The Douglas wrestling team used a dominating 27-4 run through the middle of the match Wednesday night to take a close 41-32 victory over No. 3 Damonte Ranch in the Tigers' home-opener.
The No. 2 Tigers (5-2) got pins from Cody Spates, Devin Barker and Tony Ferris and had a gritty win from Ryan Pruitt to push ahead for the team victory.
In what was probably the best match of the night, Pruitt took on Brock Frank, a state qualifier at 119 pounds last season, in the 152-pound class.
Frank scored an early takedown but Pruitt turned it around for a reversal and a near fall for a 4-2 lead at the end of the first round.
Frank managed to escape Pruitt's hold and took Pruitt down for the 5-4 lead early in the second, but Pruitt escaped and scored another takedown just before the buzzer for a 7-5 lead.
Pruitt escaped to open the third round with an 8-5 lead, but Frank scored another reversal to close to 8-7. Pruitt again took control, this time for good with an escape and a takedown for an 11-7 lead.
Frank made one final push, closing it to 11-9 with 15 seconds left, but Pruitt held tough for the win.
Other highlights included 112-pounder Garrett Hekhuis picking up a technical fall with a 17-1 win over Spencer O'Neill and Sean Molina winning in dominant fashion with 13-6 match in the 171-pound class.
With Douglas needed some extra points to close out the match, coach Lamont McCann dropped Ferris, scheduled to wrestle in the 189-pound class, to the 171-pound match.
The move came as a surprise to the Mustangs, who'd shuffled their lineup around to avoid 125-pounder Nico Barker.
Ferris came out strong and recorded a pin in 1:56, getting the call just before the end of the round.
Devin Baker had the fastest pin of the night at 1:25 in the 145-pound class.
Douglas improved to 5-2 overall and 1-1 in league action. The Tigers will travel to California to the Natumas City Duals this weekend.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
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