Michael Pineda
The personality of the Duncan Demon wrestling room changed this week when the team practiced as a full squad for the first time.
Seven football players joined the team Monday to begin preparations for the first dual of the season at Lawton Eisenhower in two weeks.
“It has gotten quite a bit more serious,” Duncan coach Kevin Kelly said. “When you get your football kids in here, the kids that have been working out know that it’s time to get down to business.”
In some respects, Kelly has backed up and began to go back over things so that the football players can catch up, which is normal during the first part of the season which is used to stress fundamentals.
In addition to fundamentals, there is stress on conditioning as the football players shift gears from football shape to wrestling shape.
“Once the football players get in here, we stay longer,” Kelly said. “Football conditioning and wrestling conditioning are different. In wrestling, you use every muscle in your body.
“Just getting in a stance and doing a shot 50 times will get you sore.”
Included in the group of football players that have joined workouts are some freshmen that will be expected to play a key role for Duncan this season. Among the upperclassmen that have started workouts is Payton Atchley, a returning state placer as a sophomore last season.
In all, half of the starting lineup could consist of football players, leaving little time for them to get up to speed and ready to meet the demands of wrestling.
“The football players know that they have to get serious,” Kelly said. “Coming out of the playoffs, there is not much time to get ready. It’s more business-like right now.”
