Head Coach John Kincade and his staff have done a remarkable job over the past nine years, turning the fledgling GHS wrestling team into repeat state champions. The program began in 2012 and was a great success from the start. The Bulldogs have been dual state champs the past two seasons and won their first AAA-sanctioned 5A state crown last February, a title they hope to defend next month.
Kincade, an Oklahoma native who cut his teeth on high school wrestling in the Sooner state, and works with Greenwood-area youth to promote the GHS varsity program, recently offered the following comments and observations about the somewhat uneven start to the 2020-21 season.
Like all other high school sports across the state and the nation, the Bulldogs have been hampered by scheduling issues due to the Covid-19 pandemic that began shortly after the conclusion of last season. Last month three planned matches at Van Buren, Bentonville, and Fayetteville were all cancelled.
“In December we were only able to wrestle one dual [match] against Rogers Heritage (Dec. 10th), a dual we won,” said the coach. “Over Christmas break we wrestled at Springdale Har-Ber, beating Har-Ber, Fayetteville, and Cassville (MO), but lost to North Desota (LA), Willard (MO), and Ozark (MO). So we finished 3-3 in that tournament.
“In January we’ve beaten Lakeside, Hot Springs, Greenbrier, El Dorado, Lake Hamilton, and Sheridan in our conference,” he continued. “We will wrestle Russellville and Van Buren this Thursday, which will decide our seeding for Dual State on February 6th at Russellville. We also wrestled in the Searcy dual tournament, [beating] Searcy twice, Fayetteville and Lakeside, and were defeated by Little Rock Central, finishing third in that tournament.”
Earlier this season Kincade talked about the growing popularity of girls’ wrestling across the state and the country. Two Lady Bulldogs are competing this season, both juniors, Lola Culverson and Skylar Belin. “Our girls have been doing extremely well,” he said. “Skylar won the Searcy tournament at 100 pounds and both girls won against El Dorado last week.”
Greenwood is also relying on five returning state champions this season to retain the 5A crown they won in 2020. They include juniors Antonio Martinez, Tyler Crossno, and Hayden Rofkahr, along with seniors Ty Moose and Jason Arnold, and all are currently competing at a high level.
“We have five individuals who are doing extremely well,” said Kincade of his top competitors. “At 126 pounds Hayden Rofkahr is 17-4. He missed the last half of the season last year due to a knee injury. [But] he was a state champion the year before last at 106 pounds. At 138, Ty Moose is currently 19-2. His losses were to a kid from Missouri and to a Little Rock Central kid who moved in from Missouri. He hasn’t lost to anyone else in the state.
“At 170 pounds Jason Arnold is 17-3, [and] all of his losses were to out-of-state kids. At 220 Tyler Crossno is 20-1. His only loss was to a kid from Willard, Missouri, in overtime. And we also have (senior) Jordan Hanna back in the line-up. He will be wrestling at 195-220 pounds depending on what we do with our line-up. He is currently 7-0,” added the coach.
Hanna also recently announced his plan to attend the University of Arkansas as a preferred walk-on in football, joining his older brother Morgan, a 2019 GHS grad who also plays for the Razorbacks. Both brothers were defensive standouts for the Bulldogs and helped lead their teams to state championships.
“Others who have been doing well this the season [include] Jackson Witherington (9th) at 106 pounds, senior Hayden Allen at 113 pounds, Antonio Martinez (11th) at 120 pounds, Jarod Pace (9th) at 132 pounds, senior Gustavo Martinez at 145 pounds, Garrett Haralson (11th) at 152 pounds, Colton Castillow (10th) and Caden Erskine (11th) at 160 pounds, Tatum Sadler (12th) at 182 pounds, Lucas Honkala (11th) at 195 pounds, and freshman Bryce Williams. Jeremiah Presson (11th) at heavyweight has been out with an illness,” explained the coach.
Outlining the remainder of the season, Kincade said, “Besides Dual State on February 6th, we [compete] at Sallisaw on February 2nd. We have Vian (OK) and Poteau (OK) at Greenwood on February 9th and 11th, respectively.” This season Greenwood’s home matches are being held in H.B. Stewart Arena.
“We also have the girls/boys wrestling conference tournaments here in Greenwood on Saturday, February 13th, followed by girls’ state on February 18th and boys’ state on Friday and Saturday, February 18th and 19th.” As usual, both state tournaments will be held at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.