By Sid Bounds
The Moapa Valley High School wrestling team split a home tri-meet with Faith Lutheran and Virgin Valley last Tuesday, November 27. The Pirates defeated the Crusaders 48-36, but were crushed by the Bulldogs 57-18.
In the dual against Faith Lutheran, which featured a total of five forfeited bouts by both teams, Moapa pinned five of their opponents while only losing four to Faith Lutheran.
Scoring falls in their bouts for Moapa Valley were Zak Baldwin (MV) over Trent May (FL) at 120 lbs.; Nathaniel Sprague (MV) over Sean Callan (FL) at 145 lbs.; Kalep Bodily (MV) over Justin Juntilla (FL) at 152 lbs.; Justin Boren (MV) over Ashton Scott (FL) at 170 lbs.; and Kyle Spindler (MV) over Mikal Spinney (FL) at 182 lbs.
Faith Lutheran’s victories, also by fall, were Esteban Martinez (FL) over Dakota Baldwin (MV) at 126 lbs.; Ryan Fung (FL) over Austin Leavitt (MV) at 132 lbs.; Christian Khoury (FL) over Tyson Mortenson (MV) at 220 lbs.; and Ethan Wolfe (FL) over Kalvin O’Toole (MV) at 285.
In the second dual against Virgin Valley, the Pirates only managed one win that was not a forfeit. That was achieved by Jared Repp in the 170 lb. class. Repp pinned Marlon Felshaw in 56 seconds of the first period.
The Bulldog wins were all pins over their Pirate opponents except in the 145 lb. class where Andrew Anderson (VV) defeated Nathaniel Sprague (MV) by a score of 9 to 2.
Bulldog wins included Kerry Crandall (VV)) over Alec Spencer at 106 lbs.; Kenneth Williams (VV) over Kadyn Griffith (MV) at 113 lbs.; Juan Dominguez (VV) over Zak Baldwin (MV) at 120 lbs.; Matthew Woods (VV) over Dakota Baldwin (MV) at 126 lbs.; Michael Loya (VV) over Takota Bateman (MV) at 138 lbs.; Broc Smith (VV) over Kaleb Bodily (MV) at 152 lbs.; and Jared Warner (VV) over Kalvin O’Toole (MV) at 275 lbs.
Virgin Valley received forfeits as well in the 132 and 160 lb. weight classes. Moapa Valley received forfeits in the 182 and 220 lb. classes.
The Junior Varsity competition was a little brighter for the Pirates; however, most of these matches were decided by forfeit. Against Faith Lutheran, Belcher and Dakota Shyface pinned their opponents and against Virgin Valley the JV wrestlers split 1-2. Valencia (VV) pinned Witter (MV) at 126, and Ramirez (VV) pinned Austin Leavitt (MV) at 132, but Belcher (MV) pinned Hafen (VV) at 160.
Coach Shane Hickman commented that the Pirates are rebuilding this year after the loss of some important champions from last year’s team. There are very few seniors on this year’s team and many of the starters last week were freshman and sophomores.
