AURORA | In one of the rare dual matches during the season where there is nothing to do do but wrestle, the Grandview boys wrestling team earned an intense 49-15 home victory over Chatfield Thursday night.
In a match that included a combined 21 wrestlers that appear in On The Mat’s Class 5A rankings between two of the top-five squads in the classification, coach Ryan Budd’s Wolves earned wins in 10 of the 14 matches to remain unbeaten in duals.
Bonus points were plentiful for Grandview, which got half of its wins by fall and two others by technical fall to pull away from Chatfield.
“It was a fun one, that’s for sure,” Budd said.
The Wolves got off to a fast start on pins by sophomores Forrester Warnovk and Kyle Menuez at 106 and 113 pounds, respectively. Sophomore JR Ortega — ranked No. 2 at 120 pounds in 5A by On The Mat — then came through with a 17-1 technical fall over the Chargers’ Colin George, who was ranked No. 4.
Ortega was in line to win a major decision, but captured a three-point takedown just before the clock hit zero on the third period to pick up two extra points for the tech fall.
That loomed large early when Chatfield got a pin from top-ranked Alex Rodriguez at 126 pounds, coupled with two close decisions sandwiched around a 21-18 overtime win by Sid Dillon at 138 pounds in a point-filled match against Grandview’s Anthony Segura.
The Chargers’ win binge cut the Wolves’ lead to 17-15, but it grew quickly again when junior Jonathan Montes Gonzales (ranked No. 2 at 150 pounds) earned a late tech fall over No. 7 Isaac Coronado.
Grandview came up on the winning end of three decisions from junior Gunner Lopez at 157 pounds, freshman Cade Herstine at 165 pounds (in overtime) and sophomore Oz Nowick at 215 pounds, while three subsequent victories came via pin.
Two of the three wins by fall came in meetings of ranked wrestlers, as 2nd-ranked senior Charlie Herting took down No. 4 Jay Aplanalp at 175 pounds, while sophomore Leland Day of Grandview (ranked No. 2 at 285 pounds) topped No. 5 Jesse Wolf.
Wolves’ freshman Ryder Hoffschneider (ranked No. 7 at 190 pounds) topped Caleb Espinoza in the other pin at the bottom end of the lineup.
In the midst of a challenge-filled schedule, Grandview heads to the Arvada West Invitational Saturday.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
