With last weekend’s results, Moffat County wrestling is trending in the right direction as the season heads toward its climax.

The Bulldogs wrestled in a tournament Saturday at Eagle Valley High School, using the same format they’ll see at the regional tournament in a month.

Of the 10 varsity wrestlers Moffat County sent to the tournament, six placed, including runner-up finishes in four weight classes.

It was a positive step in the right direction but showed there’s still plenty of work to be done, coach Tanner Linsacum said.

“It’s a little bit smaller tournament with some smaller schools there,” he said. “It’s not quite like the Warrior (Classic) from earlier, but still some good wrestling. We took fourth out of 12, and we were really hoping to be in the top three, but everybody got a win and we had some good results.”

While Issic Herod, Brayden Peterson, Stelios Peroulis and Jesse DeMoor all wrestled well to take second at their weights, wins in some of those championship matches would have helped to improve the team’s score. Cedaredge, a 3A opponent, won the tournament as a team, showing Moffat County what it will take to accomplish the Bulldogs’ goals in February.

“Cedaredge being 3A like us and being in our region, that’s where we want to be,” Linsacum said.

But with four seconds and two fourth-place finishes — from Jesus Duarte and Brett Loyd — the Bulldogs had plenty to be happy with.

“Everybody’s working pretty hard right now, every day,” Peroulis said of the team. “Having that many people place is pretty good and now we want to build on it.”

The team will head to Green River, Wyo., this weekend for five duals during two days and its last time seeing teams from outside Colorado. Whereas the recent dual against Hayden was approached with a win-first mentality, Linsacum said, the Bulldogs will take a slightly different tactic into the Green River duals.

“We want to get better and see how the kids will approach a different style of wrestling, an aggressive Wyoming style,” he said. “These are tough duals in Green River, some good Wyoming teams.”

The team is in the heart of its most difficult training in the season, with conditioning sprints in the morning followed by practice after school. But it also is the portion of the season when wrestlers can make a big push for regionals and state.

Peroulis hopes Eagle Valley was the start of that push for Moffat County wrestlers and that it will continue in Green River.

“I think the team’s goal is to do the best we have all year,” he said. “As far as a personal goal, I don’t want to lose a match. That’s going to take a lot of offense, a lot of shooting and hard work.”

Contact Nate Waggenspack at 970-875-1795 or nwaggenspack@craigdailypress.com.