Vikings start well by taking 12 wins

NAMPA, Idaho – Certainly Coeur d’Alene High wrestling coach Jeff Moffat would have accepted first-round victories by all 25 of his state qualifiers Thursday afternoon.

Realistically, however, Moffat had no qualms with 12 wins. He hoped the majority of the baker’s dozen that came back in the first round of consolation in the evening earned a second day.

“Even the guys that lost wrestled real well,” Moffat said. “We won all the matches we thought we were going to win in the first round. The key is to come back and keep most of the other 13 going into (today).”

The Vikings, seeking to capture their first state trophy since 1986, also added critical points by way of pin. After the first round, CdA was one point out of second place with 43 in the State 5A tournament at the Idaho Center. Idaho Falls had 44 and two-time defending state champ Eagle had 58 1/2 .

Also in the hunt for trophies are Centennial (35), Borah (33 1/2 ), Skyline (31) and Mountain View (29 1/2 ).

Jeff Parker (103 pounds), John Hopper (112), Phillip Ludecke (119), Isaak Lawlor (119), Jason Ellefloot (125), Anthony Brennsinger (130), Josh Manes (135), Alex Howard (140), Zhenya Mowry (140), Cody Campbell (152), Jared Reynolds (160) and Ryan Allen (189) all won for the Viks.

Allen, who is out to repeat as a state champ, and Manes are seeded atop their weights. Each coasted to victory.

By and large, top seeds barely break a sweat during opening matches. They sweat more during warmups than their actual matches.

Such was true for Manes, who needed just 36 seconds to pin Chance Hyer of Centennial.

“I warmed up for about an hour,” Manes said. “You just try to get real sweaty. My coaches say the sweatier you are, the less nervous you are.”

Manes scored a takedown less than 5 seconds into the match. He let Hyer up once before taking him down again and locking him up in an arm bar.

“We had a lot of wins today,” Manes said. “Even a couple of our unseeded guys had close matches.”

The first came at 103, in which junior Greg Lee went nearly the distance with second-seeded Jordan Johnson of Idaho Falls. Johnson pinned Lee with 38 seconds left in the match.

About 30 minutes later, Vikings freshman Jeremy Zabel threw a scare at No. 3 seed Scott Armstrong of Borah at 135. Zabel trailed by a point before Armstrong got a late two-point near fall for a 5-2 win.

Allen also didn’t spend much time on the mat, pinning freshman Chris Anglin of Twin Falls in 1:15.

“I had a good warmup, listened to some music and concentrated on being focused,” said Allen, who tuned up to a mix of rock. “He fought pretty hard, but if I get a kid on his back in a state tournament I’m going to try really hard to pin him.”

Hopper, Ellefloot, Howard, Campbell and Reynolds also won by pin. Parker and Mowry scored technical falls.

Moffat turned his attention to his wrestlers bound for the consolation bracket.

“We can’t have them fold camp on us now,” Moffat said. “Overall we took care of business.”

Lewiston and Lake City also had some opening-round winners.

Aaron Stephens (125), Nick Vaudreil (189) and Mike Vickhammer (215) each won by pin for LC. Lee Wright (112), James Hug (112), Michael Schulz (130), Matt Schulz (140) and heavyweights Mark Skogrand and Kyle Kasper were victorious for Lewiston.