Published: November 06, 2009 10:34 am      

Preseason focus

Duncan wrestling enjoys solid numbers

DUNCAN — Around 1 p.m. every day, Kevin Kelly retreats to his wrestling office to prepare for the day’s practice session. No longer does Tom Brack sit in the chair, leaning over paperwork and cracking jokes. That role now belongs to Kelly as he prepares to lead Duncan in his first season as head coach.

This season, Kelly has a young team that will be build around three seniors and three juniors. But that does not mean numbers are down.

Currently, there are 18 wrestlers undergoing workouts with seven expected to follow once football is over. With the team at less than full strength, Kelly is focusing on the details as he begins to mold the team into one of the top in Class 5A.

“We are focusing in on trying to get their technique down,” Kelly said. “Kids want to come in and start wrestling, beat each other up. But we don’t need that right now.”

Building the program’s numbers has been one of the busiest tasks for Kelly since he took over the program. The Demon team has also received a boost from the freshmen ranks as 12 will be on the team this season.

“We are going to be young from the looks of things,” Kelly said, “we will only have three seniors. The freshman class is big, we usually average six of seven in a class and we have a ton of sophomores with a ton of talent.

“We are trying to get a bunch of kids that haven’t wrestled in the past, kids that can contribute. Good kids that you don’t have to worry about.”

During offseason workouts, Kelly has a solid group leading the way. State placer Justin Hughes has been on the mats as well as state qualifiers Colton Ballard and Kendall Carnahan.

Ballard is one of two seniors that Kelly has in workouts this fall, along with Halston Marshall. It is the head coach’s belief that Marshall could be the biggest surprise for the Demons this season.

“He came on strong at the end of the season and he has gotten stronger,” Kelly said.

Marshall will be one of the wrestlers that Kelly looks to for answers in the upper weights. The Lower weights are also a question mark with the middle weights expected to be the strength of the team.

“We are going to be real solid in the middle,” Kelly said. “In the other weights, we don’t have a lot of high school experience. But we do have talented kids.”

The Demons have one adjustment to their schedule this season as they will take part in the Deer Creek Tournament rather than the Bixby Tournament.

The season is scheduled to start Dec. 3 at Lawton Ike, but that could be rescheduled, depending on the success of the football team.