RENO - Four and 19. Those were key numbers for the Carson High wrestling team Wednesday night.
The Senators, thanks to five straight pins to open the match, knocked off Damonte Ranch 54-21 to stretch its Sierra League winning streak to 19 straight and clinch no worse than a share of its fourth consecutive regular-season title.
Carson will go for No. 20 and its fourth straight unbeaten league season when it hosts arch-rival Douglas next Wednesday at 6 p.m.
The victory didn't surprise Carson coach Tim McCarthy, but his team's overall dominance did. Carson won 10 of the 13 matches, eight of those by pin. In the five bouts to start the match, Carson won all five by pin without surrendering a single point.
"Looking at the match-up, what I thought could happen happened," coach McCarthy said. I didn't expect to not have a point scored against us (in those matches). Our lightweights are a pretty spicy group.
"Definitely winning the league is big. We have the whole program thing going. You don't win like we have without program atmosphere. We have great kids, supportive parents and good sponsors."
And the Senators have a serious eye on No. 20.
"It feels good," said Cole McCarthy. "It's a good accomplishment for the team. We don't want to be the team that gets beat (and ends the streak). We want to win next week. We have a lot of pride wrestling Douglas."
Senior 182-pounder Nico Garcia says there has been a change in the team's demeanor.
"There was a whole new attitude in the wrestling room this last week," Garcia said. "Guys were getting into it; almost coming to blows. Now, we have to get ready for Douglas and Senior Night. We're ready to step it up."
That may account for the Senators' lack of celebration after the big win. They know Douglas is waiting, and then there is the regional tournament which Carson is hosting. Carson would love to win that tournament in its own gym.
Kyle Sharp got the ball rolling at 106 when he built a quick 4-0 lead against Chazz Sandoval before registering a pin with 1:44 left in the third. After Sandoval fell behind, he tried to keep the score down by not moving around much.
Sammy Mercado followed with a first-round pin of Mychale McGuire at 113 pounds. Adan Ortega made it 18-0 with a second-round pin of Daniel Pierrott. Ortega had an 8-0 lead at the time. Cole McCarthy also led 8-0 before recording a second-round pin with 1:17 left, and Nicholas Lani made it five straight with a pin with 18.8 seconds left in the first to make it 30-0.
Austin Brown got a walkover at 138 to make it 36-0, but Damonte bounced back to win the next three matches to make it 36-15. Colby Brown (145) and Jordan Luhrs (152) lost by pin and Brady Rivera, who had to stop three times for a bloody nose, lost 9-3.
Brown's match was disappointing because he led 8-2 at one point.
"That's a time when you want to be conservative," coach McCarthy said. "He ended up getting stood up. Up to that point, it was the best match I've seen him wrestle this season."
Carson won three of the next four by pin, as Garcia, Patrick Cooke and Brayan Burgos completed the rout.
VARSITY BASKETBALL
Carson girls improve to 8-3
RENO - Eliza Matley scored 22 points, and the Senators rolled past Galena 52-37 in a key Sierra League battle.
The win moved Carson to 8-3, and the Senators have a four-game lead over the Grizzlies. Finishing second means at least one home playoff game.
"It was a real physical game," Carson coach Todd Ackerman said. "They were very physical, but I thought we matched their aggressiveness. We did a nice job on defense."
Taylor Schaller scored 19 to lead Galena, but Ackerman felt that both Emily Collins and Kaitlyn Holmes made the Galena star work hard for her points, eight of which were free throws.
Galena led most of the first half until Savannah Smith scored a bucket to give the Senators a 21-20 lead at the half. Carson outscored Galena 31-17 in the second half, including a 14-4 surge in the second quarter.
Smith finished with seven, while Maddi Saarem, Collins and Holmes added six apiece.
Patient Galena tops CHS boys
RENO - Galena scored the game' first seven points and never looked back in kocking off Carson 42-33 Wednesday night in a Northern 4A game.
The loss dropped Carson to 1-10.
"We didn't start off well," said coach Carlos Mendeguia. "They run their control game and they controlled the tempo.
"They played a lot of zone against us, and we stood around too much and didn't make good cuts. We played hard."
Galerna led 13-8 after one and 17-10 after two periods.
Rafe King and Ty Keefer led Carson with 13 points apiece. Nine of Keefer's points came in the final quarter.
JV BASKETBALL
Carson thumps Galena
RENO - Skye Simpson and Kayla Aikins scored 10 points apiece to lead Carson past Galena 47-32 on Wednesday.
Natali Salas chipped in eight for the Senators, who improved to 17-3.
FRESHMEN BASKETBALL
Hug tops Carson
Carson has suffered two straight losses, dropping a 26-23 decision to Hug and losing 47-41 to Galena.
Hug held the Carson freshmen boys basketball team to just two points in the second and third quarters en route to a 26-23 win on Tuesday.
In the loss to Galena, Kyle Steele led Carson with nine points.
Carson girls win
Teresa Boehmer scored 11 points to lead the Senators to a 50-12 win over Galena Wednesday at Morse Burley Gym.
Michelle Perry scored nine and Gigi DeMera added seven. Carson is now 15-3.
