There have been some close contests between the Carson and Douglas wrestling teams over the years, but this one literally came down to a matter of centimeters.
The Tigers entered the final four matches of Wednesday night's dual against the Senators needing pins in each. As it was, they nearly succeeded, coming up with pins in three of the four.
It was Carson 135-pounder Bryce Landolt, wrapped tightly in the grip of Douglas' Nick Prudhomme, keeping his shoulder off the mat for 50 seconds, that sealed the win and the Sierra League title for the Senators.
Carson led 33-4 at one point, but staved off Douglas victories in six of the final seven matches of the night to capture a 36-34 win in Minden.
"We'll finish as the Sierra League champions," Carson coach Tim McCarthy said. "At the beginning of the season, I don't think any of us would have thought that. We have guys who may not place well at individual tournaments but we match up real well in duals."
If not for Landolt's endurance, and flexibility for that matter, the match would have gone the other way.
Landolt was penalized a point for pulling at Prudhomme's head gear during the first period. On the restart, Prudhomme took quick advantage of a lapse from Landolt and drove him back-first into the mat. From there, it was a 50-second circus act of Landolt keep just enough of his shoulders and back off the mat to avoid the pin.
If he would have been stuck there, that would have changed things," McCarthy said. "He beat that kid earlier in the year so we were pretty confident going into that match, but anything can happen.
"I've seen that happen before (going nearly a minute on the brink of a pin), but never in a match this big. That is the toughest spot on the mat as far as endurance goes, to be able to hang that long on your back is so tiring. It really drains you. Just not getting stuck, he is really flexible. He was propped up on that elbow for a long time."
While Landolt's match served as the clincher, it was a subtle lineup change to lead things off that set Carson on an early run.
Carson trotted out Brett Allen, who was initially slated to wrestle in the 145-pound slot against Eddie Kollar, to face Justin Freeman in the 152-pound bout to start the night.
Allen came away with a third-period pin after narrowly avoiding a pin himself in the first.
"We thought at 145 and 152, Allen can wrestle at either class," McCarthy said. "We decided to go with Brett at 152 and hope to go 1-1 in those matches. We just hoped to not have it backfire on us."
Carson's Junior Valladares followed with a pin in the 160 match and Luke Carter posted a 6-2 decision at 171 to put Carson up 15-0 early on.
Douglas' Zach Falanga scored a 12-3 major decision in the 189-pound match to cut the score to 15-4 but a pin from Carson's Justin Barlow at 215 and forfeit wins from heavyweight Max Schadek and lightweight Pat Craugh put Carson up 33-4.
Douglas' Dillon Spates started the Tiger comeback with a pin in 2:15 in the 112 match and Tim Souza put up a 10-4 decision at 119 to close the score to 33-13.
Nick Schlager picked up a 6-1 decision for Carson in the 125 match, forcing Douglas into the situation of needing pins in the final four matches to win the dual.
Douglas' Michael Sepulveda led off the charge with a pin in 37 seconds in the 130-pound match, setting up the Prudhomme-Landolt match.
Prudhomme came away with the 8-5 win, but Carson had enough of a cushion at 36-22 to clinch the match.
Douglas' Nico Barker (140) and Eddie Kollar (145) closed out the night with a pair of pins.
