Weatherford wrestlers matching up with the toughest

By Randy Sachs

Special to Weatherford Telegram

There are plenty of wrestling teams ramping up to compete at the district and regional tournaments.

But Weatherford has been taking on the toughest since the season began.

The Roos have made every outing on the mat against some of the area's - and region's - toughest teams, including tournaments at Rockwall, Arlington Bowie, Southern Oklahoma Invitational and the recent Grapevine and Lone Star Duals.

Weatherford finished fifth as a team at the Oklahoma outing in Duncan, Okla., a perennial power north of the Red River.

At the Grapevine Duals, Weatherford fought its way into the championship bracket before finishing in the top 12 out of 24 teams.

"We've wrestled against some of the best competition," said head coach Eric Dobey. "We wrestle better teams because we want to see how we can compete with them."

Being the best is something Weatherford was poised to declare, as the Roos were wrestling Saginaw earlier this week in the district duals championship match. Results were unavailable at press time.

"This is the third straight year we've wrestled in the title match," Dobey noted, after claiming the District 8 dual title last year in a win over Azle.

"We match up pretty well against them," Dobey said of the championship tilt with Saginaw who will be bringing some quality wrestlers to the mat.

Helping pace the Roos is returning state-qualifier, Joseph Payne, at 126 pounds.

Payne is joined by fellow senior, Nathan Allain (152 pounds) in stocking a solid lineup.

The team is still relatively young, evidenced by a sprinkling of freshmen as starting varsity wrestlers. Dobey even noted that there are some first-year wrestlers making starts in the lineup for the Kangaroos.

Success of some of the freshmen is reflected in a solid season, thus far, for 138-pounder Tyler McDonald, according to Dobey.

"We've done pretty well," said Dobey, but the coach knows that the youth of the team still affords days of being up for one match and down the next. Consistency separates the upper and lower echelons at this time of year.

Searching for consistency is another reason Dobey wants the tougher competition for his maturing squad.

Weatherford will be hosting the Outback Tournament this weekend -- another tough invitational with the likes of Arlington Martin, Rockwall, Grand Prairie and Argyle scheduled to invade the Ninth Grade Center's gymnasium.

The district tournament this year will be hosted by Springtown during the first weekend of February.

Only the top two finishers at the district tournament will move on to the Region I Tournament. This year, the Roos will travel to Amarillo for the regional where they'll battle for one of the top four spots in order to qualify for the state tournament.

Having to compete in a regional outside the Dallas/Fort Worth area is yet another reason Dobey likes his matmen to compete against teams not always so convenient to geographical scheduling.

Regardless of the venue, expect Weatherford to compete for the top spots in most every one of the 14 weight classes.

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