Carson wrestlers beat Yerington, Fallon

Carson High tuned up for this weekend's Reno Tournament of Champions with two easy dual-meet victories Wednesday night at Morse Burley Gym.

Carson knocked off an overmatched Fallon squad (62-12) and then followed that up with a 52-30 victory over Yerington. Carson is 4-1 in duals this season. Its only loss came against Lowry at the Capital City Classic.

Carson, which wrestled without Cole McCarthy and Jordan Luhrs (knee injury), lost just seven matches and won 20, 13 of which came via pins.

"There were a number of good performances tonight," Carson coach Tim McCarthy said. "The best I think was Cody Cunningham. Cody wrestled about as good as I've ever seen him. That kid from Yerington (K.O. Burt) is a pretty tough kid."

Cunningham beat Burt with a third-round pin in their 152-pound match. Earlier he pinned Fallon's Hunter Mori.

Cunningham led Burt 2-0 with a first-period takedown. Another takedown and an escape made it 5-0 after two periods. He increased the lead to 9-0 before recording the pin with 42 seconds left. The win gave Carson a 21-12 lead.

Carson fell behind 24-21 after Brady Rivera was pinned in the second-round of his 160-pound match and then the Senators forfeited at 170.

Nico Garcia gave Carson the lead for good, 27-24, with a first-period pin of Miguel Gomez. Two straight forfeits made it 39-24 entering the final three matches of the meet.

Garcia's pin took just 59 seconds.

Yerington made it 39-30 with a win at heavyweight, but Kyle Sharp (106) and Sammy Mercado (113) recorded pins to end the match.

Sharp looks in mid-season form, and after reaching state as a freshman, he's anxious to make a return to wrestling's Big Dance. He was on the mat for less than two minutes total.

"I'm hoping to win regionals, and I'd like to win some of the out-of-town tournaments," Sharp said. "I'm a little bigger (and stronger) this year, and I have to watch my weight a little more this year than I did last year."

Sharp, who went 0-2 at state last year, thinks he can do better this year because he now knows what to expect.

"Kyle made quick work of his two opponents tonight," McCarthy said. "He'll definitely be favored to win the North. There is at last one kid in Vegas (from Green Valley) he's battled in youth wrestling."

Against Fallon, the Senators recorded eight pins, seven of those coming in the first round.

The most exciting match of the night came in the 182-pound match between Garcia, who finished second in the state last year at 160 pounds, and Dalton Johnson, who was third in the 3A state meet at 171 pounds.

Garcia built a 10-2 lead in the second period, but found himself trailing 12-11 with 1:21 left. He managed to go ahead by a point in the final 30 seconds of the match to win 13-12.

"I don't know what it was," Garcia said. "The late part of the second round and third round I didn't wrestle my best. I don't know if I was gassed or not. We've been working hard in the wrestling room. I started to get sloppy and he caught me in a head and arm move."

"Johnson is very proficient with that head and arm move," McCarthy said.

It was about the only match that the small crowd got excited about the whole night.

"That was a match I was hoping to get," Fallon coach Mitch Overlie said. "That was great for the fans, great for the sport and great for those two kids. It was a high-level match that will help both of them for the TOC.

"It had all the fireworks. Dalton just needs to be more aggressive to start out. He let Nico get in on his legs early. But those are the types of things that only come from good all the way to the end matches like that one."

Sharp, Garcia, Adan Ortega (120), Nicholas Lani (132), Austin Brown (138), Javier Torres (195), Sammy Mercado (113), Cunningham and Patrick Cooke (220) all went 2-0. Ortega had two pins as did Sharp and Cunningham. Lani had one pin and a 7-0 decision, while Cooke, Mercado and Brown had one pin and one forfeit win. Both of Torres' wins were walkovers.