Baxter wrestling takes down Collins-Maxwell

BAXTER — Baxter’s wrestling team did not win a contested match during a home triangular on Jan. 30. But head coach Joe Amadeo saw some really good things and a lot of fight from his guys.

The Bolts opened the night with a 54-12 loss to North Mahaska and ended it with a 24-16 victory over Collins-Maxwell. Baxter was 0-6 in contested matches.

“I am really proud of how the guys wrestled,” Amadeo said. “I asked the guys to show composure in all moments and wrestle hard in all moments. I think we achieved those goals.”

The Bolts were 0-4 in contested matches against North Mahaska. Nick Nelson (145) and Jackson Bottorff (195) both took forfeits.

There was only two contested matches in the dual against Collins-Maxwell and both went to the Spartans as Carter Davis beat Curtis Gliem and Jacob Pierick defeated Cole Smith. They also took a forfeit at 132 to go up 16-0 in the dual.

“We are a young and small team,” Amadeo said. “We can coach skill, but we can’t coach toughness. And our guys have a lot of toughness.”

Baxter rallied to win after Nelson (145), Brad Matthews (152), Bottorff (195) and Micah Kearns (220) all took forfeits.

It was Senior Night for the wrestling program. None of the wrestlers are seniors but senior cheerleader Kaitlyn Headlee and senior manager Amber Weltha were recognized. Collins-Maxwell senior Carter Davis also was recognized with his parents. The Spartans did not have a home meet this season.

The Bolts are preparing for the final few weeks of the season. They go to the AC/GC tournament at 8 a.m. on Saturday. Sectionals are the following weekend.

“The hard work is done. The conditioning is done,” Amadeo said. “For us from now on, it’s identifying the teams at our sectional, looking for tendencies, working on small technical things and getting our minds and bodies ready for sectionals.”