Azzam, Schlager advance to state semis

Azzam, Schlager advance to state semis

By Charles Whisnand

Appeal Sports Editor

LAS VEGAS - Garret Truesdell's finish summed up the day for the Carson High School

wrestling team: Overall it was solid, but not spectacular.

The Senators' four wrestlers went 2-2 on Friday at the NIAA Class 4A State

Championships at Cimarron-Memorial High School.

Martin Azzam (145 pounds) and Nick Schlager (112) both won to advance to today's semifinals, placing them one win away from making it to the championship match.

Todd Banko (130) and Truesdell (189) each lost and both will have to wrestle all the way back if they want to place.

Northern 4A teams got off to a good start heading into the final day of the event today. Mojave leads with 39 points while Damonte Ranch is in second with 26. Fallon (third, 15), Galena (12, fourth) and Douglas (11, sixth) all had outstanding first days. Galena's wrestlers went 4-1 on Friday while the Tiger wrestlers went 3-1.

Truesdell placed himself in a hole, falling behind 8-3, but almost made a tremendous rally in the final period against Sierra Vista's Brent Reed. He closed to within 8-6 and in the waning seconds appeared to have Reed turned for a possible three-point near fall to give him the win.

But on a borderline call, the wrestlers were ruled out of bounds before Truesdell could be rewarded for the near fall. Truesdell then had to allow an escape and ran out of time for the final margin.

"Some refs are going to call that and some aren't," said Carson coach Tyson Thivierge, who noted that the hole that Truesdell was in was why he was in that situation.

Truesdell can place fourth in the double-elimination tournament with two straight wins and third with three straight wins.

It's a harder road for Banko, who fell back into a pigtail consolation match. He'll need to win three matches to take fourth and four to place third.

Banko faced Green Valley's Landon Saldana, a wrestler Banko beat 10-5 at the Las Vegas Holiday Tournament early in the season. But this time Saldana was ready for Banko and won 13-7.

"He's got a real long road back and so does Garret Truesdell," Thivierge said. "I hope Todd can wrestle him again and prove he's as good a wrestler as he is."

Schlager built a 9-3 lead against Green Valley's Mason Saldana and held on for a 9-7 win. Schlager will have a tough draw in today's semifinals as he'll face Cimarron's Brittain Longmire, an easy winner over Galena's Jake Gunzel.

"Schlager gave me a scare," Thivierge said. "He wrestled solid. He wrestled smart and so did Martin."

"It feels wonderful," said Schlager about his win. Schlager knew he built a big enough lead to overcome a mistake late in the match. "Hopefully I'll wrestle mistake free," he said.

Azzam settled for a 6-4 win over Canyon Springs' Max Quezeda. Azzam was clearly the stronger wrestler and he needed his strength after a long day in which he had to be cleared to wrestle after having a facial cut.

"This has been a long day," Azzam said. "Strength got me through this one."

Azzam nearly pinned Quezeda in the second period, but ended up with nothing after receiving no near fall points.

"I thought it was a good call," Azzam said. "I almost had him. It slipped out."

For Douglas, Tony Ferris at 189 won his pigtail match by pin and then won 8-0 in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals. C.J. Wynar also won by pin at 135 for Douglas to advance to the semifinals.

The Tigers' Nico Barker was pinned by the Sunset Region champion, Mojave's Jake Evans.

For Galena, Luke Riley (119) and Jeremy Wilson (130) won by pin while Eric Wilcoxson (140) and Doug Del Porto (125) won close matches (4-3 and 6-4, respectively) to advance to the semifinals.

Among other highlights for Northern 4A teams were wins by former Carson Bulldog Micah Chalk of Damonte Ranch and Ricky McDonald of Manogue as both won by pins.

Thivierge said he expects his wrestlers to finish strong today.

"Everybody's heads are up," he said.

• Contact sports editor Charles Whisnand at cwhisnand@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1214.