Carson wrestlers win zone crown

Carson grapples to regional title

Dave Price

SPARKS - Carson High School senior wrestler Joe Roman knew exactly what was at stake and that the pressure was definitely on when he stepped on the mat for the 171-pound weight class finals at the Northern 4A Regional Tournament Saturday night.

No problem.

"A lot of pressure makes it lot more fun and a lot more exciting," Roman said.

Exciting and dramatic because his 7-6 victory against Fallon's Darren Lewis clinched Carson's team championship at the end of a tournament that, as predicted, went back and forth all day before a crowd of about 800 inside The Brickhouse at Sparks High School.

Aided by individual titles from Roman and 215-pounder Nick Shine, Carson edged Fallon by a 166-156 margin and captured its first regional wrestling tournament championship since 1989.

"I really wanted this, for the team and for myself," said Roman, who missed qualifying for the state tournament by one spot as a 152-pounder last year. "Mostly for the team because this is what we've been working for and talking about all year."

Eight Senators qualified to wrestle again next Saturday at the NIAA 4A State Tournament, which will be held at Cimarron-Memorial High in Las Vegas. The top three finishers in each weight class earned state berths.

In addition to Shine and Roman, Carson's qualifiers include freshman Robbie Bozin, second at 112 pounds; Eric Aguilera, second at 125 pounds; freshman Travis Lamborn, second at 140 pounds; Chris Ceccarelli, second at 189 pounds; Owen Craugh, third at 103 pounds; and Jason Klug, third in the heavyweight division. Micah Whitcome (145 pounds) and Loren Wooldridge (160) didn't advance, but they delivered key points with their fourth-place performances.

Douglas finished third in the team standings with 104 pounds, led by 152-pound champion C.J. Keith. Three other Tigers emerged as second-place finishers, including Bradley Johnson at 145 pounds, Luis Gabriel at 160 pounds and freshman Devin Barker at 103 pounds, while Bryan Kaplan placed third at 112 pounds. Coach Mike Gamberg was pleased afterward.

"Nobody expected us to compete like this today because we're so young, but guess what, we're here to stay," Gamberg said. "The kids came here and had a great day. I'm real proud of all of them."

Keith rode out Fallon's Tommy Diaz in a 30-second sudden death overtime period to win the 152-pound gold medal, and he won to the chants of "C.J., C.J." that rang out from both the Douglas and Carson rooting sections.

"I knew the Carson fans wanted me to win because the team score was so close," Keith said. "Yeah, it felt pretty good to have all those people cheering for me. Winning this (regionals) was my goal."

Carson also happened to be protecting a 156-152 lead in the team standings at the time and a win by Diaz would have tied the score. As it was, the Senators were still protecting that four-point lead when the 171-pound final began.

"We had told Joe, he was a senior and a team captain, and that if he won, we would win the tournament," Carson coach Dean Schmanski said of Roman, whose season record now stands at 42-6. "He handled that stress and pressure real well because he went out and wrestled a smart match."

Roman used a double-leg takedown to take a 4-2 lead at the end of the first period, then he extended the lead to 6-3 on a single-leg takedown with 1:07 remaining in the second period. He held on the rest of the way, giving the Senators an insurmountable eight-point lead because Fallon only had heavyweight Josh Mauga left to wrestle.

Two matches later, Shine put an exclamation point on Carson's victory when he pinned Reno's Joe Sturgis in just 1:27. Shine is now 132-25 for his career and preparing for his fourth state tournament trip.

Carson's team championship was an all-around effort, Schmanski pointed out.

"The success we've had this year has been a result of the wrestlers, the parents, the community support and the entire coaching staff," Schmanski said.

"Today was every bit as close as I expected it would be. I actually had us as under dogs going into the tournament, but the key for us was we had guys come back through the consolation brackets and give us third- and fourth-place finishes. That shows the power of a complete team."

The team score had gone back and forth. Carson led by three points after two rounds. Fallon vaulted into an eight-point lead at the end of the third-round. Then Carson surged back to take an 11-point lead at the end of the fourth round.

The Senators got 12 points when Wooldridge and Klug delivered pins during that turnaround in the consolation semifinals. Wooldridge rallied from an 8-0 deficit to tie the score and then he pinned Matt Triplett of Sparks. Klug pinned Hug's Mike Aquino in his consolation semifinal and then gave Carson five more points when he pinned Reno's Brandon Kummer in the third-place match.

Carson got key wins in the semifinals from Ceccarelli, who pinned Fallon's Lee Riggins and from Lamborn, who defeated Fallon's James Stubbs 7-2.

Fallon finished with four individual champions. Galena had three gold medal winners: Joel Rivadeneyra, a 6-4 winner over Aguilera in the 125-pound finals; Christian Spencer, a 7-1 winner over Lamborn in the 140-pound finals; and Joe Sanford, a 6-2 winner over Elko's Mitch Schroeder in the 119-pound finals.