Power Play at the PowerCup

Evergreen High School Cougars. Conifer High School Lobos. Face off in a battle of mountains, with fury born from blood, sweat, and tears; 20 years of rivalry fueled this grudge match, a meeting of giants.

Conifer claimed the PowerCup against Evergreen High School on January 31st with a final score of 40-32.
After the match, wrestling coach Gabe Watson spoke about the difficulties of his players going out to wrestle.

“It’s hard to go out and wrestle perfectly,” Watson said.

The PowerCup meet was closer than Watson would’ve liked, since it came down to one match.

With one match lasting 16 seconds and another lasting a full eight minutes, it’s obvious that Conifer’s wrestling and Evergreen’s are equally matched.

“Sometimes the matchups don’t go well, you know, quick matches back to back. You don’t get much good wrestling. Sometimes it works out like this where the matchups are great,” Watson said.

Evergreen and Conifer’s battle came down to one final duel between Conifer’s Connor Woodworth and Evergreen’s Blake Sissons.

Every match is a learning experience to wrestlers, for both Conifer and Evergreen.

“We won’t repeat the same mistakes we made tonight, it was just easy stuff that should’ve never have happened,” said Evergreen wrestler Alex Baker after the team’s loss.

After the meet, music, chants, and screams filled Conifer’s gym. Conifer’s wrestlers held the PowerCup high above their heads, their faces filled with emotion and pride. Parents of seniors, still holding the roses their sons presented before the match began, looked on and smiled. The mats rolled up, the scoreboard shut off, and the PowerCup rests at Conifer High School.