Fresh off winter break, the Montezuma-Cortez High School wrestling team traveled to Blanding, Utah, on Wednesday for a dual match against San Juan High School and delivered one of its finest performances of the young season.

Leading the way for the Panthers was 106-pound freshman Kael Buffington, who demonstrated an increased comfort level on the high school mat before pinning San Juan’s Matthew Blackhorse.

Also delivering a solid performance were 138-pound junior Matthew Broughton, who pinned San Juan’s Joshua Lacey, and 145-pound sophomore Ethan Root, who pinned San Juan’s Tyrese Jones.

Montezuma-Cortez senior Stevie Fuentes registered a technical fall victory over San Juan’s Seth Spackman in the 126-pound match, while Wes Atcitty wrestled his way to a hard-fought 6-2 decision victory over San Juan’s Landon Burke.

Shawn Higgins recorded a forfeit victory for the Panthers at 120 pounds. Kerwin Tom, Austin Featherman and Swayde Noyes were all defeated by their San Juan opponents.

Despite winning six of the nine matches in which they wrestled, M-CHS lost the dual 40-32 because of four forfeit losses in four weight classes.

Looking to build on its recent success, the Panthers will remain active with a road dual against Bayfield on Thursday, which will be followed by a trip to the Rocky Mountain Invite in Pagosa Springs on Saturday.