Carson wins, is now 3-0

It was just another day at the office for Carson High’s wrestling team.

The Senators took another step toward reclaiming the Sierra League title by destroying Galena, 77-4, Wednesday night at Morse Burley Gym.

Carson improved to 3-0 in league action with just Bishop Manogue and Douglas left on the schedule, and the Senators will be favored in both of those matches.

The Senators won six matches by pin, six by forfeit and one technical fall by Brady O’Keefe that could have easily been a pin. Galena’s only win came when Jordan Baker knocked off Jarod Butler 19-7.

“I thought we wrestled well,” CHS assistant coach Nick Redwine said. “We didn’t wrestle down to the level of our competition. There were a lot of forfeits, so it’s hard to get up fo matches like this.”

The match started at 126, and Carson had two walkover wins for a 12-0 lead.

Brady O’Keefe took to the mat, and made absolute mincemeat of Griffin Gustafson, 20-4. It was painful to watch. O’Keefe would get a takedown, let Gustafson up and then get another takedown and then a near fall. That continued until early in the second round when O’Keefe scored a reversal and three-point near fall for a 20-4 technical fall to give CHS a 17-0 lead.

“I need to cut weight,” said O’Keefe, who was at 138. “I wanted to beat him 30-15. If I pinned him quick I wouldn’t have worked up a sweat. I’m training to get down to 38s again.”

Kellen McDermott recorded Carson’s first pin of the night, taking care of D.J. Browne in approximately 68 seconds of the first round to make it 23-0. After a default at 152, Galena’s Baker made it 29-4 with his win over Butler in the 160-pound battle.

Carson won the next eight matches, five by forfeit and three by default.

After a forfeit win at 170, Kevin Rusler pinned Aaron O’Conner in 44 seconds.

“I wasn’t expecting that,” Rusler said. “I thought he’d be better.”

Connor Sievers continued the onslaught with a first-round pin of Caleb Fawley. Sievers led 5-0 before recording the fall with 31.6 left in the opening period.

Corey Jasper made it 53-4 with a second-round pin of Mike Emerson. Jasper was behind 2-0 early, but went ahead 3-2 thanks to an escape and takedown. In the second period, he chalked up a reversal before winning by fall.

“It was so cold in here,” Jasper said. “I just couldn’t seem to move. I thought I was going to be a lot faster. I wasn’t worried when I got behind.”

“Corey has really improved,” Redwine said. “When he’s in the room, he’s tough. He’s like O’Keefe in the sense that he’s unorthodox. He does things that you normally don’t see big guys do. He wrestles like a middleweight.”

At heavyweight, Sheldon Miller scored a takedown in the first 20 seconds, and 18 seconds later won it by fall.

Terrin Keller capped the easy win with a 45-second pin.

Carson is scheduled to go to Albany, Calif., for a one-day tournament on Saturday. The competition should be a lot tougher than it was at Sutter last weekend.