CHS not taken down by changes, wins big

RENO — It wasn’t the normal Carson High line-up that took the mat against Galena, and it didn’t matter.

Thanks to six forfeits, the Senators won their second consecutive Sierra League match, hammering the host Grizzlies, 66-12, Wednesday night. Carson has won two straight since opening the season with a loss to Damonte Ranch.

The Senators were missing 138-pounder Kellen McDermott (skin issues), 145-pounder Brady O’Keefe (bad toe) and 195-pounder Corey Jasper (grades). It forced Carson to shake up its line-up a little bit. The Senators lost just two matches all night, both by pin.

“Everything seemed to work itself out,” Carson coach Paul Carter said. “(Nathan) Mersino’s match was one of the best. I think if (Connor) Sievers wrestled their guy at 182 we have a better chance to win. We had to bump him up a weight. Normally he’d wrestle 182.

“We were able to see tonight where some of the kids are that don’t get to wrestle as much. It’s always fun to win.”

Two of the newcomers who wrestled Wednesday — Kyle Hettrick (138) and Hector Perez (145) — will travel with the team to the Redwood Invitational in Visalia on Friday for the two-day tournament. Hettrick, who will replace McDermott again, lost his match via pin and Perez won via pin. Perez will wrestle in O’Keefe’s place over the weekend.

“Brady is for sure out this weekend,” Carter said. “He may try wrestling next week.

“I don’t know a ton about the tournament this weekend. There are 36-man brackets and it’s over two days so I’m sure we’ll see some pretty good wrestlers from the Central California area.”

Thanks to forfeits at 106 and 113, Carson bolted to a 12-0 lead.

Casey Stevens made quick work of Charlie Chappell, building a 7-0 lead before recording the fall with 1:34 left in the second period.

After Spencer Rogers won via walkover, Mersino hooked up with Ikaika Flagg at 132.

Flagg got a early takedown for a 2-0 lead. After Mersino was awarded a penalty point to make it 2-1, Mersino was tagged for both stalling and using an illegal hold and fell behind 4-1. The Carson standout battled back for a 4-all tie after two periods thanks to a 3-pont near fall. Mersino went ahead 6-4 on a reversal early in the final period, but Flagg got a takedown to make it 6-6. With the clock furiously ticking down to zero, Mersino worked an escape to win the match, 7-6, and extend Carson’s lead to 27-6.

Perez and Butler recorded pins, Nolan Shine (160) got a walkover and Alex Honeycutt (170) got a pin to make it 48-6.

Elijah Rogers recorded Galena’s second win of the night, pinning Carson’s Kevin Rusler with 56.2 left. Rusler had a 2-0 lead at the time of the fall. The Galena win cut the deficit to 48-12.

Connor Sievers, wrestling up a weight, needed just 55 seconds to pin his opponent.

The night ended with Brady Rivera (220) and heavyweight Sheldon Miller posting walkover wins.

NOTES: Carson hosts Bishop Manogue next Wednesday, and then concludes the Sierra League season at Douglas ... Carson has a tournament in Sacramento on Jan. 23-24. The regionals are set for Feb. 6-7, and it appears Reno will be the host site, and the Winnemucca Events Center will be the host site for the state meet on Feb. 13-14.