Going into the 2009 Northern 4A Regional Wrestling Championships Friday, the Douglas Tigers were considered one of the teams to beat.
After the first day of competition however, the Tigers found themselves mired in eighth place out of just fifteen teams.
Head coach Lamont McCann said, "If we're healthy we will be very competitive, but with only 12 scoring wrestlers we can't afford to be sick or injured."
Douglas battled both injuries and sickness the week leading up to the tournament.
Senior Eddie Kollar (145), struggling with the flu, lost his first round match-up with eventual finalist Zarek Sanchez from Fallon.
Kollar dug down deep and went on to win his next five matches securing not only a third place finish but also a berth in next week's 4A state tournament in Winnemucca.
The top three placers in each weight class earned the right to compete at the state tournament.
Kollar will be joined by Tim Souza (119), Wes Peterson (125), and Nico Barker (140), each of whom brought home second-place finishes this weekend. Douglas was also represented on the podium by Dillon Spates (112) and Zach Falanga (189). Both wrestlers earned fourth-place medals in their respective weight classes.
The Tigers charged back from their first day, eighth-place position to hold on to third place until the championship finals where they were overtaken by Galena who saw all four of their finalists crowned as champions.
Spanish Springs won the tournament with 172.5 points, McQueen took second with 149.5, while Galena edged out Douglas 128 to 124.
In the championship finals, Souza lost a 5-1 decision to Galena's Jake Gunzel and Carson's Nick Schlager (125) notched a 5-0 decision over Peterson.
Douglas' final hope for a championship was snatched away in the 140 final where Galena's Luke Riley edged out Nico Barker 3-2.
In a ceremony preceding the finals, Barker was the recipient of the Northern Nevada Wrestling Officials Association's Sportsmanship award. Bishop Manogue was
recognized with the team Sportsmanship award
In one of the more exciting matches of the season, Douglas 145-pound non-scorer Joe McDonald was paired against Joe Ratto from Reed in the championship quarterfinals. Ratto was in command 10-3 in the first period and had McDonald on his back and apparently on his way to a pin. McDonald denied him and fought off his back to survive the first period. Ratto escaped early in the second period only to have McDonald take him down and score a two-point near fall of his own to close the score to 11-4.
After McDonald escaped to open the third period, Ratto added two more points with a takedown. McDonald fought back once again and scored a reversal late in the period which ended up with Ratto on his back from where McDonald sealed the victory with a pin at 5:53.
"Joe wrestled extremely hard this weekend, not many non-scorers make it to the Championship semis, but Joe proved he can hang with those guys", McCann added.
McDonald just missed medal round as he lost to Kollar in the consolation semis.
The 4A state tournament is in Winnemucca Friday and Saturday.
