Superior wrestlers lose edge

The Superior Bobcats headed into Missoula last week on Friday for the Rocky Mountain Classic. The tournament features large schools from throughout Montana and also brings in competitors from Washington and Idaho.

Coach Charlie Crabb said that three of the Bobcats were only one match away from continuing into Saturday, but they ended up losing their last matches. Junior Dan Taron, senior Josh Wright and sophomore River Sides all came close on Friday, but “couldn’t close the door.”

“Overall, I think we could have done a lot better,” Crabb said. “We lost to some kids that we knew we should have beat and the kids felt the same way. I was a little disappointed in how they did.”

Crabb said that it turned out to be one of those things. Wrestling is 90 percent a mental sport and he felt that the wrestlers just lost their mental edge.

After losing out of the Classic on Friday, Crabb said that they went over to a smaller tournament on Saturday that was held at Big Sky.

Josh and Dan both took home a third in their respective weight classes and River grabbed third. All three of the guys have been to state in the past. Crabb said that it’s hard to tell right now if they’ll make it back.

“Josh is sort of in the middle of the pack at 145 pounds. He broke his thumb last year and is sort of making up for some lost time,” Crabb said. “If he can make a few minor adjustments, he’ll be right there. He’s pretty tough.”

Crabb said that Dan is as good as anyone out there and said that he just needs to figure that out.

“He has a talent,” Crabb said. “I think that he just needs to believe in himself a bit more. He’ll be fine.”

Crabb noted that when River decides he wants to tough, he can be “really tough.”

“Again, it’s that mental thing and it’s sort of like that with everyone on the team,” Crabb said.

Crabb said that things are coming down to the wire as divisionals start to creep up on them. They have two items this week: a dual against Arlee and Mission on Tuesday and a tournament on Saturday in Thompson Falls.

The wrestlers haven’t been at home much the last couple of weeks, but on January 27, they’ll be in Superior for the Mineral-Sanders tournament. After that, divisionals follow on February 5.