By Gregg Chappell
Moapa Valley Progress
Moapa Valley Pirate Wrestling team travelled to Boulder City on Tuesday, January 11 to battle against Boulder City and Foothill High Schools in a tri-dual.
The Pirates first dual was against the Falcons from Foothill High School. The Falcons jumped out to an early lead with a score of 30-0 after the first five matches. Moapa finally put some points on the board when Shae Bryant pinned his opponent earning the Pirates the first six points of the dual.
The Pirates battled back through the middle weights with several pins coming from Justin Boren, Trevor Durham, Parker Chappell, and Brandon Reeves. Despite a great effort the Pirates still fell short of a team victory. The final score was 42-36 Falcons.
The next dual was between the Boulder City Eagles and the Pirates. This was the first time the Pirates have met the Eagles this year.
Although the Eagles were heavily favored to win, the Pirates grappled to an early lead. With two matches left Moapa was leading the Eagles by 10 points.
But Boulder has two upper weight state champions that proved too much for the Pirates to handle and ended the dual losing only by two points.
Wrestlers who scored points for the Pirates were Brayden Evans 119 lb 12-1 decision, Nathan Sprague 125 lb pin, Shae Bryant 135 lb pin, Trevor Durham 152 lb pin, Parker Chappell 160 lb pin, Zach Staley 189 lb 6-4 decision in overtime.
Coach Hickman was pleased with the performance. He said that he felt like Moapa can beat the Eagles this year.
Boulder City has taken the division title for the last several years.
On Friday, January 14, the Pirates were back on the road again traveling to Spring Creek and competed in the Kiwanis Invitational at Spring Creek High School. The tournament drew 24 teams from Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, and Utah.
This was the Pirates first look at some of the northern wrestlers this year. It was also a good opportunity to see two of the three new teams in the 3A division, Churchill County and Elko.
Churchill County took 2nd place in the 4A state tournament last year and has an excellent wrestling program. The caliber of wrestlers was impressive and most of our wrestlers were eliminated after the first few rounds of competition.
The Pirates had three wrestlers place in the top six. Zak Baldwin at 103 lbs placed 6th, Shae Bryant 135 lbs placed 1st, and Trevor Durham 152 lbs placed 4th. Bryant went undefeated through the tournament in 135 lb weight class beating his opponent from Buhl, Idaho in the championship bout.
The Pirates next tournament will be on Friday and Saturday at Pine View High School in St. George Utah.
