Carson wrestlers wrap up 4th straight unbeaten league season by walloping Douglas

Carson High capped a fourth straight undefeated Sierra League season with a 71-12 thrashing of arch-rival Douglas on Senior Night Wednesday at Morse Burley Gym.

Carson finished the league season with a 5-0 record, and the Senators have now won 20 straight Sierra League duals.

Carson won four matches by forfeit, seven by pin and one by technical fall. The only Carson losses came at 160 (forfeit) and 195 where the Tigers' Sullivan Cauley pinned Javier Torres.

"We thought we would win pretty much most of the matches," Carson coach Tim McCarthy said. "We didn't know by how much. It's like Carson playing Wooster in football, you know you are supposed to win, but you still have to take care of business and not overlook anybody."

McCarthy didn't have to worry about that. It was like his guys had dates after the match considering how quickly some of the pins came. All seven pins came in the first round, barely enough time for Carson wrestlers to work up a sweat.

Did a dual like this do anything to help the Senators get ready for the 4A regionals at Carson Feb. 10-11?

"It gets us pumped up and feeling better about ourselves," Nicholas Lani said. "It's an ego boost."

After getting a forfeit at 120 to open the match, Cole McCarthy (126) started the pin brigade by putting Logan Ames on his back with 57.2 left in the opening period to give the Senators a 12-0 lead.

Lani almost topped his teammate in the 132-pound match, pinning Zachary Fiene with 57.9 remaining. At 138, Austin Brown gained a quick 2-0 lead against Parker Biehn before registering a pin for an 18-0 Carson lead.

After Colby Brown won by forfeit at 1:45, Jordan Luhrs put Gio Baltazar-Hernandez on his back with 41.3 left in the opening period for a 36-0 lead.

Douglas'' Seth Trivitt won by forfeit at 160 to make it 36-6, but Carson started a new streak of pins when Brady Rivera (170) and Nico Garcia (182) recorded first-round falls. Rivera's came with 37.9 left after he built a 2-0 lead, while Garcia's came 38 seconds into the match and gave Carson a 48-6 edge.

Cauley followed with Douglas' only win on the mat when he pinned Torres in 35 seconds to make it 48-12. At 220, Patrick Cooke rolled to a 10-2 first-period lead against Nicholas Lufrano before registering a tech fall (18-2 win) with 40.8 seconds left in the second round. Brayan Burgos fell behind quickly 2-0, but he came back with a reversal and then a pin with 1:14 left in the opening period for a 59-12 lead.

Carson closed out the match with walkovers at 106 and 113.

For the Tigers it was a tough way to end the regular season.

"Pretty much everybody on the team is a freshman or sophomore," Douglas coach Shane Miller said. "We only have a couple of seniors. They dropped the middle school programs, so we don't have a feeder program.

"We do OK. We've done well in tournaments, but they spanked us tonight."