The Douglas wrestling team left little doubt as to who the top team in the gymnasium was Saturday, completely dominating a tournament field that included four of the top 10 ranked teams in the northern half of the state at the Carson Valley Lions' Invitational in Minden.
By the time the championship round was set, Douglas had placed an impressive nine wrestlers in 14 title matches.
Douglas raked in five individual titles to go with its team trophy.
Senior Shane Miller remained spotless on the year, pinning Dayton's Jeremy Stanfield in the third round to improve to 34-0 overall and take the 189-pound title. He was named the tournament's outstanding wrestler in the upper weight brackets.
Douglas' Matt Castro pulled off one of the more impressive victories of the afternoon, pinning the higher-seeded Anthony Broadus of Rite of Passage in the final minute of the heavyweight match.
Broadus scored a first-round throw for a 2-0 lead the lasted into the second round.
Castro evened things up with a reversal in the second and closed out the round with a near fall to take a 4-2 lead.
Another reversal to open the third gave him a 6-2 lead and drove in a half nelson turn for the pin.
The Tigers' Jake Williams faced Spanish Springs' Zack Sims in the 145-pound finals.
Williams had just dropped a match to Sims the previous week, but scored an early 2-0 lead on a sneak-attack ankle pick.
He scored a quick escape to open the second round and followed with a duck-under takedown to extend his lead to 5-0.
Sims made a comeback in the third round, but Williams held on for the win.
Cameron Ames, Douglas' 140-pounder, made his first appearance in the Lions' Invitational finals, holding off a late comeback from Portola's Tyler Herman to take a 7-6 win for the title.
He broke out with a 5-0 lead in the first round with a takedown and an arm bar tilt.
Nico Barker took the title for Douglas in the 112-pound division after defeating teammate C.J. Wynar 12-4.
Junior and second-seeded Ryan Pruitt took on top-seeded Jordan Abed of Martinez, Calif., in the 152-pound finals, but Abed hit four unanswered single-leg takedowns in the first two rounds to effectively end the match.
Pruitt grabbed a quick escape and takedown of his own in the last seconds, but the score ended up 12-5 in Abed's favor.
Sophomore 103-pounder Garrett Hekhuis pinned his way into the finals before having to take on top-seeded Jordan O'Neil of Damonte Ranch.
O'Neill proved to be a little too much for Hekhuis, racing ahead for the gold behind a technically-sound performance.
Bryan Kaplan (125 pounds), Nick Ceglia (145) and Sean Molina (171) each took home third-place medals, and sophomore newcomer Anthony Alvitre took fourth place in the 160-pound class. Sophomore Tony Ferris took home a silver medal in the 160-pound class.
Ryan Olsen went 1-2 on the day, Matt Boyd went 2-2, Adam Campbell went 3-2, DeeCee Simpson went 2-2 and Billy Gilroy had a win in the tournament.
Douglas ended the evening in first, followed by Alhambra, Calif., and Damonte Ranch.
The Tigers also had their annual wrestling hall of fame inductions at the tournament.
Brian Buscay (1989-1991) was inducted for his 123-26 career that saw him bring home three regional championships and one state title. He also had a state runner-up finish and a state third-place.
His brother, Sean Buscay (1992-1994), was also inducted after his 135-31 career. He was a two-time regional champ, the 1994 state champion and a two-time Carson Valley Lions' Invitational champ.
Jon Murray was the final inductee of the afternoon. He has a 98-36 career at Douglas and won regional and state championships in 1989.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
