The Lowry High School wrestling team began its run to the postseason with the Northern 3A duals this past weekend in South Tahoe.
The Buckaroos won seven of their eight duals, with the only loss coming to Spring Creek 40-22. The Spartans were a perfect 8-0 to claim the dual title.
Lowry defeated Churchill County 49-27, Fernley 65-12, South Tahoe 56-18, Dayton 78-0, Sparks 67-9, Truckee 78-0 and Elko 59-18.
"I felt we did a pretty good job over the two days,” said LHS coach John Brooks. “We are finally starting to get there and wrestling good at the right time. We are close to peaking. We won a couple big matches and let a couple get away. This weekend is going to be big for us. With just three spots up for state, we have to wrestle our best.”
Lowry knocks off Greenwave
Lowry started off the weekend against the defending 3A state champion in Churchill County. The dual began at 182 pounds and Lowry won only two matches through the first seven bouts. The Greenwave built a 27-12 lead after the 120-pound match. The only two matches the Buckaroos won were by forfeit at 195 pounds by Joe Peterson and Isaiah Blanco at 106 pounds.
Nathen Blanco began a streak of seven straight wins, with a pin at 126 pounds. Lowry jumped in front 36-27 after Bryan Day (132), Zack Peters (145) and Ryan Johnson won by forfeit.
Churchill County pulled a surprising move, when it did not wrestle Jack Swisher at 152 pounds. Brooks countered with a move of sophomore Caleb Sanchez to 152 pounds to take on Sean McCormick. Sanchez pulled off the upset with a pin in 91 seconds.
Quint Bell, who usually wrestles at 152 pounds, moved to 160 where beat Matt Goings 8-4. Cade Billingsley capped off the dual with a 10-1 win over Chase Hyde.
“Fallon pulled a couple moves that surprised me,” added the coach. “That gave Quint the No. 1 seed at 152 pounds. Him and Caleb had pretty good wins."
Lowry cruises past Fernley
Lowry gained an early 3-0 lead over Fernley after Peterson defeated Gabriel Richards at 195 pounds. The Vaqueros came back to go in front 12-3 after winning the next two bouts. Lowry forfeited all of its matches at 285 pounds, the only weight class it did not fill.
Isaiah Blanco, Cole Jones, Bell and Billingsley won their matches by forfeit. Nathen Blanco, Day, Peters, Johnson and Seth Hornbarger won by pin. The only match that went the distance was at 182 pounds, where Connor Starkey defeated Aresnio Reyes 10-9.
Spring Creek gets past Lowry
Lowry closed out Friday night against Spring Creek in one the more anticipated duals. The two rivals did not disappoint with Spring Creek winning 40-22. The Spartans won eight of the 14 matches, but picked up extra points by winning four of those bouts by pin.
“I felt we did a pretty good job against them,” Brooks said. “They just have a couple more horses than we do. You have to give them credit, they are a good team.”
Isaiah Blanco at 106 pounds and Matthew Souza (120) won their matches 9-1 and 6-4, respectively to bring the team score to 16-7 in Spring Creek’s favor. The Spartans won the next three bouts to go in front 28-7, when Johnson stopped the run with a 6-1 win over Caden Constable.
That began a stretch of four straight wins for the Buckaroos, as Bell pinned Cole Campbell at 152 pounds and Hornbarger and Billingsley won their matches by decision over Trevor Greener and Bayley Porreca, respectively to cut the deficit to 28-22.
However, Spring Creek won the last two matches by pin to push the final margin to 18 points.
“There were a couple of matches that could have gone either way,” Brooks said. “They are going to be tough to beat in the next couple weeks. We need to keep working and anything is possible. We saw that last year.”
Lowry takes down host Vikings
Lowry picked up 10 wins in the 14 matches against host South Tahoe on the second day of the event. Both teams forfeited at 285 pounds.
Isaiah Blanco started the round off with a 17-0 win over Josh Brackett. The Vikings went ahead 6-5 after winning at 113 pounds, but the Buckaroos won the next seven matches to go in front 44-6. Souza, Nathen Blanco, Johnson, Bell and Hornbarger won by pin. Day, Starkey and Trent McKellips won by forfeit.
Lowry blanks Dayton
Lowry scored the maximum number of points it could in beating Dayton 78-0. There were just five bouts wrestled as the Buckaroos gained nine victories by forfeit.
Jones, Bell, Hornbarger, Billingsley and McKellips won by pin. Billingsley had the quickest match winning in 17 seconds over Trinity Natividad. McKellips needed just 26 seconds and Hornbarger 36 seconds.
Lowry rails Sparks
Lowry’s dominated Sparks from the start, losing just one match on the mat.
Jones, Souza, Hornbarger, Billingsley, Peterson, McKellips and Isaiah Blanco won by forfeit. Day, Johnson and Starkey won by pin, while Nathen Blanco went the distance in an 11-1 victory over Walter Gudiel.
Lowry shuts out Truckee
Lowry picked up its second shut out of the weekend with a 78-0 win over Truckee. The Buckaroos won nine bouts by forfeit, with Peters, Johnson, Isaiah Blanco and Jones winning by pin.
Lowry blasts past Elko
Lowry won nine of the first 10 matches against Elko and did not look back to build a 53-3 lead. Day, Peters, Bell, Hornbarger, Billingsley, Starkey, Peterson and Isaiah Blanco won by pin. Johnson claimed a 17-1 win and McKellips won by forfeit.
Lowry is in Truckee this weekend for the Northern 3A Regional Championships. The top tree wrestlers in each weight class advances to the state championships on Feb. 10-11 at Spanish Springs High School in Sparks.
“There might be some good wrestlers left out of the state tournament,” Brooks said. “The way it is set up now, you will have to earn a spot to get in the top three.”
