SOUTH LAKE TAHOE -- The Carson High wrestling team continued its dominance Tuesday, steamrolling South Tahoe 65-9 in a Nevada 4A dual meet at South Tahoe High.
The Senators flew out of the gate strong, pinning each of the first four Vikings they faced in the opening minute of the first round.
"We wrestled really well today," Senators coach Tim McCarthy said. "We had a lot of pins, which makes the score look even better."
Carson's Chandler Brown (135s) kicked off the match with a pin over South Tahoe's Josh Schindlebauer just 24 seconds in, setting an early tone in what would be a long day for the Vikings.
Brown's result was followed by first-minute pins from Senator teammates Paul Carter (140) at 41 seconds, Joe Roman (145) at 46 seconds and Chris Kotter (152) at 24 seconds.
It wasn't until 160-pounders Gombu Sherpa of South Tahoe and Chris Ceccarelli of Carson stepped on the mat, that fans were treated to a competitive match.
After wrestling a fairly even first round, Ceccarelli found himself underneath Sherpa midway through the second. But a crafty escape move landed him another point and Ceccarelli pulled into a 7-4 lead heading into the final round.
With Sherpa starting the third in the down position, Ceccarelli decided to make his move and eventually landed a pin with under a minute left in the match.
"I was really out of shape," Ceccarelli said. "I haven't wrestled in a long time because of Christmas vacation and he was really strong, but I just kept getting at his ankle and it finally worked for me."
After the next three matches saw Senators Chris Donner (171), Nick Shine (189) and Allen Wooldridge (215) come away with pins, heavyweights David Vasquez of South Tahoe and Eric Klug of Carson entertained for three solid periods.
With Vasquez holding a 3-2 advantage in the closing minute of the final round and both wrestling from the up position, Klug made an attempt to get Vasquez off balance with a bear hug.
However, the tactic played right into Vasquez's strength and he lifted Klug off his feet and spun him down to the mat.
"If you watch the earlier matches, you see the little guys trying to throw their opponent," Vasquez said. "Well, it doesn't work like that (in heavyweights). You got to have the guy come to you. So that's why I was trying to get him to come in and once he did, I got under him and threw him."
Vasquez was awarded points for a takedown and a near fall as time expired, earning him a 8-3 decision.
Despite the loss, coach McCarthy was pleased with Klug's performance.
"Klug wrestled really well, considering he's giving up about 40 pounds," he said. "He did a good job in there."
The Vikings also received a nice performance from 119-pounder Dan Dysters, who pinned Cody Albie with 14 seconds left in their match. But it was too little too late for the Vikings as Senators' Eric Aguliere (103), freshman Kevin Riggin (112), Gary Riggin (125) and Chris White (130) rounded out the rest of the weight classes with winning results.
With the victory, the Senators improve to 4-0 in league and 10-0 overall and appear to be the frontrunner for the zone title.
"We're still kind of messing around with our lineup and trying to figure out who will be in the best weights for the regional tournament," McCarthy said. "We have five more duals, and we certainly have a goal of winning all of them and going undefeated, but that's down the line a bit."
While the scoreboard certainly wasn't in the Vikings' (2-2, 8-12-1) favor, they didn't seem to be hanging their heads after the match.
"Our kids tried out there," Viking coach Jack Lopez said. "But they just overpowered us. Sometimes in wrestling you meet a team that's so much better than you that it looks like your best is not so good, but we do go out there and do our best.
"Carson could easily be the best team in Nevada. It looks like it's their year."
LYON COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Fernley came away with the Lyon County Championship when it defeated Yerington 39-36 and Dayton 57-24. In another match, Yerington defeated Dayton 46-36.
Among the leaders for Fernley was Tigger McIntyre at 112 pounds, who won both of his matches by pin. For Yerington against Fernley, Steve Gutierrez (125), Derek Wellock (171) and Daniel Lemos (152) all won by pin.
Also for Yerington, Michael Lanzino (160) won 9-8 and Kevin Brown won 4-2. Lucas Mudloff (189) won by pin as well for Yerington.
The Lions led 36-27, but Fernley won the final two matches by pin for the victory.
Against Dayton for Yerington, Gutierrez, Wellock and Daniel Lemos all won by pin. Other winners for Yerington were Jay Lemos (112), who won 11-2, Brown, Lanzino, Mudloff and Patrick Watson (heavyweight).
For Dayton, Jay Hurt was among those who won by pin against Yerington.
