TRAPPERS FINISH 3-1 AT APODACAS

BY SETH ROMSA TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune

Top quality wrestling took place throughout the weekend at Cabre Gym, as the Northwest College wrestling team hosted the Apodaca Duals on Friday and Saturday. The Trappers defeated North Idaho College 27-18 on Friday, as well as Snow College 26-21 and Northeastern Junior College 35-18 on either side of a 40-9 loss to Southeast Community College on Saturday.
The Apodaca Duals honor the memory of the late, former Trapper wrestler Christopher Brooks Apodaca, who tragically passed away in the spring of 1998 and were created along with the Apodaca Award to honor his memory. Zeigler noted the importance of his family in attendance each year.
"I see the Apodaca family come up, brothers and sisters and their children, Ray and Carla (Christopher Apodaca's parents) have made the trip for so many years. All of them coming out here and having gone through more than one tragedy in their life … They're a strong family," coach Jim Zeigler said. "The idea that we're able to continue to celebrate (his life) every year for the last 27 years is pretty awesome."

NORTHWEST 27, NORTH IDAHO 18
After the award ceremony on Friday, the Trappers took on the Cardinals in their first dual of the weekend.
Northwest got the lead early, as Dylan Sorensen received a forfeit win at 125 pounds and Ryan Nutt added to it with a 15-0 tech fall at 133 pounds.
Zachary Covolo added to the lead with a 6-3 decision at 141 pounds, before North Idaho got on the board with a 10-4 decision over Devin Grossman at 149 pounds.
"Zachary wrestled awesome all weekend," Zeigler said. 
Colby Ducatt earned a 14-6 major decision at 157 pounds to make it 18-3 Northwest.
North Idaho got a pin over Porter Olson at 165 pounds and a forfeit win at 174 pounds — the Trappers forfeited that weight for the entire weekend — to cut the lead down to 18-15.
In a close double overtime match at 184 pounds Asad Fayzullaev secured a 3-2 win after earning an escape in the second overtime.
The Cardinals got the 11-1 major decision at 197 pounds over Race Moxley before Austin Richens pinned his opponent in 39 seconds to seal the win for the Trappers. North Idaho was deducted a point from its team score for unsportsmanlike conduct to make the final score 27-18.
"I got what I asked for, which was improvement against North Idaho," Zeigler said. "Austin wrestled great."     

NORTHWEST 26, SNOW COLLEGE 21
Starting out Saturday the Trappers wrestled the Badgers for the second time in as many weeks and the third time this season.
Sorensen started with a pin in 4:03 at 125 pounds, before a 15-8 decision in favor of Snow at 133 pounds.
Covolo earned a 17-2 tech fall at 141 pounds, before Snow recorded a 7-2 decision at 149 pounds and a pin in 4:19 at 157 pounds to make it 12-11 in favor of the Badgers.
Porter Olsen gave Northwest the lead with a 15-0 tech fall at 165 pounds, but the forfeit at 174 pounds gave the lead back to Snow.
Fayzullaev got the 9-1 major decision at 184 pounds, and a close 3-0 decision for Snow at 197 pounds made it 21-20 in favor of the visitors going into the final weight.
Richens made quick work to secure the win for Northwest, pinning his opponent in 20 seconds to make the final score 26-21.     

SOUTHEAST CC 40, NORTHWEST 9
Continuing on the Trappers took on the Bobcats in what proved to be a difficult match.
Southeast took the lead with a pin in 2:43 at 125 pounds and a 13-4 major decision at 133 pounds.
Covolo got Northwest on the board with a pin in 4:15 at 141 pounds, before Southeast rattled off seven straight wins.
Those wins included two pins, a forfeit, as well as one tech fall, one major decision and one decision to make it 40-6.
Richens finished the match with an 8-1 decision to make the final score 40-9.      

NORTHWEST 35, NORTHEASTERN JC 18
The Trappers took on the Plainsmen on Saturday afternoon to end the week.
Sorensen got an 8-5 decision at 125 pounds before Nutt got a pin in 3:56 to make it 9-0.
Covolo finished his unbeaten weekend with a 17-6 major decision, and Grossman got a pin in 2:15 to make it 19-0 Northwest.
Northeastern got on the board with pins at 157 and 165 in 4:50 and 5:36 respectively, while adding the forfeit at 174 to cut the Northwest lead to 19-18.
Fayzullaev got the pin in exactly three minutes at 184, before Moxley added a 16-6 major decision at 197 pounds and Richens finished his undefeated weekend with a pin in 54 seconds at 285 pounds to make the final score 35-18.
"We had a drop off on Saturday, and I'm not quite sure what it was. But it's behind us, and we're moving forward," Zeigler said.       

BREAK IN ACTION
Northwest will now take the next several weeks off from competition, after a dual this weekend at home against the University of Providence was canceled.
The Trappers will continue to practice over these next weeks before heading to Rock Springs on Feb. 21 for the NJCAA Plains District Tournament to qualify for the national tournament.
"We're just regrouping this week and refocusing, getting more specific about what we need to do with each guy, doing some film, doing some observation. Lifting, doing what we call a lab day, where everybody comes in, works on their own, coaches rotating around the room and helping individuals," Zeigler said. "Next week we'll pick up the pace, then the week after that we'll start to taper off and just do the mental focus to get ready for qualifiers. I think we just need to get our mojo in the right place. We wrestled 17 duals in the month of January …
"Fortunately we made it through without any real injuries. Now we can really focus on getting these kids in the national tournament, getting them on the podium and help them become All-Americans."