Carson rides the Greenwave

BY MIKE HOUSER

Nevada Appeal Sports Writer

With the Douglas Tigers and a shot at the Sierra League regular-season championship right around the corner, the Carson Senators wrestling team cleared a major hurdle Wednesday, defeating Fallon 52-21 at Morse Burley Gymnasium.

The Senators took advantage of three forfeits by Fallon for 18 points and got pins from Brett Allen, Nick Schlager, Adam Welch and Bryce Landolt to add 24 more as Carson moved to 8-1 overall and 4-0 in the Sierra League.

"They graduated a lot of kids last year, but they're a good, formidable team," said Carson coach Tim McCarthy. "They're kind of like us " they've got some really good kids waiting in the wings."

"I don't think I was surprised by the outcome, but we were hoping for a closer score," said Fallon assistant coach Matt Reibsamen, whose Greenwave fell to 2-3 in league. "We had several kids out with injuries, but we had some kids step in to help."

One of the Fallon wrestlers to step up, said Reibsamen, was 119-pounder Hector Anaya, who dropped a 12-4 major decision to Carson's Ricky Ugarte.

"He's tough. He's like a diesel engine," Reibsamen said of Anaya, a sophomore who is in his first year of wrestling. "He grinds away and never gives up. He fights for everything. He did a pretty good job tonight."

Welch, Schlager, Allen and Landolt were Carson's quick-strike crew, with the physical Welch doing his best version of White Snake Moan, smothering Fallon's Austin Herzog for a pin at 3 minutes, 47 seconds to stretch the Senators' lead to 40-18.

"I like to stay tight," the 130-pound Welch (who drew some calls of "Adam Bomb" from the crowd) said of his exhausting, up-close style. "The tighter I squeeze, the more it hurts (his opponent). I let him make mistakes, then I take over. I call it compact wrestling: I like to stay tight, close and physical.

"I opened up (Herzog's) face and was able to cross-face him a couple times. He exposed his head to me and I just pulled it in (for the cradle and the finish). I use up a lot of energy on top of the guy. I practice hard with Brett Allen. He's 20-30 pounds heavier than me. He keeps me tough."

For the most part, McCarthy was pleased with Welch's performance.

"He wrestled well, (but) we've seen him better than that," McCarthy said. "He got a little out of control at times. He's not a boring wrestler to watch. He's always moving."

The 145-pound Allen got the Senators moving with a pin over Nick Borvac at 1:46 in the first match.

"He looked real, real tough tonight," McCarthy said of Allen.

As did Schlager, who cradled Kolby McFarlane into a pin at 2:43 in a 125-pound match.

The comebacking Schlager, who broke a finger in the Capital City Duals on Dec. 6, is "getting back to his old self," said McCarthy, who also praised Nicholas Garcia.

Garcia, a freshman, dropped a 10-1 major decision to Charlie Heck at 140 pounds.

"Even though he lost, Nicholas wrestled very well " he wrestled tough," McCarthy said.

Fallon had its moments as well. Derek Simmiripa pinned Carson's Jimmy Weir at 4:24 of their 152-pound match, knotting the dual up at 6-6.

After Carson's Collin Grischott took a forfeit win at 160, Fallon's flagship Trent de Braga pinned Junior Valladares at 5:53 in a 171-pound match to knot it up 12-12.

Colin Merkle pinned Austin Brown at the 3 minute mark in a 112-pound showdown to account for the rest of the Greenwave's scoring.

Reibsamen liked the effort of outsized Hayden Buckmaster, who dropped an 8-6 decision to Carson's colossal Max Schadeck in a heavyweight match.

"Max is such a big kid (285 pounds) and Hayden had an injured wrist, so we didn't know what to expect," Reibsamen said. "One eighty-nine was a close match (Carson's Justin Steele took a 7-2 win over Taylor Ritchie). If it swings the other way, it's closer on points. It wasn't a question of us winning the (dual)."

Reibsamen said thanks to injuries and grades the Greenwave is down to 17 bodies, an unusually small amount considering its traditionally fecund feeder system.

Fallon will meet Wooster in its next dual on Wednesday.

Landolt, a freshman, pinned Charlie Workman in 59 seconds in their 135-pound match, 215-pounder Justin Barlow won by forfeit " as did Pat Craugh at 103 " to round out Carson's scoring.

After a trip to Fairfield, Calif., for the Armijo Invitational, the Senators will travel to Minden for the league championship showdown with arch-rival Douglas, which took a 55-point victory over Carson at the Douglas Invitation Jan. 3.

"They have a tough team, we have tough team," Welch said. "I'm going to have a tough match. I don't know the kid's name, but I lost to him by four points (on Jan. 3). He was good."

Douglas also finished first to the Senators' third in the Capital City Duals.

"We're definitely the underdog in that matchup," McCarthy said. "We'll be ready for them. It will be the roughest match of the year."

The tournament begins 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Douglas High School.