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By DAVID WOLMAN
Traveler Sports Editor

It's hard to believe, but the high school wrestling season is already entering its final month.

Of the three regular season events left for Arkansas City, none is more crucial than tonight's home dual against Valley Center.

Why so crucial?

Both teams are in the same Class 5A regional next month.

"These matches mean seeds in the regional tournament," Ark City coach Shawn Silvis said. "That could mean making it to state or not."

Valley Center has the advantage in duals this season, as it has compiled a dual record of 21-3. Ark City is 1-4.

"Valley Center has about five squads worth of kids," Silvis said. "They're solid at every weight."

For the Bulldogs, tonight is the closest they have come to competing with a full squad at a dual this season.

Silvis said that his team will have open weights at 103 and 145 pounds. But that's a far cry from earlier in the season, when Ark City was dealing with the injury bug and had, at times, five or six open weight classes.

While Ark City appears to be getting healthier, senior Aaron Hoag is dealing with some minor niches and bruises. Silvis said that Hoag is listed as probable for tonight.

"On Tuesday, I say that he was at 100 (percent)," Silvis said. "Today, I don't know."

After wrestling for five days in an eight-day span to open the spring semester, the Bulldogs welcomed the 12-day layoff leading up to tonight.

"It's been nice to have that week off," Silvis said. "We were able to do some things to get the guys mentally tough. We showed a lot of technique last week. This week, we just wrestled and went home. So, that was nice to get out of the normal grind. It seemed like that we had two days to fix something and go out and try it. Now, we've had a whole week to fix things and try them without competing."

Tonight's most anticipated match is between Valley Center's Seth Mertins and Ark City's Trison Graham -- Class 5A's top-ranked wrestlers at 130 pounds.

The two split four meetings last season. Graham won the most important match, defeating Mertins in the semifinals of the Class 5A state tournament by an 8-6 decision. Graham scored a reverse with under five seconds left for the final tally.

"It was the best match of the year last year," Silvis said.

Graham and Mertins met in the 119-pound state championship final two seasons ago -- also won by Graham.

"I think both of them have a lot of respect for each other," Silvis said. "They're good competition for each other. And it's nice because one always makes the other one step up. When one gets ahead, it makes the other one feel they have to step up. That's a good rivalry to have. It makes them work harder and strive to get better."

After tonight, Ark City has only two regular season events remaining -- Rose Hill tournament (Feb. 1-2) and a dual at Newton (Feb. 7) -- before its Feb. 16 regional at Valley Center.

"We're climbing on the state tournament," Silvis said. "It's coming up pretty quick. We've got to toughen up for the state tournament. If we don't, we're not going to end up to where we want to. If we do, we'll be fine."

Scheduled matches:
Ark City Valley Center
103: open vs. Codie Dean
112: Garrett Jones vs. Jake Mertins
119: Kash Biddle vs. Chase Nitcher
125: Aaron Hoag vs. Kolby Botts
130: Trison Graham vs. Seth Mertins
135: Sterling Terry vs. Cade Blair
140: Michael Martin vs. Jake Brietigan
145: open vs. Eric Sallee
152: Bryce Marr vs. Kyle McGoldrick
160: Cameron Riojas vs. Beau Volkman
171: Scott Elliott vs. Levi Hooper
189: Clint Bruce vs. Titus Hopper
215: Trevor Chaparro vs. Jarrett Raney
HWT: Victor Ibarra vs. Jared Douglas