He takes 2nd; Rivera, Basa 3rd; Miller 4th; Carson takes fifth as a team
WINNEMUCCA — Carson High came up empty in its quest for an individual NIAA state champion.
Brady O’Keefe, who pinned Palo Verde’s Tyler Dinsmore to reach the finals, gave up an escape and takedown in the third period and dropped a 3-1 decision to Adrian Ojeda of Green Valley in the 145-pound championship match Saturday at the Winnemucca Events Center.
Brandon Basa (113) and Brady Rivera (220) both finished in third place. Sophomore heavyweight Sheldon Miller finished fourth, losing 2-1 in the conslation finals. Nolan Shine (160) lost in the championship semis and then lost his first consolation match.
O’Keefe had recorded two pins to reach the final match, but Ojeda proved to be one tough customer.
After a scoreless first period, O’Keefe was the bottom man to start the second period. The Carson standout worked an escape for a 1-0 lead, and that’s the way it stood after two periods.
Ojeda, starting on the bottm in the third round, tied the match with an escape, and quickly followed that with a takedown for what proved to be the winning points.
O’Keefe was unable to muster any attack in the last 40 seconds.
“Brady had a good tournament,” CHS coach Paul Carter said. “I was a little disappointed with the end result. He didn’t perform proficiently on his feet, and that’s something we’ve worked on with Brady.”
Basa got the day started with a first-round pin of Centennial’s Ryan Pierce, and then handled Alike Villiatori, 9-2, in the third-place match.
“Brandon Basa had an outstanding tournament,” Carter said. “He lost his first match and then won out. He did an excellent job.”
Rivera lost a 4-2 thriller to Foothill’s Josh Ozuna in the semis, and then pinned Green Valley’s Jordan McAfee in 1-minute 17-seconds and topped Douglas’ Zach Singer, 9-5, in the third-place match. It was Rivera’s fifth win of the year over Singer.
“I would have liked to have seen Brady win (as a senior),” Carter said. “It’s his highest finish at state. He was fourth as a sophomore and didn’t place last year. I thought the guy (Ozuna) was stalling, and the officials didn’t want to call it.”
Miller’s first trip to state was an unqualified success.
The Carson sophomore, who went 2-1 on Friday, started Saturday by beating R.J. Banos, 3-2, to reach the third-place match. He then went up against Jackson Perry of Bishop Gorman, who had pinned him in his first match. Perry got off to a 2-0 lead before Miller got a second-period escape. Neither wrestler scored in the final period.
“Sheldon did a really good job,” Carter said. “He beat the guy from Spanish Springs (Conner Hendriks) on Friday who had beaten him at regionals. He did a good job in that last match.”
It was a heartbreaking day for Shine, who finished second a year ago.
He was pinned by Cimmaron Memorial’s Jon Ruggeroli four seconds before the match ended, and then he turned around and lost to Damonte Ranch’s Drake McAdow, 3-0. Shine beat McAdow in the regional finals.
“Nolan tried a move and it didn’t work, and he ended up on his back,” Carter said. “The hard part about losing in the semis is that it’s very emotional and sometimes tough to come back from. Nolan didn’t wrestle a terrible match against McAdow. He didn’t wrestle as well as he could have.”
As a team, Carson placed fifth, and Carter was overjoyed with that. Carson was tops among Northern Nevada D-1 schools after finishing fourth at regionals last week.
“Placing fifth with only five guys is pretty good,” Carter said. “Being the top team in the north says a lot about our program.”
