(St. George, UT) – Snow Canyon coach Nick Lang was hard-pressed to talk about only one or two of his wrestlers after an action-packed dual against visiting Hurricane Thursday night.

Lang wanted to compliment every one of his young grapplers—but he understood that for time and space’s sake, a few quick statements would suffice. It was senior night and he wanted all of them to know his appreciation for them.

Warrior co-captain Mitch Taylor was certainly high-worthy of some mention after winning his 113-pound match. Coach Lang took a quick trip to memory lane when asked to talk about Taylor.

“I’m just proud of the kid,” Lang said. “He came to us as a freshman; he has grown and developed into an outstanding team leader.

“He picked up a big win tonight and we can count on him a lot. I can’t say enough about his character.”

Taylor wrestled his way to a 16-0 decision but he was nearly pinned in the first round. Hurricane’s Tristan Prisbey was down 5-0 to Taylor but with 40 seconds left on the first round ticker, he got favorable position on the Warrior senior, and was trying to nail down Taylor’s shoulder. Taylor kept his shoulder blade up and the time expired—from the second round on it was all Taylor. He scored eight points in the second round and another three in the third.

“I got a lot of back-points on him,” said Taylor. “I was just working my hardest and competing until the end.”

The two teams traded leads throughout the dual.

Snow Canyon went up 17-8 after 138-pounder Hans Lounsbury won an 11-7 decision over Stephen Zitting. Then Hurricane’s Justin Post (145) and Zach Prince (152) tied the match at 17 apiece with consecutive match wins for the Tigers.

Hurricane had 30-29 edge when the last match, a 220-pound contest between Curtis Bulloch and Brian Scott, brought the crowd to its feet.

They wrestled to a 0-0 first period ending before trying to test each other’s strength full out. In the second period Bulloch scored first on an escape, Scott countered with two points of his own and then Bulloch performed another escape right before the buzzer to make the score 2-2 going into the third period. The crowd was erupting with excitement as Bulloch and Scott were trying to out muscle the other. It was a most equal matchup.

Bulloch got a top position on Scott and was trying desperately to score a pin with 1:35 on the clock, sending the home crowd into a fever pitch shout for success. He went up 5-3 in the process, but Scott worked out of the position, chipped away at Bulloch's lead by scoring a point, then another, tying the score at 5-5 as regulation ended.

In overtime, the two went back and forth, spinning, and flipping over each other, and countering each other’s moves. Scott scored two points right before the end and won 7-5.

Though Bulloch could not earn a victory over the two-time champion Scott, his coach was proud.

“He is a leader among leaders, and he wanted that match,” Lang said. “That match brought the crowd to its feet.

“Regardless of the outcome, we love him, we support him, we appreciate the example he is and we believe in him. We look forward to seeing Curtis wrestle Brian Scott again.”

Scott respected what Bulloch brought to the mat too.

“I think he might have a little on me, he’s a big dude,” said Scott when asked about Bulloch’s strength and ability.

Scott is known for having a late-round strength that has helped him become the 220-pound target in the 3A classification. He is going for his third state title this season, and his formula is quite simple and he executed that formula against Bulloch.

“Don’t stop, keep going,” Scott said. “I was just going to keep moving.”

Scott’s win put Hurricane up 33-29 but the Tigers did not field a 285-pounder competitor so Snow Canyon’s Sheydon John picked up the forfeit win to secure the Warriors’ 34-33 dual victory.

It was an exciting dual and the seniors of Snow Canyon walked off the mats in their last home appearance in victorious fashion.

“Hurricane has some of the best wrestlers in the state,” said Coach Lang. “They’re always a tough competitor, always.”

“I could not be happier with how our team is performing and competing right now. We are peaking at the right time, mentally, physically; I’m very pleased with their effort tonight.”

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Snow Canyon 34 Hurricane 33

106 Josh Pettus (H) 17-0 dec. over Austin Davis (SC)

113 Mitch Taylor (SC) 16-0 dec. over Tristan Prisbey (H)

120 Kolby Mills (H) 8-7 dec. over DJ Whitehead (SC)

126 Tagan Johnson (SC) 5-2 dec. over Chris Moss (H)

132 Curt Wilde (SC) pin (2nd) over Dusty McLeod (H)

138 Hans Lounsbury (SC) 11-7 dec. over Stephen Zitting (H)

145 Justin Post (H) pin (1st) over Caleb Wright (SC)

152 Zach Prince (H) 14-6 dec. over Kimball Leavitt (SC)

160 Brenston Moss (H) win by forfeit

170 Chase Thompson (H) pin (2nd) over Stetson Reed (SC)

182 Nokoni Slivers (SC) pin (2nd) over Jacob Nielson

195 Tavish Nelson (SC) 6-0 dec. (DQ) over Daniel Bulloch (H)

220 Brian Scott (H) 7-5 dec. (OT) over Curtis Bulloch (SC)

285 Sheydon John (SC) forfeit

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In other Region 9 wrestling action:

Desert Hills 67 Pine View 7

106 Joe Mondragon (DH) pin over Drew Hansen (PV)

113 Brandon Parry (DH) pin over Sam Salisbury (PV)

120 Dillon Jones (DH) pin over Javeri Jensen (PV)

126 James Suwyn (DH) pin over Roston McArthur (PV)

132 Devan Webb (DH) pin over Jaden Peterson (PV)

138 Nolan Mertlich (DH) pin over Jayde Miller (PV)

145 Dustyn Roberts (DH) pin over Tyler Hartman (PV)

152 Israel Perez (DH) pin over Baylen Bentz (PV)

160 Kevan Webb (DH) dec. over Austin Manuele (PV)

170 Sil Bundy (DH) pin over Josef TiaTia (PV)

182 Mikal Swagger (PV) pin over Ian Hall (DH)

195 Cody Stevenson (DH) dec. over Matt Judd

220 Tyler Stevenson (DH) pin over Hunter TiaTia (PV)

285 Kalob Stevenson (DH) pin Wes Kawaka (PV)

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