Pitted against two of the top teams in the North, Fallon and Carson, Douglas expected Saturday's Carson Valley Lions Club Invitational to be a suitable preview of the upcoming Northern 4A Regional Championships.
What they hadn't counted on however, was the Senators and Greenwave showing up with depleted rosters.
Nonetheless, Douglas powered ahead to a team victory in its home tournament, scoring 215 points and placing six wrestlers in the championship round.
Carson took second, despite fielding only eight wrestlers on the day, and Fallon took fifth, missing a number of starters - most notably heavyweight All-American Lyle Gardner.
Alhambra (Calif.) finished third with 137 points, followed by Spanish Springs (130) and Fallon (129.5). The Douglas junior varsity also fared well, finishing 10th with 54.5 points.
"We'll win this, but we had some great competition," Douglas coach Lamont McCann said. "A few of the teams were light tonight because of sickness, but Douglas wrestled real tough. We got real good matches from our core guys. It was a great tournament all-around and even our younger kids had a great tournament."
The Tigers had four champions, including Ryan Olsen, a 3-1 winner over Dayton's Travis Wade at 119 pounds; Ryan Pruitt, who took a 5-4 decision over Fallon's Tyler Reibsamen in the 152-pound division; Tony Ferris, who pinned Yerington's Sean Watson in the first period of the 171-pound finals; and Sean Molina, who pinned Dayton's Josh Coughlin in the second period of the 189-pound finals.
In his match, Olsen battled through two scoreless rounds against Wade before scoring a one-point escape to open the third. A takedown midway through the round rounded out his scoring while he was penalized one-point late in the round for an illegal hold.
Pruitt and Reidsamen fought evenly through the match and were tied 3-3 late before a takedown clinched it for Pruitt.
Ferris was impressive in his final match, scoring an early takedown for the 2-0 lead and translating that into a quick pin.
Molina carried a 2-0 lead into the second period and scored an quick pin to open the round.
Wesley Peterson (103 pounds) was the runner-up in the 103-pound division, losing a 16-3 major decision to Todd Pearson, of Spanish Springs.
Nico Barker (125 pounds) and Devin Barker (140) placed third for the Tigers, who also got fourth-place finishes from Cody Spates (130), Nick Ceglia (145) and Jake Williams (160).
McCann said he's pleased how his team is developing at this point.
"Right now, for this part of the season, we're running on all cylinders," he said. "Everything is going fine. The kids are wrestling strong. They're all healthy. They're real solid right now."
McCann said this could be the season when the North can finally unseat the South for state supremacy. Cimarron Memorial has won the last four state championships.
"On any given day, all (five) of us - Douglas, Carson, Fallon, Damonte Ranch and Galena - any one of us can be the top team. But whoever that team is has to earn it and take it away from the others.
"I think the North has a great chance if it's at full strength. Some teams perform better than others. But the North is coming on strong."
Of its eight wrestlers, Carson had seven placers, including two champions in Owen Craugh and Robbie Bozin.
Craugh, who placed eighth at the prestigious Sierra Nevada Classic, took a 7-3 decision over Douglas' Garrett Hekhuis in the 112-pound final.
After Hekhuis scored a takedown for a 2-0 lead, Craugh evened it up with a reverse to end the first period. Craugh, who also won the Las Vegas Holiday Classic in December, pulled away in the second period with a takedown and a two-point near fall to go up 6-2.
In other finals action:
-- Alhambra's Aaron Westphal took a 14-9 decision over Fernley's Kevin Martinez in the 125-pound division.
-- Billy Anderson, of Chester (Calif.), defeated Spanish Springs' Elias Coleman, 16-11, in the 140-pound division.
-- Fallon's Trevor deBraga pinned Alhambra's Preston Pangilla in the first period of their 145-pound match.
-- Yerington's Stephen Skroch took a 10-6 decision over Dayton's Sam Armstrong at 215 pounds.
-- Hug's Carson Corman pinned Fallon's Holt Bogdomowicz in the first period of their heavyweight matchup.
Mike Houser of the Nevada Appeal contributed to this story.
