Fallon’s Steven Moon was the only Greenwave wrestler to finish on top as he leads three into this week’s state tournament in Boulder City.
The Greenwave wrestling team qualified three to Saturday’s 3A state championship after the team placed sixth in last weekend’s regional tournament at Spring Creek High School.
Steven Moon won his 160-pound weight class all by fall, and Jaiden McFadden (120) and Andrew Douglas (126) each finished fourth to qualify for state. Six wrestlers came one win away from qualifying for state but five finished fifth and the other sixth. Only the top four advanced to this Saturday’s state tournament at Boulder City High School.
Elko, led by former Fallon coach Mitch Overlie, won the regional meet with 284 points followed by Lowry in second with 247.5. Spring Creek, the defending state champ from the 2019-2020 season, finished third with 235 points, Fernley was fourth with 168 and South Tahoe rounded out the top five with 136. Fallon finished sixth with 118 points.
Moon pinned his first two opponents in the first period, beginning with Truckee’s Campbell Walter at the 1:42 mark, followed by North Valleys’ Hector Nunez with 45 seconds remaining in the period. Moon took down his third 3A West opponent with a fall in the second period before pinning Lowry’s Jhett Harber 27 seconds into the second to claim his first championship.
Douglas opened with a pin to set up a semifinal bout with Spring Creek’s Wesley Ricaporte. The Spartan wrestler, who won the weight class, pinned Douglas 1:27 into the match, dropping him into the consolation bracket. Douglas, though, rebounded to pin teammate Lonnie Adams to qualify for state. Lowry’s Brenton Baker pinned Douglas 28 seconds into the second period to take third.
McFadden was ousted in the quarterfinal when Spring Creek’s Jake Bradford pinned the Fallon grappler with one second left in the opening period. McFadden, though, won his next three by fall in the consolation bracket to advance to the third-place match. Lowry’s Angel Huerta pinned McFadden with six seconds left in the match.
Fallon had several near-misses with Adams (126), Lucas Prinz (132), Isiah Diaz (138), Troy Shelton (152), Xavier Capton (170) and Sean Reeder (285) finishing one win away from qualifying for state. Both Prinz and Capton are seniors.
Before facing his teammate, Douglas, in the consolation semifinals, Adams fell to Lowry’s Baker in his first match but pinned Truckee’s Katia Islas with 18 seconds left in the opening period. After losing to Douglas, Adams decisioned North Valleys’ Jaylen Solorzano, 10-9, to take fifth.
After dropping his first match by decision, 12-5, to Fernley’s Brady Garrett, Prinz won his next two by injury default and decision to advance to the consolation semifinals where the winner goes to state. Elko’s Cael Sellers, though, ended Prinz’s last chance at state with a 9-4 decision. Prinz lost his fifth-place match, 7-6, to Lowry’s Gage Kinder.
Diaz opened with a 15-4 major decision win over Fernley’s Brody Garrett but fell in the first period to Spring Creek’s Colton Browne. Diaz followed with a loss by fall one minute into the final period to South Tahoe’s Patrick Webster, which eliminated his chance at state. Diaz, though, rebounded to finish fifth with a fall over Spring Creek’s Quincy Gerber.
Shelton advanced to the semifinals after a 15-2 major decision over Elko’s Jesston Tkach but he fell with two seconds left to North Valleys Ivan Ortiz. Spring Creek’s Anthony Ward claimed the final state berth when he pinned Shelton with 15 seconds left in the opening period. Shelton, though, finished fifth.
Capton dropped into consolation after his first match resulted in a fall to Fernley’s Brandon McCullar. Capton rebounded by pinning Dayton’s Diego Ibarra Lopez with 13 seconds left in the first period. Capton, though, was three points shy of advancing to state after Elko’s Andres Flores won the consolation semifinal match, 10-8. Capton finished fifth after a 6-4 decision over Fernley’s Anthony Robles.
Reeder fell in his first two matches to Wooster’s Gavin Halman with 28 seconds left in the quarterfinal opening period and one minute into the second period against Lowry’s David Walker. Reeder, though, bounced back by pinning Halman 32 seconds into the match to finish fifth.
Macray O’Neill (152) split his four matches and missed out on finishing in the top six. He opened with a fall to advance to the quarterfinal before falling to Dayton’s Colby Brunjes. O’Neill pinned Wooster’s Aidan McElveney in the second period before falling to Ward with eight seconds left in the first period.
Everdmar Garcia (145), one of the favorites before suffering an injury last month, finished 1-2 with a win over North Valleys’ Taylor Stealman. Caden McKnight (145) also finished 1-2 with his lone win being a fall over Dayton’s Connor McChesney.
Quentin Hornbeak (138) and Colton Blankenship (182) each lost both of their matches.
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