VVN/Wendy Phillippe
The Cowboys show depth and skill at their own Verde Duals with a win against tough teams.
VVN/Wendy Phillippe
The Camp Verde coaches watch a match.
DUAL SCORES
Dual Scores
CV 76 Tuba City 6
CV 69 Cactus Shadow 12
CV 69 Copper Canyon 12
CV 54 River Valley 12
CV 72 All Star A 12
CV 54 Bradshaw Mtn 21
CV 46 San Manuel 33
Dual Record - 7 - 0
Top 5 teams
1st Camp Verde 2A 549.5
2nd Peoria 5A 532
3rd San Manuel 2A 466
4th Sunnyslope 4A 447
5th Antelope 2A 387
The 16th annual Verde Duals tournament was an impressive opening for a young, aggressive Camp Verde wrestling team. The team gave everything they had and came out on top for the 10th year in a row. The returning wrestlers and new wrestlers for the Cowboys have a new attitude to bring back the respect of Camp Verde Wrestling on and off the mat.
Camp Verde was not predicted to win the tournament but they pulled together as a team and never quit. Derrick Brown saw his first action of the year and did an excellent job dominating the 103-pound weight class and ended up the champion.
Jon Landavaso left off where he was last year. He defeated three top ranked wrestlers in dominating fashion to take the championship. He also won one of the Outstanding Wrestlers Awards voted on by all of the head coaches involved in the tournament.
Oliver Williams stepped into the varsity line up at 135-pounds and won the championship. He avenged an earlier loss to Bas from River Valley. He lost 3 to 2 the first match and won in the championship 5 to 3.
Randy Justus wrestled with fire. He defeated several ranked wrestlers and lost a close match in the semifinals. He placed 3rd by tech-falling the opponent from River Valley for the second time during the day.
Zach Parker stepped into the varsity line up and turned in a great performance He pinned his opponent for 3rd place in 15 seconds.
Roman Bux had an interesting tournament. He only lost one match but it put him in a 3-way tie for the top two out of his pool. He defeated the champion of the tournament during the dual meets by a score of 11- 9. He lost a close match by 3 to 7. He dominated the opponents in the consolation rounds. He defeated his fellow wrestler from Camp Verde Alex Anzar for 5th place.
"Both wrestlers did a great job in the tournament and proved to show the depth of the Cowboy wrestling team at the lower weights this year," said coach Bob Weir.
Josh Landavaso dominated the dual meets at 145-pounds. He was injured during the last dual meet but tried to wrestle in the semi finals and re-injured himself. He forfeited to 4th place. The Cowboys will be looking at the progress Josh Landavaso can make with his injury and are looking for a strong second half of the season once her returns to the line up.
Tanner Essman stepped into the varsity line up at heavyweight. He finished the dual meets 7 and 0. He lost to the champion in a close match and defeated the Cactus Shadow opponent 6 to 1 to take 3rd place.
Paul Davis continues to improve and make a difference for the Cowboy wrestling team. He turned in a good performance wrestling injured and placed 4th in the tournament. Other placers for the Cowboys did a great job for their first tournament as a varsity wrestlers or their first wrestling tournament.
Adam Lowman placed 8th, Michael Toth placed 7th and Maleah Eppinger placed 6th. Eppinger was the first girl to place at a tournament for Camp Verde.
"The rest of Cowboys did an outstanding job and improved every match," said coach Weir.
The Cowboys were able to get their extra wrestlers some competition by placing them on the All Star team who wrestled against the other teams in pool B.
"The future of Cowboy Wrestling is looking good and the young wrestlers are improving daily," said coach Weir. "Thank you to the following people and businesses for helping with he tournament: Daria Weir, Dennis Sterrett, Cheyenne Robinson, Tom Middlebrook, Betty Weir, Shelly Teague, Wrestlers parents, Mr. Tudor's Sports Medicine students, Babe's Roundup, La Fond, Crustys, Betos, Subway, Bashas, Bopper & Robin Cannon, Sally Sterrett, Toni Harris, CVS Pharmacy, Walgreens, Domino's, Ming House, Days Inn and Burger King.
Next competition is Dec. 18-19 at the Moon Valley Wrestling Tournament. Next home match is Jan. 13 starting at 2:30 p.m. at CVHS.
