Berthoud Weekly Surveyor | Covering all the angles in the Garden Spot

Wrestlers head into break on a positive note

December 26, 2014 | Wrestling

By Surveyor staff

Back row from left — Matthew Bailey, coach Justin Gonzales, Kyler Bailey and Matt Bonds. Front row: Benjamin Poirier, Chad Ellis, Devin Vise, Jimmy Fate and AJ Black. Karen Fate / The Surveyor

Back row from left — Matthew Bailey, coach Justin Gonzales, Kyler Bailey and Matt Bonds. Front row: Benjamin Poirier, Chad Ellis, Devin Vise, Jimmy Fate and AJ Black.
Karen Fate / The Surveyor

The Spartans wrestlers started off the year’s last week of competition with a dual against a struggling Frederick team on Dec. 17 at Fredrick High School. Fredrick could only field six wrestlers, and the Spartans pinned five Warriors they faced in the first period.

Berthoud’s Kyler Bailey, Matt Bonds, Ben Poirier, Chad Ellis and Sebastian Gonzales all won by pins. Tristen Wollam wrestled the most exciting match of the evening, winning an overtime victory by a score of 14-12. The Spartans walked away with a 63-0 victory.

Then it was on to the Northern Colorado Christmas Classic, Dec. 19-20, as the Spartans competition took a 180-degree turn facing 56 teams from Colorado, Wyoming, Texas and New Mexico at the Budweiser Event Center in Loveland.

The competition in this tournament is as tough as the Spartans will face all year. The Spartans wrestlers had an outstanding weekend, placing 11th in the team competition and winning the Small School Trophy.

Individually for the Spartans, Jimmy Fate once again led the way with a great tournament, winning a championship and scoring 42.5 team points. Fate won all five of his matches, with the closest of the six coming on a 6 to 4 win over Curtis of Cherry Creek in the quarterfinals. In Fate’s championship match, the Berthoud junior dominated his Dumas, Texas opponent Zach Garza by a score of 10 to 2. Fate ends the year with 18 wins and no losses, keeping his perfect season intact.

Berthoud junior Jimmy Fate wrestles Zack Garza from Dumas Texas at the Old Chicago Northern Colorado Christmas Tournament on Dec. 20. Both entered the match undefeated but only Fate left the match with the same undefeated record.  Karen Fate / The Surveyor

Berthoud junior Jimmy Fate wrestles Zack Garza from Dumas Texas at the Old Chicago Northern Colorado Christmas Tournament on Dec. 20. Both entered the match undefeated but only Fate left the match with the same undefeated record.
Karen Fate / The Surveyor

Berthoud’s Ellis also had an outstanding tournament at 170 pounds, placing second. Ellis lost a close back-and-forth match in the finals, 9 to 7, to Matt Berg from Thompson Valley. Chad contributed 36 team points, winning four of his five matches. The loss to Berg is Ellis’ only loss of the season.

Berthoud’s Kyler Bailey placed seventh for the Spartans, scoring 16 team points and winning five matches, while losing two. Bailey lost a close 4-3 decision to Robinson of Niwot in the third round. He came back to face Robinson again in the seventh-place match, winning this time by a score of 10 to 7.

Other Spartans wrestlers who didn’t place, but scored valuable points for their team, included Devon Vise, scoring 12 team points and winning four of seven matches; Matt Bailey scored eight team points, winning two and losing two; Bonds scored 6.5 points, winning three and losing two; and Poirier scored two points, winning two and losing two.

The Spartans next competition is a dual match at home against Roosevelt on Jan. 8.

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