SPARKS — Coming into the NIAA 3A State Wrestling Tournament, it figured to be a tight race between a number of teams to win the team title.
Three teams proved that to be right, as one point was the difference between first and third on Saturday afternoon at Spanish Springs High School on Sparks.
In the end, Spring Creek pulled away to wins its first state title since 2007, with 135 points. Churchill County was second at 132 and Boulder City (123.50) and Virgin Valley (107) were third and fourth, respectively.
Lowry, which sent eight wrestlers to the state championships, finished fifth with 91 points. It is the first time since 2007 that the Buckaroos did not finish first or second at the state tournament.
“We came back and wrestled well on the second day and finished up,” said LHS coach John Brooks. “We had a tough round in the championship semifinals. I thought it would be different that you would not need that many guys, but you still need to have 10 or 12 kids at this thing,”
Quint Bell turned in the best individual finish for the Buckaroos, earning the runner-up spot at 152 pounds to Churchill County’s Jack Swisher. Bell, a junior, breezed through his two matches on Friday, pinning Virgin Valley’s Timmy Moeia and Elko’s Trevor Basaraba 9-1 in the semifinals.
Bell had to wait nearly a full day to get back on to the mat, where he suffered an 8-7 loss to Swisher.
“Quint had a really good year,” Brooks said. “The championship match could have gone either way. It was the match I thought it would be. One take down decided it.”
Isaiah Blanco (106), Matthew Souza (120), Bryan Day (132) and Ryan Johnson (145) each placed third.
Blanco won his quarterfinal match by pin over Boulder City’s Kenon Cowley in the third period, but lost in the semifinals to Virgin Valley’s Gage Woods by an 8-4 decision.
The freshman came back on Saturday morning to win his consolation semifinal mach by pin ion 28 seconds over Boulder City’s Curtis Brown. Blanco collected third place with a pin over Spring Creek’s Kodis Campbell.
Souza had to finish third the hard way after losing his quarterfinal bout to Boulder City’s Zayne Dennington by a 7-2 decision. Souza came back through the consolation round to beat Pahrump Valley’s Isaak Cruz by pin. In the consolation semifinals, Souza notched a 7-5 win over Churchill County’s Terry White and the junior came back to beat Dennington 4-2 to finish third.
“It was a great finish for Souza,” Brooks said. “That was the first time he beat Terry and to come back a beat a kid who he lost to was big.”
Day made his way into the semifinals by pinning Cheyenne’s Calvin Agabin in the second period. Day suffered his lone loss in the semifinals to Boulder City’s Jimmy Brown. Day answered back on Saturday morning with a 13-0 win over Moapa Valley’s Zachary Anderson. The junior closed out the tournament with a first-period pin of Spring Creek’s Drake Kennedy.
Johnson had all four of his matches go the entire distance. He began Friday afternoon with an 8-0 win over Mojave’s Matthew Rogers. Johnson suffered a 9-1 loss in the semifinals to Churchill County’s Sean McCormick.
However, Johnson rebounded Saturday morning to beat Western’s Randel Rivera 3-1 in the consolation semifinals and Rogers a second time (9-1) to take home third place.
Seth Hornbarger (160) and Cade Billingsley finished fourth, as both wrestlers reached the championship semifinals.
Hornbarger won his opener by pin over Boulder City’s Dillon Vierra, but lost in the semifinals to Churchill County’s Matt Goings. Hornbarger won his consolation semifinal match by pin over Cheyenne’s Isaiah Stinson. However, Hornbarger lost a rematch to Viera for third place.
Billingsley captured his quarterfinal match by pin over Chaparral’s Jesus Ruiz, but lost in the semifinals to Virgin Valley’s Cresent Crandall. Billingsley bounced back to beat Spring Creek’s Bayley Porreca in the consolation semifinals, but lost the third-place match to Bryan Foster of Boulder City.
“We hit the wall in the semifinal round,” Brooks said. “We saw that little bit of better wrestling in that round. The good thing is we came back and competed well to end the year.”
Freshman Taylor Corak was an extra wrestler at 106 pounds and won his opening match by pin over Brown of Boulder City in the second period. Corak lost to Virgin Valley’s Rudy Cannon in the semifinals and Spring Creek’s Campbell in the consolation semifinals.
“I was using the excuse all year that we were a young team,” Brooks said. “We are not young any more, we are a veteran group now. We will be OK. The good thing is all these guys will be back.”
