Montrose Indian Dmarian Lopez finished the season (30-0) and was crowned State Champion when he defeated former #1 rank and State Champion Mathew Moore from Mesa Ridge. The Montrose Indians took two wrestlers, Kamron Alegria and Lopez to Ball Arena in Denver Colorado to wrestle in the CHSAA 4A State Championships on Thursday February 17th and ended Saturday February 20th.

The match between Lopez and Moore started slow at first with no one scoring a single point in the first period. Then the match started picking up pace when Moore scored the first point after choosing and escaping from bottom. Moore kept the the lead until the third period when he was called for stalling. This led to Lopez scoring a point. After that, Lopez escaped a takedown, and that put him in the lead 4-1. That wouldn’t be the end of it as Moore kept firing. The match ended  7-5 with Lopez winning but the Refs called Lopez for a late stalling twice making the score 7-7. The match had to  go into overtime. In last 10 seconds of overtime, Lopez took down Moore resulting in a sudden victory. The final score was 9-7.

“I was happy and proud of myself,” Lopez said. “Being State Champion is something I’ve wanted since I was little and to do that and to see all my family there cheering is crazy.” 

“It was crazy experience, D was the underdog, and it felt like nobody wanted him to win. Everyone was cheering for the other guy, but I’m just glad D was able to pull off the win, especially against someone that is a stud like Mathew,” Coach Bryant Hunter said.

Alegria also went to State. He didn’t place, but what he did do was knock out the person he lost to twice, Hassin Maynes from Grand Junction Central by a pin in the third period.

“I might not have placed, and it wasn’t how I wanted it to end, but I’m just glad I was able to go and support D in his final match,” Alegria said.

The future is looking pretty good for Montrose because they are only losing two varsity seniors and anticipate multiple incoming freshman that can probably make a push for a varsity spot.

“We are only losing two seniors and me personally, I think that we have some kids ready to come up and fill in some varsity spots and with a junior State Champion coming back in the wrestling room to help guide some of the younger guys, we should have a really good season,” Hunter said. “We just got to keep going to the off-season tournaments and camps then we should be good.”

Lopez is a junior and he has another year of wrestling and football and a chance to go for a State Champion repeat.

“I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do yet as far as after high school, but at least I got a year left with both of my sports so it’s kinda hard to know right now,” Lopez said