SOUTH LAKE TAHOE - Ron Hall's return as head coach of the Douglas High School wrestling program was short but successful, as the Tigers breezed to a 62-13 Northern 4A conference dual meet victory against South Tahoe on Wednesday night.
The other half of Wednesday's conference double dual meet was pretty much the same story when Carson strolled to a 69-12 victory on the strength of seven pins and three forfeit victories.
By winning, Carson improved to 2-1 and Douglas to 3-2 in the Northern 4A standings. South Tahoe is 0-5.
Douglas won the final seven matches either by pin or technical fall as the Tigers won their first match under Hall, who officially replaced Brian Dempsey as the team's head coach on Monday.
Officials at Douglas declined to comment on the reason to replace Dempsey.
Hall has coached football and wrestling at Douglas for more than 20 years, but this marked his first time out as head wrestling coach since 1988.
Two Douglas victories came in a matter of seconds: Drew Hall only needed 18 to pin his 160-pound opponent and Nathan Bennett won his 189-pound match in 20. David Tingle (140), Leonard Arrnendo (145), John Hillenbrand (171) and Carl Wymer (215) all won their matches with first-round pins.
Carson won seven straight matches with first-round pins, including Justin Shine (140), Doug Brooks (145), Jason LaPorte (152), Branden Lamborn (160), sophomore Adam Peterson (171), Danny Dunbar (189) and Ben Johnson (215). Dunbar logged the fastest pin of the night - 17 seconds.
No match was scheduled between Carson and Douglas. The two rivals will meet in Carson City next month.
Douglas competes again on Saturday at the Spring Creek tournament, while Carson hosts the 14-team Senator J.V. Tournament the same day. Next Wednesday, Carson's varsity travels to Fallon for an important conference double dual involving Galena and the host Greenwave. Douglas also hosts Reno and Hug next Wednesday. Both meets are scheduled to start at 4 p.m.
