Eagle Valley freshman pins defending state champ at Les Mattox Invitational as wrestling squads surge into home tournament

Let’s get something out of the way: with all due respect to the local Olympians, XTERRA multi-sport athletes and trail enthusiasts, few — if any — athletes in the county are working as hard as Eagle Valley wrestlers.

“I’m trying to get these kids to buy in to ‘the harder you work, the better the outcome will be.’ To not really focus on the outcome, but the effort they put in,” said assistant coach Kenny Martin. “One thing we’ve implemented this year is morning practices.”

The regular 6:30 a.m. sessions and monotonous two-a-days are starting to pay dividends.

The Eagle Valley boys placed fifth out of 31 teams at the Les Mattox Invitational last weekend in Denver. Alex Good inched closer to the 100-win mark with his third tournament title of the year while Cooper Hern and Nathan Leeper continued their comebacks to the mat from injuries with a pair of bronze medals. But the big story of the day was freshman Cody Littlepage.

The 106-pounder — who claimed a runner-up finish to start 2026 at the Mark Purslow Invite — earned a first-round win over Jackson Steele but started slow against Wellington’s Treyden McCarrel in the quarterfinals. Trailing 6-0 after the first period, Littlepage got a reversal on the edge of the mat to open the second, then surged to an 8-7 win.

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“He had to show a lot of resiliency,” Martin said before noting Littlepage’s consistent appearances at morning practices.

“He wouldn’t take no for an answer. He was losing going into the third round and ended up choosing the right position to gain a point,” the coach continued. “It was like a switch flipped in his head and he was just off to the races after that.”

Littlepage shocked the crowd in the semifinals with a dominant win over Jeremiah DeLeCerda, the defending 3A state champion. Littlepage threw the Alamosa senior on his back in the first 20 seconds, but was taken down in the closing seconds of the period. After gathering himself, Littlepage secured a front headlock to inside trip, putting DeLeCerda on his back and holding on for the fall. In the finals, he pinned Mullen’s Dustin Alavardo in a rematch of the championship from the beginning of the month in Bennett.

While Littlepage was a relative unknown statewide — he was ranked 12th at 113 pounds before dropping to 106 — Eagle Valley coaches could see this coming.

“He competed on the national level last year — he’s been traveling all over,” said head coach Travis Ward, who also watched Littlepage grow up through the Bald Eagle youth wrestling program from “practically the time he could walk.”

“He’s stepping it up and spreading his wings,” Ward continued.

Teammate Bode Cobb fought relentlessly through the 157-pound bracket at Les Mattox. After pinning his first-round opponent, Cobb fell to Salida’s Sam Johnson in the second round. From there, he won four-straight decisions to earn a spot in the third-place match. Unfortunately, having reached the six-round daily limit, he had to settle for fourth.

“His motor just won’t stop,” Martin said.

“There’s no doubt in my mind with his level and stamina, he probably would have broken another opponent,” Ward added.

Good, who qualified for the state tournament as a freshman, has transformed his wrestling since the Mark Purslow Invite — in large part because of his attendance at those before-school training sessions, Martin said. While Good ended up winning the 150-pound bracket in Bennett, Martin could tell the junior was spent in the third round of the finals.

“He had no gas tank,” Martin said. “From that day on, he started coming into morning workouts. Since then, he’s been pretty much untouchable. With his technique and wrestling ability, it puts him at a really high level.”

The Eagle Valley girls wrestling squad might be smaller than the boys team, but it’s equally mighty: four of the five wrestlers are ranked in the top-10 statewide. While the girls were dealt a major loss when Lauryn Ward — who placed fifth at state last year — blew out her knee at the Warrior Classic in Grand Junction, younger sister Luvlyn as well as Gabby Littlepage, Julia Borejszo and Nora Abbot have come on strong as of late.

“(Luvlyn) is putting the work in. Same thing as Gabby and Nora and Julia,” Travis Ward said. “These girls are coming in, putting the work in, getting their heads where they need to be.”

Ward and Borejszo swept the Queen of the Mountain tournament in Edwards earlier this month while Littlepage and Abbot earned runner-up finishes as the Devils placed second as a team. Going up against 46 teams at the Tiara Challenge in Castle Rock on Jan. 20, Borejszo secured a fourth-place result and Abbot came in eighth.

In an effort to meet each athlete where they’re at, Ward constructs four separate schedules for his team based off experience and ability.

“In order to get the strength we need and build as fast as we need, the kids need mat time,” he explained. “You don’t get better at riding a bike by reading a book. You get better riding a bike by getting on it. So, if I’m sending these kids to tournaments where they go 0-2, they’re not getting the full potential of the mat time that they could have.”

Throughout December and January, the Devils have spread out across the Front Range, through the Western Slope and even into Utah for the highly-competitive Tournament of Champions. Recently, Zack Yandle and Bridger Bair each won four-straight matches to bring home a pair of junior varsity victories at the JV War Horse Invitational on Jan. 24.

“I build my schedule to match their abilities so they can grow the fastest they can grow in such a short amount of time,” Ward said.

Both girls and boys teams come into Saturday’s Jody Hern Invitational in Gypsum having defeated Rifle in a dual on Thursday night. Ward said fans could be treated to a few intriguing matchups in the Eagle Valley gym when the action begins at 9 a.m. Depending on where athletes weigh in, Gabby Littlepage could see the No. 2 girl in the state out of Coal Ridge. Palisade’s Kadin Mulford, the No. 1-ranked wrestler in 4A, could meet up with Good — the No. 3 guy at 150 pounds. In the heavyweight division, Palisade’s Tobyn Trottier — ranked third — could meet up with Hern, a regional champion in 2024.

“We’d love for Cooper to get a match with him and see where he’s at,” Ward said.

The Devils are also at home next Wednesday, Feb. 4 for a quadrangular meet, where they’ll go up against Battle Mountain. The action begins at 5 p.m., with Ward estimating a 6:30 start for the I-70 rivalry matches. The boys travel to Peyton for the region meet on Feb. 13-14 while the girls head to North Fork the same weekend.

Postseason hopes are high for both squads.

“They compete pretty well on the big stage,” Ward said. “It just takes mat time (and) experience. It’s a huge mental game, but I feel like mentally, they’re very focused. They’re ready. And these last couple tournaments are what they’re going to need just to get those little things they’re missing fine-tuned.”