The ninth annual Fernley High Vaquero Classic saw the return of the Douglas Tiger wrestling team after a five-year hiatus.
Apparently Douglas was not the only school to add Fernley to its schedule as the Vaquero Classic swelled from an expected 15 or 16 teams to 24 teams this year.
Just about every 4A powerhouse was in attendance which led many to believe this would be a preview of the Northern 4A Regional tournament in early February.
In reality, both Spanish Springs and Fallon sent their "B" squads which took away much of the tournament's potential luster.
Lowry High School, a perennial 3A power, outmanned the Tigers to take home the team championship. Lowry finished with 273 points followed by Douglas with 188.
Reed took 3rd with 162 followed by Galena with 158.5. Carson was on track to take fifth, but dropped to tenth after the disqualification of a wrestler in the consolation finals. Reno, North Valleys, Fernley, and Battle Mountain rounded out the top ten.
Douglas was led by senior Nico Barker who claimed first place in the 140-pound bracket by going 5-0 on the weekend and notching a 12-4 major decision over Mitchell Payne from Reed in the championship final.
Dillon Spates (112), Tim Souza (119), Michael Sepulveda (130), and Eddie Kollar (145) all earned second-place medals after impressive early round matches which landed them in the championship finals.
In the 130-pound championship semi-final Douglas junior Sepulveda faced Wooster freshman Steven Elicigue in perhaps the best match of the tournament.
Elicigue, who took first at the Lion's tournament earlier in the month got the first takedown but a trio of reversals got the crowd's attention and the first round ended with Sepulveda up 7-4 after a late three-point near fall.
Elicigue deferred choice in the second and Sepulveda chose bottom from where he added a quick point on an escape. Elicigue countered with a takedown to bring the score to 8-6. Another escape by Sepulveda and still another takedown by Elicigue tightened the score to 9-8. Sepulveda escaped once again and went on the offensive with a takedown and a three point near fall of his own before Elicigue escaped to finish the second period with the score Sepulveda up 15-9.
Elicigue scored a reversal in the third, but that was followed by another escape from Sepulveda. Elicigue got one final takedown before time ran out and Sepulveda got the decision 16-13.
Coming off a tough league-deciding dual loss to Carson last Wednesday, the Tigers bounced right back and proved they are an impressive tournament team and will be a definite contender for the regional title at Spanish Springs High School on Feb. 6 and 7.
Bolstering Douglas' second place team finish were Zach Falanga (189) with a fourth, Joe McDonald (145) with fifth, Steven Anderson (171) and Pat Miller (215) each with sixth. Douglas travels to Fallon tonight for their final league dual of the season.
