Prep wrestling: Bulldogs return to the mat at Andy Bean Duals

Jan. 25—IOWA CITY — Keep moving. Find a way.

The approach to winning matches for Dylan Forney could also be used to describe what the past few weeks have been like for the entire Ottumwa High School wrestling team. Forney won his first three matches on Saturday at the Andy Bean Iowa City High Duals, including an 8-5 win over Kyron Smith in the heavyweight match between the Bulldogs and Oskaloosa.

Ottumwa won that dual over the Indians, 49-15. The Bulldogs wrapped up the day with a 49-24 win over Cedar Rapids Kennedy in the seventh-place dual, giving Ottumwa a pair of wins after two weeks away from competition due to the winter weather storms that passed through the state.

"We've been working out a lot. Me and John Hardin would stay after our practices and do 30 minutes on the bike each day just to keep ourselves ready," Forney said. "There were about two days there that we weren't allowed to go to practice because of the weather. It was hard, but there's always a way to get there. You shouldn't have an excuse not to be there. If practice is still on, you've got to be there and you have to give 100 percent."

The Ottumwa boys wrestling team hosted their largest home tournament in the program's history back on Jan. 6. The Bulldogs finished third overall in the 21-team tournament which featured 244 wrestlers competing in 439 matches.

For many of those wrestlers, that long day at Evans Middle School Gymnasium would be the last competition for several days. Two rounds of winter storms dropped over two feet of snow, strong wind gusts and sub-zero temperatures brought a halt to all school-related activities across the state.

The Ottumwa wrestlers, however, would not let Mother Nature keep them from putting in the work to continue building on what has been a successful season. The Bulldogs used teamwork to make sure members of the team could it make to the Ottumwa High School wrestling room.

"We had routes marked out and knew what roads we could and couldn't take," Ottumwa senior Konner Smith said. "We got it down to a science. By the second day after each snowfall, we were able to get into the room and were able to get back to work."

Even getting back on to the mat for a competition on Saturday required some extra effort. The Bulldogs made the trip to Iowa City on Friday to ensure they could compete in the 10-team dual tournament.

"We were just hoping this one wouldn't get cancelled," Ottumwa junior Ashton Grace said. "It worked out and we got a lot of great matches in."

Grace, seeking to make it to the Iowa High School state wrestling tournament for the third consecutive year, joined Braylon Griffiths in going 5-0 on Saturday for the Bulldogs. After edging Landon Gottschalk, 7-4, in his first match back giving Ottumwa a 27-18 lead against Dubuque Hempstead.

"I was pretty slow considering how I was going at the Ottumwa Invitational," Grace said. "It was pretty early in the morning and a pretty tough weight class, but I'm just looking to pick some things up and get back to where I normally am."

Ottumwa first dual in over two weeks went right down to the wire as the Bulldogs jumped out to an 18-6 lead thanks to falls by Griffiths (150), Kaden Hubbell (157) and Smith (175) before Hempstead rallied back, scoring a pair of falls at 126 and 132 to take a 33-27 lead with two matches left. Garren Christiansen secured the win for Hempstead, edging Efren Huerta 6-3 at 138 pounds as the late drama led to fireworks with Hempstead edging Ottumwa 35-33 despite having two points deducted for unsportsmanlike conduct.

"It was kind of crazy there at the end. There was definitely some chirping going on," Grace said. "At the end of the day, we tried our best. It didn't go our way in that one, but you can't really complain if you do your best."

Cedar Rapids Prairie pulled away late for a 47-19 win over the Bulldogs, winning five of the final six matches to clinch the victory. Both Grace and Griffiths wrestled their ways to tech falls in the dual while Kaden Hubbell scored a first-period pin against Rigley Kock at 165 pounds.

Forney, meanwhile, went the distance to earn a pair of decisions on Saturday after pinning Hempstead's Zach Conlon in 68 seconds in his first match back in two weeks. After winning 4-2 over Prairie's Jace Tonne, Forney clinched a win over Smith scoring a late takedown to secure his third straight win.

"You just have to keep fighting and keep moving. You can't stall. If you keep moving consistently, you're good to go," Forney said. "There were a couple of takedowns I almost had that were on the edge of the mat and didn't go my way, but you can't let that frustrate you. You just have to keep working."

Ottumwa's first dual win of the season, a 49-15 victory over Oskaloosa, was followed by a 43-26 loss to Cedar Rapids Xavier sending the Bulldogs into the seventh-place match. Logan Hubbell (106), Grace (113) and Daltin Doud (132) each scored falls for Ottumwa in their fourth dual of the day while Griffiths scored his second tech fall at 150 pounds and Tayton Frueh earned an 8-7 win over Miguel Astorga at 120 pounds.

The Bulldogs finished their first meet in two weeks with a flourish, winning 49-24 over Cedar Rapids Kennedy to finish in seventh place. Logan Hubbell, Grace and Brock Garcia (126) scored falls during a run of eight straight Bulldog wins while Smith closed out the tournament for OHS pinning Skyler Bickford 45 seconds into the second period of the 175-pound match.

"We came in feeling pretty good about how well we had prepared," Smith said. "I felt pretty confident."

Weather conditions forced Ottumwa's Senior Night dual against Waterloo East to be called off on Tuesday. While the Bulldogs await to see if they can reschedule that meet for next week, the Bulldogs will move forward to compete in the Iowa Alliance Conference tournament at Des Moines North on Tuesday.

— Scott Jackson can be reached at sjackson@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter@CourierScott.