With only two duals left before the Northern 4A regional championships begin, the Carson wrestling team, which was counted out by many when the season started, finds itself in position for a crack at the Sierra League championship.
Carson, 5-0 in league and 9-1 overall, meets powerful Douglas, 5-0, 13-1, for the inside track to the title today at Douglas High School.
The Senators will close their season at South Tahoe, while Douglas will meet Fallon.
"Carson's got a great team," said fourth-year Douglas coach Lamont McCann. "They've become the dark horse of the league. We didn't expect this much from them earlier in the year.
"Carson-Douglas has always been a rivalry. It's great for (the championship) to possibly come down to this league match. There's going to be some fireworks. It's a great match."
The Tigers have been a handful this year, finishing first at the Capital City Duals (Carson took third) on Dec. 6 and worked over the Senators at the Douglas Invitational on Jan. 3.
"Lamont has definitely built that program up," said Tim McCarthy, who is in the first year of his third tenure as Carson's coach. "They beat us in the Douglas tournament by at least 50 points. We're going to have to wrestle with a purpose to even have it close."
McCann said the Senators have been able to make the most of what they have through clever tactics, something the Tigers will be looking to do as well.
"They're not a good tournament team, but they are a good dual team," McCann said. "It has a lot to do with matchups between tougher teams. There will be some movement in the lineups to create better opportunities (to win)."
"We've found out that this year we're a better dual team than a tournament team, though we did well in California (a second-place finish in the 20-team Armijo Invitational last week in Fairfield," McCarthy said. "Every one of our kids is at least an average wrestler. A lot of times you have to put out a kid with no experience. This year I'm confident in 14 guys who, in most cases, have a shot."
McCann said the Tigers are strong in 12 of the 14 weight divisions, particularly from 112 pounds through 152, with Dillon "Pickle" Spates (112), senior Timmy Souza (119), junior Wes Peterson (125), Michael Sepulvada (130), Nick Prudhomme (135), senior Nico Barker (140), senior Eddie Kollar (145) and senior Justin Freeman (152).
McCann said the main matches that could determine the winner would happen at 171 (Stevie Anderson), 189 (Zach Filenga) and 215 (sophomore Pat Miller.)
Carson's Luke Carter will likely compete at 171, while McCarthy can choose between junior Ryan Hoskins and senior Justin Steele at 189. Junior Justin Bigelow is expected to compete at 215 for the Senators.
"Maybe we're not a super-talented team, but we make up for it because we're scrappy," McCarthy said. "We have a real interesting mix of kids. We have first-year junior wrestlers like Justin Barlow. We have a few kids from the Bulldog program " not a lot. We have pretty good chemistry."
Barlow and 160-pounder Junior Valladares are two pet projects of McCarthy's.
"We got (Barlow) from (football coaches Blair) Roman and (Bob) Bateman. They encouraged me to go after him," McCarthy said. "He's a good, tough athlete. We got him to bite. Football and wrestling go hand in hand. Wrestling will make him a better football player. It will give him balance and expressiveness.
"Junior Valladares started wrestling as a freshman in high school. To be as successful as he has been after a couple of years is almost unheard of."
Three of the more experienced Senators who have gone through the Carson Bulldogs club wrestling program are sophomore Pat Craugh (at 103 pounds) freshman Austin Brown (112), freshman Nicholas Garcia (140) and senior heavyweight Max Schadeck.
"There are going to be a few matches I think will most likely (come to a) close decision," McCarthy said. "At 119, Souza vs. (Ricky) Ugarte should be a close match. (One-nineteen through 135) are four weights that can go either way. If they sweep us there, we'll be in trouble. If we go 2-2, we'll be in OK shape."
While Douglas presents a formidable task, McCarthy didn't sound as though he needed a blindfold and a cigarette.
"We've done our homework. We match up with them," McCarthy said. "If we do things that we've worked on in practice, I think we can at least be able to keep it close. It may come down winning swing matches. Against tougher kids when we have to stay on our backs, we can't give up a pin. We have to make it go to a decision. We're going to try to keep them close."
If nothing else, the dual will serve as preparation and experience for the rest of the Senators' season.
"If we can beat Douglas and beat South Tahoe, mentally it will be great for us going into the zone tournament," McCarthy said. "But we have a tall mountain to climb against Douglas. They are very solid."
The junior varsity dual begins at 5:30 p.m., with the varsity dual to follow.
