Yerington wrestles to Lyon County championship

Big victories by Shawn McCarty, Kevin Brown and Tony Gutierrez propelled Yerington High School to the Lyon County wrestling championship Thursday on their own mat.

The Lions' trio won both their matches, capturing individual county titles and helping their team move past opponents Fernley and Dayton in the three-way dual meet.

Yerington beat Dayton 46-23 and tied Fernley 39-39. Fernley had defeated Dayton 45-36, but Yerington was awarded the county championship based on tiebreaker.

Gutierrez scored a first-period pin against Dayton's Mike Songer at 145 pounds, winning in 1:48, and he also beat Fernley's Seth Block 7-1. Brown also won his Fernley match by default at 125, then came back to defeat Dayton's John Hurt 14-4 in his second match.

McCarty won by default against Fernley at 119, then pinned Jake Conti nine seconds into the second period. Yerington coach Rod Lemos was pleased with McCarty's performance.

"He did really good for a freshman today," Lemos said. "His performance really stands out for us."

Other Lyon County individual champs from Dayton were Nathan Aveiro (112) Bobby Burton (140), Chris Viscarret (215), Brian Martin (HWT) and Shane Van Zant at 189, who scored a surprising upset victory over Yerington defending state champion Dustin Mariott.

"It'll be different next time," Lemos said of the Van Zant-Mariott confrontation. "Their kid wrestled a smart match. He got up a couple points and then stalled it out."

Yerington looked to be in trouble against Fernley, but it won the final three matches by forfeit to earn the 39-39 tie. The closest match was at 132, where Fernley's John Ball defeated Mike Lazino 7-6. Ball picked up two points on a reversal in the third period to earn the comeback win.

Fernley picked up four wins by pin in the match, all coming in the second period. The group included Tigger McIntyre (103), Ronnie Burton (135), Aaron Keller (152) and Omar Zaldivar (160)

Fernley's match with Dayton was largely uneventful, as only two of the 14 matches were contested. Seth Black of Fernley defeated Mike Songer by pin in the second round at 145, and Fernley's Lonnie Hatcher topped Billy Ingram 13-6 at 171.

The teams won't hit the mat again until next weekend at the NIAA/U.S. Bank 3A State Championships, which will be held Friday and Saturday.