warriors to wrestle tough, and they lived up to the billing in the first bout of the night.

Panther senior Noah Wozney was cruising past Buck Butterfield, leading 8-2 late in the third period of the 106-pound match, but Wozney was reversed and caught off-guard with a near-fall by his opponent that almost spelled early disaster for PHS in the final 10 seconds.

Wozney escaped with an 8-5 decision, but his match served as a precursor of what was to come.

Sophomore Chase Smith followed at 113 pounds, battling Worland’s Hayden Johnston in a bloody 5-0 decision that went Smith’s way. Both wrestlers’ noses were plugged with cotton by the end of the match, but after several referee stoppages, Smith walked off the mat having impressed his coach.

“I was proud of Chase Smith out there, he got himself a win,” Urbach said. “I thought that was really good, I’m proud of him. He gutted out a victory.”

Sophomore Marshal Wittick failed to continue the string of victories for PHS, suffering a pin to the Warriors’ Glen Anderson in a 120-pound match that ended in 5:16.

Sophomore James Moore got PHS (9-2 in duals) back on track with a pin in 5:19 over opponent Matt Borovatz. Junior and defending Class 3A state champion Chance Karst continued his stellar season with a pin over Gavin Weyrich in 2:54. Senior Colton Parham then collected a 15-5 major decision at 138 pounds, turning a 4-2 advantage over Delancey Hodges into a blowout thanks to a couple of near-falls.

PHS’ run of dominance would temporary stall in the 145-pound bout, however, as defending state champion and junior Nic Urbach was forced to wrestle outside of his comfort zone. Known for ending matches quickly with his favorite move — the crossface cradle — Urbach was unable to lock in the pin maneuver on Worland’s JD Nelson.

Takedowns in the first and second periods had Urbach ahead 4-0, but in the final period, Urbach was forced to wrestle from his belly, where Nelson maintained control until the final buzzer.

“That wasn’t my best match out there,” Urbach said. “I definitely struggled there ... bottom is my worst position and I need to work on that.”

Urbach said his father, as well as some of the other PHS coaches, offered words of advice when he left the mat.

“Constructive criticism, definitely. It wasn’t my best match and the coaches let me know that,” Urbach added. “It’s hard to go from having so many matches where I’ve won in the first period to having a full match. But it’s definitely good because you can’t get better without bad matches, and you need one of those every now and then.”

Coach Urbach said his son’s poor showing from the bottom position is an issue he hopes to get shored up before the state tournament on Feb. 27-28.

“Nic looked really good on his feet, looked good on top, but on bottom — and we’ve talked to him about it a lot — he has to get better,” Urbach said. “If he wants to be an elite guy, he simply has to get better at certain positions. So I’m going to fix that, that’s going to happen in the next couple of weeks. Negotiation time is over, I’m going to fix that position.”

After Urbach, senior Bailey Atkinson worked his way to a 10-4 decision in a 152-pound battle with Palmer Edholm. At 160, Tucker Darrah was given the nod, and rewarded coach Urbach’s confidence. Darrah, a junior, was ahead 9-1 after a second-period takedown of Mason Irvine, but found an opening for a pinfall and took it to end the match in 2:25.

Darrah said he had been battling a sprained ankle and illness over the past couple of weeks, and was relieved to perform well in his only home dual appearance of the season.

“This is my first [dual] at home for varsity, and my last one this year, so I figured I should probably make the most of it and go out there and wrestle with intensity,” Darrah said. “Last week at Lander Valley, I didn’t feel my best, and I wanted to come back from that.”

At 170, two-time state runner-up Jake Davis earned a fall over Aaron Brown in 2:52. Worland answered with Wade Goncalves’ 35-second pin of PHS sophomore Eli Briggs at 182. The Warriors picked up their last victory of the night with Nathan Weyrich’s 16-2 major decision over PHS sophomore Ty Dearcorn at 195.

The Panthers’ 220-pounder, sophomore Zach Easum, and 285-pounder, senior Riley Stringer, closed out the dual with pins for PHS, both in the first round.

Coach Urbach was happy to see his team roll to another victory, but wasn’t shy in giving Worland credit as a tough challenger.

“I thought Worland wrestled really well. They came out and took it to us,” Urbach said.  “They’re a good program, they’re a proud program, and we saw that. We had to gut out some victories with some of our boys, and we had some good wins.”

For the Panthers who struggled, Urbach said he was actually happy to see it, as it means there’s still room for improvement headed into the last leg of the season.

“It’s absolutely OK, especially before it’s too late,” Urbach said. “You don’t want to see it at the state tournament because you can’t fix it. We’ve got plenty of time to fix it, and it’s not major things ... mostly guys are just making small mistakes that we can fix.”

Notes: PHS senior Kye Catlin was sidelined again after undergoing knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee Thursday. The two-time defending state champion is expected to miss two more weeks after missing the first half of the season following shoulder surgery. Despite his most recent setback, Catlin is only expected to miss two weeks of mat time, and should be ready for regionals at Lovell High School on Feb. 20-21.