The Lowry High School wrestling had one last time to shine in front of its home crowd with senior night Wednesday against Pershing County. The Buckaroos came away on top with a 58-14 win.
“I always appreciate Lovelock coming down here and doing this for us,” said LHS coach John Brooks. “We were not able to have our duals in December, and no one is ever willing to come here and wrestle us. I thought it might have been closer, but our guys came out and did a good job.”
It was also senior night for the Buckaroos — which was one of the shortest in history. Connor Starkey was honored as the lone senior for Lowry before the matches got underway,
Taylor Corak at 106 pounds and Cole Jones (113) kicked off the night with victories for Lowry. Corak pinned Niko Katsaris with three seconds left in the first period, and Jones won by fall over Jeffery Martin for a 12-0 advantage.
The next four matches went the distance, with the Buckaroos pulling out close decisions. Matthew Souza collected a 9-7 win over Ricky Reitz at 120 pounds, while Cade Bell held on for a 7-3 victory over Ramon Figueroa at 126 pounds.
Bryan Day (132) had to battle this way through against Eric Wagner for an 8-6 win, and A.J. Gonzalez defeated Jace Leyva 10-9 at 138 pounds, to give Lowry a 24-0 advantage.
“Those were all good matches,” Brooks said. “I was impressed with A.J. Jace is one of the best wrestlers in his weight class. Jace finished fourth at Spring Creek. A.J. lost to him in overtime up there.”
The Buckaroos pushed the lead to 36-0 after Ryan Johnson and Caleb Sanchez won by forfeit at 145 and 152 pounds, respectively. Quint Bell continued his strong junior campaign, pinning Dylan Hultenschmidt 34 seconds into the second period.
Pershing County picked up its first points at 170 pounds, when Joaquin Wanner knocked off Cade Billingsley. Wanner had missed most of the season due to a broken nose.
Joe Peterson earned a win by forfeit at 182 pounds, and Starkey would not be denied on senior night, as he pinned Marcus Glanton with three seconds left in the first period at 195 pounds. That gave the Buckaroos a 54-6 lead.
The Mustangs scored their final 12 points by forfeit, with Ty Arnett at 220 pounds and Logan Murphy at 285.
There were a handful of exhibition matches as well, with Jimmy Rackley and Anthony Cuevas earning wins over Cody Scholl. Lowry's Jonathon Green pinned Emilio Gomez at 126 pounds and Peterson won by fall.
Lowry travels to Fernley this weekend for the Vaquero Invitational.
The Buckaroos head to South Tahoe on Jan. 27-28 for the Northern 3A League Duals, which will set the seeding for the regional tournament.
The Northern 3A Regional Championships will be Feb. 3-4 in Truckee.
In a change this year, only the top three wrestlers in each weight class advances to the state tournament. The Southern 3A will get five entries this year in each weight class.
The NIAA State Wrestling Championships will take place Feb. 10-11 at Spanish Springs High School in Sparks.
