Despite a strong run through pool play, the Douglas wrestling team couldn't get past a strong Golden Valley squad in the semifinals of the Natomas City Nighthawk Dual Tournament Saturday in California.
The Tigers beat Mesa Verde (68-12), just got past Oroville (42-42, 6-5 pins), and topped Reno 64-12 in the quarterfinals of the 23-team tournament.
In the semifinals, 130-pounder Nico Barker started things off by pinning Golden Valley's Lee Xiong in 1:19. Douglas' CJ Wynar, who went 3-1 in the tournament, lost to Jeff Anderson but Cody Spates followed by pinning Will Anderson in 43 seconds to give the Tigers a 12-6 lead.
Ryan Olsen took a hard-fought 9-4 win in the 145-pound class to extend the lead to 15-6, but Douglas' Justin Freeman lost a tough match to Kevin Hanafy 8-5 as Golden Valley closed the score to 15-9.
The Tigers lost by technical fall in the 160-pound class, leaving the Tigers with a 15-14 lead.
A forfeit at 171 pounds cost Douglas six more points, giving Golden Valley the lead, but Tony Ferris came back in the 189-pound match to record a pin in 35 seconds, taking the lead back at 21-20. Golden Valley recorded a pin in the 215-pound match and a forfeit in the heavyweight division gave them a 32-21 lead.
Both Dillon Spates and Wes Peterson took close losses in the 103 and 112 classes respectively, puttnig the score at 38-21, but Tim Souza pinned his opponent in 3:32 to tighten the match up at 38-27.
Golden Valley got a pin in the 125-pound match, though and advanced to the championship match where Oak Ridge prevailed.
In the consolation finals, Douglas had falls from Dillon Spates, Peterson, Barker, Freeman and Ferris but the Tigers couldn't hold off Natomas, settling for fourth.
Ferris went 5-0 with five pins was named the tournament's most valuable wrestler award for the second-consecutive year.
Other Tiger standouts were Peterson (4-1), Souza (4-1 with 2 pins), Barker (4-1, 4 pins), Wynar (3-1, 2 pins), Cody Spates (3-1, 3 pins) and Olsen (3-1, 2 pins).
Douglas hosts North Valleys Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. and travels to Winnemucca for the Lowry Invitational this weekend.
