It was as an improbable finish to the Capital City Duals wrestling tournament that there has ever been. It's safe to say that because something like this has never happened before.
The Douglas High wrestling team rose from the ashes to beat Fallon 39-36 on Saturday in the championship match, winning its first ever Capital City Duals crown. Douglas overcame a 36-9 deficit to win the title.
It was also the Tigers' second win over Fallon as Douglas also beat the Greenwave 42-33 in pool play.
Carson High went on to finish third after a disappointing effort against Fallon. The Senators had an otherwise solid day, beating Spanish Springs 50-23 for third. But before that Carson turned in a flat effort in the semifinals against Fallon, falling behind 42-12 before losing 48-30.
Carson did receive outstanding efforts from Aaron Jolcover at 140, Garrett Truesdale at 215 and Todd Banko at 125 as they all went unbeaten on the day.
So the slight edge as of now has to be given to Douglas as the team that could possibly challenge Damonte Ranch for supremacy in the Northern 4A.
It was surely also the first time that Douglas has ever beaten Fallon twice in one day. "To beat Fallon twice in a day is an accomplishment in its own," Douglas coach Lamont McCann said.
"Nobody beats Fallon twice in one day. I'm just really happy with the outcome. It was just a great, great atmosphere."
Ryan Olsen got Douglas off to a good start against Fallon with a 3-1 win. But then came Fallon's triple threat of Trent DeBraga at 152, Tyler Reibsamen at 160 and Trevor DeBraga at 171. They all won by pin to give Fallon an 18-3 lead.
Tony Ferris won by pin at 189 for Douglas to make it 18-9. But Tyler Diaz won by pin at 215 for Fallon. Fallon then appeared to put the match away with two close wins.
Collin Merkley won 4-2 in sudden death overtime with a takedown at 103 and Frederick Wheeler won 4-2 with a late takedown to give Fallon a 36-9 lead.
But Tim Souza won by forfeit at 119 for Douglas and Michael Sepulveda followed with a pin at 125. After Nico Barker won by forfeit at 130, C.J. Wyner at 135 and Cody Spates at 140 both won by pin to secure the win for the Tigers.
"We're really proud of the kids," McCann said. "The kids stepped up. The whole lineup stepped up."
The same could not be said for Carson when it faced Fallon in the semifinals. Jolcover got Carson off to a strong start with a pin.
But then the match began going downhill when Trent DeBraga scored a takedown with one second left in the match to win by technical fall against Martin Azzam at 152. So DeBraga scored five instead of just four points to give Fallon an 11-6 lead.
Tyler Reibsamen and Trevor DeBraga followed with wins by pin and Ryan McCormick won by major decision at 189 to give Fallon a 27-6 lead.
Truesdale looked to give Carson some momentum when he recovered from almost being pinned to winning by pin to make it 27-12. But Holt Boganowicz at heavyweight and Merkley both won by pin and Wheeler won 6-0 at 112 to give Fallon a 42-12 lead.
Ricky Urdarte won at 119, Banko won by pin at 125 and Brandon Bigler won at 130 to make it 42-30 before Charlie Heck finished off the match for Fallon with a pin for the final margin.
"We didn't show up against Fallon," Carson coach Tyson Thivierge said. "We knew it was going to be close. "In no way did I think it was going to be a blowout like that."
Even if his team had gotten past Fallon, Thivierge said it would have been hard pressed to beat Douglas.
"I don't think we were ready for Douglas again," Thivierge said. "Douglas looked incredible."
At least early in the year, it looks like Douglas matches up better with Fallon while Carson does matc up better with the Tigers. Carson won at Douglas 39-36 on Wednesday. "We match up better with Douglas," Thivierge said.
In the third place match against Spanish Springs, Azzam and Junior Valaderez at 160, Trent Simpson at 171, Truesdale, Nick Schlager at 112, Banko and Adam Welch at 130 all won by pin. Welch came back to win by pin after trailing 6-0.
At 103, Patrick Craugh also came back from a 4-1 deficit, scoring a reversal late for a 6-4 win. Jolcover also won at 140.
Schlager also pinned the same opponent he faced earlier against Spanish Springs. In that match, Schlager came back late with a takedown for a 7-6 win.
In the first match against Spanish Springs, which Carson won 48-27, Simpson also pinned his opponent, but in a much more wild fashion. Simpson began the match by almost winning by pin, then got pinned himself. He eventually came back to win by pin.
"They wrestled a little better," said Thivierge about the Spanish Springs match. "They finished better. "It was really, really gross against Fallon. They finished on a high note."
Carson went unbeaten in pool play, beating Wooster 72-9 and Galena 39-32. Spanish Springs beat Galena 48-22, but the Senators needed late pins by Craugh and Banko to secure the win against the Grizzlies.