The Mathews brothers — Chance and Cooper — had long thought about what it would be like to be on the same wrestling team and push each other to new heights.
Being two years apart in age, that was possible over the past two seasons at Cherokee Trail, where they have become program pinnacles for coach Jeff Buck’s Cougars.
With Chance a senior and Cooper a sophomore this season, the brothers hoped to finish their last year together in style and gave themselves a chance as they both made championship matches Feb. 15 at the Class 5A boys wrestling state tournament at Ball Arena.
“Growing up, we always dreamed of being on the same team together, competing together and succeeding together, so this is kindof the pinnacle of that,” Cooper Mathews said Feb. 14 after both posted semifinal victories.
“To be in the Parade of Champions together will be one of the coolest moments of my life that I’ll for sure remember for a long time.”
Cooper Mathews got to have the feeling of wrestling for a state championship last season, when he finished a phenomenal freshman season with a victory in the 106-pound title match.
That opportunity had not come for Chance, a two-time state placer who lost in the semifinals last season and finished fourth. He earned his title chance this season, however, as he beat every wrestler he had faced in Colorado with two losses coming at out of state tournaments.
“He (Cooper) made it last year and I didn’t, so it will be fun to be alongside him in the finals,” Chance said. “Hopefully he can do the same in the future with our littlest brother who is a seventh-grader now, but it will be a special moment for the two of us to be out there together.”
As is common, the siblings have a friendly rivalry, however it is much more about both having success, not one over the other.
Chance Mathews was thrilled for his brother for his state championship last season and hopes for more to come for him.
“For me, I don’t really see it as competition, I want him to be the best he can be and I want him to be better than me,” he said. “If you watch us, a lot of our techniques are pretty similar and we learned a lot from each other. We want the best for each other and when one of us does good, the other feeds off that energy. I want to be the best I can, but I want him to be better than that.”
In the end, neither brother walked off with a state title.
Cooper Mathews took the mat first and felt really good about his matchup with Vista PEAK Prep’s Ian Bacon — who he knew from club wrestling — but he got taken down in the second period and got pinned. He will go into next season still looking to become the program’s first-ever multiple-time state champion.
Chance Mathews later faced off with Pomona’s Angel Serrano for the 138-pound title match and he fell behind in a tight match before he tried to rally. He had Serrano in a precarious position on the edge of the mat, but was unable to score before time expired. Serrano also defeated Mathews in a heartbreaker last season with a triple-overtime win in the third-place match in the same weight class.
The brothers finished with a combined record of 96-8 (Chance was 51-3 and Cooper 45-5, including a 17-2 record since moving up from 113 to 120 in January) for the season. For his career, Chance Mathews — who missed the majority of his sophomore season due to injury and went 1-2 at state that season — finished 147-31, while Cooper Mathews is 95-11 after two varsity seasons.
The Mathews combined with three other state placers — senior Mateo Garreffa (fourth at 190 pounds), junior Ryan Everhart (fifth at 150) and freshman Elijah Van Horn (sixth at 106) to help the Cougars finish in sixth place in 5A.
Cherokee Trail will miss the presence it had with Chance for the last four years, while he has much to look forward to as he is headed to the Air Force Academy.
“I’m super excited about it,” he said. “I know it’s not going to be easy, but I think it’s the right place for me academic wise and wrestling wise. I’m excited to wrestle in the Big 12 and I think our team could be really good. We have a lot of young guys, so I’m excited to get over there and get to work.”
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
