NWC WRESTLING HEADS TO CARDINAL DUALS

BY SETH ROMSA TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune

Since an opening weekend road trip to Colorado the Northwest College wrestling team has had two weeks to prepare for a weekend roadtrip to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, taking part in North Idaho College's Cardinal Duals on Friday and Saturday.
The Trappers have been hard at work over the last two weeks.
"I think it's going great," coach Jim Zeigler said.
During the opening weekend the Trappers suffered an injury to their starting 157 pounder, with Zeigler saying that Colby Ducatt is not likely to wrestle this weekend as they do not want to rush him back too quickly in the early season.
"The situation with Colby is a challenge because he's not going to be ready this week," Zeigler said. "We don't want to push that too much. He had a pretty significant sprain on his ankle, and we could probably push him and have him ready this weekend, but without him having the prep time [he won't be ready]. Basically it's his first match, because he only went a minute in the other one before he got hurt. So I don't want to put him in a bad situation."
Zeigler said the Trappers have Sunny Espinoza Jr. back training with the team, and may insert him at the 157 pound position, but Zeigler also does not want to put him into a bad situation after he has not trained for several weeks.
"He's back training again … I think he's in a position where we can put him in there. (But) I don't want to put him in a situation where it'll embarrass him if he's not prepared," Zeigler said. "So we're looking at that right now. We'll take him on the trip and see where we are, we'll get there and probably put him in the lineup there if he's OK with it. Again, I don't want to put a kid in a bad situation. So likely we'll use him, but there's a possibility we could just forfeit it too."
The Cardinal Duals begin on Friday, with the NJCAA preseason No. 7 ranked Trappers taking on Umpqua Community College at 4 p.m. 
Northwest then has a pair of duals Saturday, taking on No. 5 ranked Clackamas Community College at 10 a.m. and the host Cardinals, the No. 11 ranked team, at noon.
Despite taking on some of the top ranked preseason teams, Zeigler said he is not entirely concerned about the other teams at this point of the year, focusing on the Trappers and helping ensure they are ready each time they step on the mat.
"I have not scouted the other teams at all. I just really worry about what we're doing right now, and I'll take a look at some of the stuff on the bus. Maybe look up a couple of Trackwrestling profiles," Zeigler said. "But basically they're going in blind. I like to just kind of go in and let's see where we're at."
He added that for the freshmen, analyzing different opponents is a distraction.
"I want them to concentrate on what they're doing, not worrying about what opponent they have," Zeigler said.
He said if the Trappers have wrestled someone before they will have a scouting report ready to make adjustments, but doesn't think adjustments need to be made prior to a first matchup this early in the season.
Following this weekend the Trappers will have another weekend off over Thanksgiving before returning to the mat on Dec. 4 to take part in a set of duals in Nebraska.