Carson's Nolan Shine wrestles Wooster's Mark Huckabay in the 160 lb. class Wednesday night. Shine went on to pin Huckabay.
After routing Wooster Saturday at the Capitol City Duals, Carson didn’t expect much resistance from the Colts in their Sierra League match-up Wednesday night.
And, they got very little.
The Senators (1-1 in league, 5-2 overall) won 10 matches and rolled to a 59-18 decision at Morse Burley Gym in what can best be described as a tune-up for this weekend’s Lowry Invitational.
Carson won four matches via pin, and all were in 31 seconds or less. The quickest pin belonged to Brady Rivera (11 seconds) and Nolan Shine (160) flattened his opponent in 19 seconds. Casey Stevens (120) won in 24 seconds and heavyweight Sheldon Miller recorded his fall in 31 seconds. The Senators won five matches via walkover and Brady O’Keefe (145) won by technical fall (21-4). Wooster had two pins and won 13-8 and 5-4 decisions.
“The guys came out and wrestled tough,” CHS coach Paul Carter said. “(Nolan) Shine looked really good in his first match of the year.
“As far as I understand, there are going to be a lot of good teams at Lowry. Damonte Ranch is going to be there, Spanish Springs, McQueen and of course Lowry. It will be like a mini regional. It will be a good gauge of where we are as a team.”
Carson fell into a 6-0 hole when Joe Pearson pinned Abel Carter in the first match of the night (170 pounds), but the Senators won five straight, three by forfeit and two by pin (Rivera and Miller), en rote to a 30-6 lead.
Rivera quickly took down Jesus Duarte, and then immediately pinned him. Miller also opened with a quick takedown, and then was able to turn Ernesto Cruz over and pin him seconds later.
That set the stage for what was the best match of the night, the 113-pound battle between defending state champ Ian Timmins and Carson’s Brandon Basa. Their rivalry goes all the way back to their days in junior wrestling, and Timmins has usually gotten the best of Basa in the one-plus years of high school competition.
Timmins, who beat Basa via technical fall on Saturday, started fast again with two takedowns. He let Basa up after both and enjoyed a 4-2 lead in the first 50 seconds. That is when it got interesting.
Basa worked a takedown to tie the match, and then racked up a 3-point near fall for a 7-4 lead that came awfully close to a fall.
“He didn’t post his head,” Carter said. “Instead he rolled to one ear, and Timmins was able to get a reversal.”
“I took a shot and sat back with his leg,” Basa said.
“I thought I held my own a little better. I felt a lot more confidence when I was wrestling him tonight.”
The match was tied at 8 after an escape by Basa, but Timmins scored five unanswered points in the final period to emerge with a 13-8 win, cutting Carson’s lead to 30-9.
“Basa wrestled a phenomenal match,” Carter said. “Timmins has him on strength. Brandon’s hard work is paying off. That was easily the best match of the night.”
Timmins didn’t feel he wrestled a good match.
“I got my first win in wresling 8 1/2 years ago against Brandon,” Timmins said. “We go way back. He’s a really good wrestler.
“I’ve been cutting weight, and I think that made a difference. He did a good job countering one of my moves (to tie the match and get the lead).”
Stevens followed with his quick pin of Cameron Boston to make it 36-9, but Ethan Paradis managed to pin Jake Roman with 53.3 left in the second round to make it 42-15. The Colts scored their final points of the night in the 138-pound match when John Martel edged Nathan Mersino 5-4 to make it 42-18. Mersino scored the first points of the match with a takedown, but then fell behind 3-2.
“A couple of the matches stung,” Carter said. “I thought Mersino’s match and Roman’s match were winnable, but we fell just a bit short.”
O’Keefe followed with his domination of Woodard. The only four points O’Keefe gave up were when he allowed his opponent to get up after takedowns or reversals. It was a mauling to be sure.
Kellen McDermott recorded a walkover at 152, and Shine ended the night with a quick win in his season debut.
NOTES: There were no JV matches because Wooster didn’t bring enough wrestlers ... Jordan Butler missed the match because of illness, and when he gets back there could be some shuffling in Carson’s lineup ... After Lowry, Carson’s next tournament is Dec. 19-20 at the prestigious Tournament of Champions at the Reno Event Center.