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Craig — Inside the Moffat County High School wrestling room the mood is somber. A handful of wrestlers have just returned from winter break, and the eerie silence coming from the dozen or so teenage boys is remarkably unexpected.

The silence gives way to a few grunts and groans as the team resumes practice.

You see, the team is quietly going about their business because as coach Roman Gutierrez says, "they have a job to do."

Moffat County hosts the Dog Fight Duals wrestling tournament Saturday in the team's first home meet of the season. And strange as it may sound, Gutierrez isn't concerned with winning.

"We are just getting going after the break," Gutierrez said. "We can't really prepare in just a few days for a weekend meet. Our focus is always about February."

February is when the team begins to prepare for the season-ending state championship tournament.

Gutierrez has an eye on the future, but that doesn't mean the veteran coach is overlooking this weekend's event.

"We always want to win," he said. "We have five good programs coming into our building. We aren't just going to lay down."

Florence High School (ranked No. 2 in 3A), Grand Junction Central (No. 10 in 5A), Denver East (No. 14 in 5A), Meeker and Grandview (No. 8 in 5A) visit Moffat County with the goal of earning the right to be called tournament champion.

"We used to have 10 teams," Gutierrez said. "Now we have six. We are out in the middle of nowhere. It's hard to get teams to come out here."

Regardless of whom they face, Moffat County's wrestlers aim to win.

"We want to go undefeated," Cory Vigil said. "We want to do well in front of the home crowd."

Vigil started the season strong, winning his first 10 meets - nine by pin.

In December's Warrior Classic in Grand Junction, the state's No. 12 ranked wrestler lost his first two matches to be eliminated from the competition early.

This week, he aims to better those results.

"I got psyched out before," Vigil said. "All I have to worry about is psyching myself out, and that's not going to happen again."

Gutierrez said Vigil should bounce back and he expects Matt Kincheloe and Nathan Tomlin to also do well.

"Vigil had a bad weekend," he said, "and that's not normal. I'm sure Kinch and Tomlin will come out and be aggressive like they always do. I have no problems with the way this team is wrestling right now, it's just a matter of inexperience."

Kincheloe is a senior who knows what to expect and knows what he wants.

"We are going to give it our best," he said. "We want those other teams to know when they leave here that they were just in a dog fight."