Nine Raiders place at Sidney Invite

After the first period of the final match at 160 lbs., Ryan Nieto looked up at the scoreboard at Cabela's Athletic Facility and knew he was in trouble. With two periods to go the junior wrestler was already trailing 7-1.

But there was no panic in Nieto. He soon made the score a moot point as the championship match never went the full three periods.

With a furious rally, Nieto turned the tables on Bridgeport's Lawrence Schneider with a pin to take first place in his class to help Sidney to a third-place finish at the Bridgeport-Sidney Invitational on Saturday.

Sterling High School finished first of the 13 teams competing with 223 points while Ogallala was second with 152. The Raiders 130 points edged out Mitchell in fourth (127) while co-host Bridgeport rounded out the top five with 106.

The Raiders' bronze was secured when all nine varsity wrestlers placed. In addition to Nieto's crown at 160, three Raiders finished in second place: Kane Taylor (195 lbs.), Dominic Beyer (285) and Michael Muggli (145). In the 170 lbs. class, Brenton Christian wrapped up his day with a third-place finish.

Jack Fedderson (113), Zach Borges (138), Lukias Higer (152) and Cody Hofrock (182) all took fourth in their weight classes.

"We really work hard in practice and I didn't want to throw all that hard work away," Nieto said still out of breath from his championship match. "After the first period I looked up at the board an knew something had to change. Also after the first period my coach asked me if I'd woken up yet."

The coach soon got his answer. As the second period opened Nieto suddenly initiated an intense flurry of action and quickly put Schneider in serious trouble. It was at 1:25 when the referee's hand slammed down on the mat signifying Wooley's win by pin.

"They got into a big flurry and Ryan is a good flurry wrestler," said Raiders Head Coach John Ganser. "That's the good thing about wrestling. Like a knockout in boxing you can change your fortunes with a pin."

Among the second place finishers, Kane Taylor had a notable accomplishment when he sent Tanner Willey down to his first defeat of the season in a semi-final match. Willey, of Bayard, had entered the match with an 10-0 record.

"I came in here thinking I was facing a tough crowd with a hard bracket to get through," said Taylor. "After my first match (against Denton Payne of Hemingford) I gained a little confidence that set me up for the day."

After the Payne match Taylor faced off with Willey. He ended up wearing the Bayard grappler down with a 5-4 decision.

"I saw him laying down and getting tired," Taylor said. "I wanted to show him that I wasn't tired at all. When you're giving everything you have and the other guy doesn't even look like he's breaking a sweat that can be a real psychological advantage."

When the finals match arrived at 145 lbs., the Raiders' Muggli faced off against Joel Contreras of Sterling. Muggli came into the match at 11-0 while Contreras was 10-1. Contreras edged Muggli on points (4-0) to send him to his first defeat of the sesaon.

Muggli still gained 22 points for the team as did Beyer to lead the team. Taylor picked up 20 points.

Beyer, a sophomore, was wrestling in only his second varsity event, pinning two opponents on his way to a final match. He first took down Fabian Soto of Sterling in 3:26 and then Eric Escajeda in 2:52.

Ogallala's Bradley Clinesmith turned the tables on Beyer with a pin at 4:51 in the championship round.

"Wrestling in only my second varsity match against a lot of new wrestlers gives me a lot of new challenges," Beyer said. "I felt pretty good today. I'm getting better and we're getting better as a team. We work hard in practice and get a lot of individual attention from the coaches and that really helps."

In the third-place match at 170 lbs., Christian defeated Jerrod Fedorchik with a 7-4 decision to even his match record this season to 6-6.

The Raiders do not take to the mats again until Jan. 11, when they travel to Ogallala for a 9 a.m. multi-team match.