HURRICANE - Dusty Hone is a cool customer when he steps foot into any wrestling gym.
The Cedar sophomore comes from a proven family that's reached the highest accolades within the sport. Nonetheless, Hone doesn't rely on past occurrences to get him through tough matches. Rather, the task is even more difficult considering the last name he carries.
Thus the sophomore knows he needs to give it all he's got at every dual. On Thursday night, Hone did just that, pinning Hurricane's Aaron Barnum with 1:18 left in the second period. His win in the 113-pound class helped Cedar go on to an impressive 54-24 win over Hurricane.
"We have a good group of guys this season," said Hone, who won last season's 3A state title in the 103-pound class. "If we just keep hitting the weights and work on our fundamentals, we could match or exceed last year's third-place finish at state."
Hone is up a weight class from the previous year and is looking forward to the challenge ahead. He's not nearly satisfied with his individual game yet, adding he's constantly working on positioning, particularly in his footwork. In essence, Hone will be just fine this season. The question remains how the rest of the Reds will do.
By Thursday's account, they're in good shape as well.
All of Cedar's nine wins came by pin. Cam Williamson, a junior, is transitioning from the football field to the wrestling mat. He pinned Sino Sefita with 28 seconds left in the second period in their 195-pound weight class battle.
"I got him with a double leg takedown," said Wilkinson, who finished third in Region 9 last season. "My goal is to do much better this season than the previous. I need to get pins and avoid being pinned."
Other Cedar notables were Kolby Lloyd pinning Stephen Zitting (138) and Kahi Eldredge pinning Wyatt Lee in the heavyweight division.
For Hurricane, there were bright spots.
Josh Pettus picked up a solid pin against Brady Stratton. His teammate and two-time defending state champion Zach Prince won a thrilling, and lengthy, 10-5 decision against Braiden French. Hurricane was without defending state champ Brian Scott due to a leg injury. His timetable for return is expected to be in the near future.
"We have a lot of young kids that are still learning," said Tigers coach Kerry Prince. "They will get better as the year goes on. We are behind because the football playoffs went two weeks into the wrestling season."
Kerry Prince said they look forward to Scott's return, adding the senior is the toughest kid on the mat both mentally and physically. In reference to one of the other leaders in Zach Prince, Kerry said he's a wrestler who makes few mistakes and is quick on his feet.
For Cedar, the early-season win is nice, but they know the road will only get tougher from here.
"We can't relax because we got tough matches against some 4A schools with skilled wrestlers," Hone said. "Then region will be tough as well, so we have to be ready to go for the whole season."
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