Back to basics good for Clippers

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“Gentlemen, this is a football.”

That famous quote from the legendary Vince Lombardi is what he was known to say to his players at start of camp before each NFL season. The idea behind the words was to get back to the basics.

The Malcolm wrestling coaches are trying a similar approach with their young squad.

“At this point in the season, we’d like to be further along than we are,” Malcolm Coach Matt Coufal said. “Everyone is getting a little better. But, we still make too many ‘day one’ mistakes that cost us in matches we could be winning.”

Just one of Malcolm’s 11 grapplers reached the medal round in the Jan. 11 Malcolm Invite. For the third meet in a row, Cody Barton wrestled his way to the championship match at 120 pounds. The junior faced a strong opponent in returning state medallist, Eli Kult of Yutan.

Each wrestler earned a lone escape point through three periods. After a scoreless first overtime period, Kult got an escape in the second OT to pick up a 2-1 victory.

“Cody continues to wrestle well,” Coufal said. “He’s got to be able to get off the bottom when he has a chance to win.”

Barton’s semifinal bout was a rematch from two days earlier against Louisville’s Aiden Wedekind. At a Jan. 9, dual, Barton got the Clippers’ only win in a 5-1 decision. In the Saturday rematch, Barton led 14-0 before a third period pin sent him to the finals.

“He learned something from the first match he was able to use,” Coufal said. “He was better on his feet the second time.”

Truitt Ele (132), Cooper Vetick (138) and Christopher Burbach (150) each came up one win away from a medal.

“It’s little things that are keeping us from getting there,” Coufal said. “We allow ourselves to get into bad positions and we don’t recover. We’re close. But, we have to be sharper to get over the hump.”

Malcolm junior Vanesa Gonzalez-Mendoza went 1-3 at 120 pounds at the Jan. 10 Malcolm Girls’ Invite.

After losing the Jan. 9 dual to Louisville, 68-3, the Clippers bounced back to close out the triangular with a 42-41 win over Platteview. Barton, Austin Sykes, Ele and Burbach each pinned opponents.

Malcolm will face strong competition in Saturday, Jan. 18’s Schuyler Invite. Included in the list of 19 teams attending are Class B No. 1 Skutt Catholic and Class D No. 2 Aquinas Catholic.