When Zach Beekman accepted the Greene County High School head coaching position, he had several goals in mind. Among those for his first season were to build numbers within the program, and to instill a fighting spirit among a largely inexperienced squad. If Saturday’s 3-2 dual meet record and fourth place showing among 10 teams at the Ogden Dual Meet Tournament are any indication, the plan is working.

Even with a minimum of four key wrestlers out of the lineup due to injury, illness, and other factors, the Rams went 3-1 in Pool B, placing second. The loss was to East Sac County (Lake View) by a 41-29 score to begin the day. The Rams then defeated Coon Rapids-Bayard 72-12, Kuemper Catholic (Carroll) 52-29, and Ogden 72-6, before losing the third place match to GTRA (Graettinger) 46-15.

“We fought hard out there today. We had a lot of inexperience on the mat, but Coach Davis (assistant Kirk Davis), Coach Flack (volunteer Clint Flack), and I do not fault the effort. Our kids had a lot of fight in them. We didn’t win as many matches as we would have liked, but it wasn’t due to a lack of effort. And, we won the two overtime matches we had, plus we came from behind a couple other times to record victories. Our guys aren’t always real polished on the mat, but we’re learning.”

Greene County is 4-5 in dual meets, including 0-1 in Heart of Iowa Activities Conference action and will next wrestle on Thursday, Dec. 13 in Des Moines at Saydel High School vs. HOIAC schools Nevada and Saydel, was well as Coon Rapids-Bayard.