Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Valley High School Wrestling team started last week on Wednesday with their first Division Dual of the Season against Del Sol at home. At that meet, the team also honored their three senior wrestlers: Conner Batty (126), Zachary Anderson (138) and Gavin Henrie (170).
The Dual started off with a very exciting match. Austin Tafoya (106) came out strong and confident. Unfortunately he gave up position and ended up on his back early. He fought like a true Pirate, however, and ended up reversing his opponent to his own back and pinning him. The crowd erupted which set the tone for the rest of the Dual.
Unfortunately Jorge Cervantes received a forfeit as Del Sol did not have a 113 lb wrestler. That forfeit put the Pirates up 12-0 as a team.
Avery Stratton (120) came out and wrestled one of his best matches of the season. He was aggressive and patient and ended up pinning his opponent to put the Pirates up 18-0.
Conner Batty wrestled one of Del Sol’s better wrestlers. Unfortunately he lost the match by fall to bring the score to 18-6 Pirates.
Moapa gave up a forfeit at 132 lbs to bring the score to 18-12.
Zachary Anderson (138) recharged the team, and the crowd, by pinning his opponent in the first period. This put the Pirates up 24-12.
The team gave up another forfeit at 145 lbs losing another 6 points, 24-18.
Hayden Redd (152), William Uri (160) and Gavin Henrie (170) all dominated their opponents winning each of their matches by fall to add another 18 points to Moapa Valley’s score bringing the Dual to 42-18.
Cropper Henrie (182), who has had a challenging year due to his size and experience level matching him up with older and more experienced wrestlers, came out and wrestled one of his best matches of the season. He wrestled one of Del Sol’s captains and team leaders and pinned him.
“The Del Sol wrestler wasn’t used to losing and it really put the nail in the coffin for the team win,” said MVHS Assistant Coach Ryan Anderson.
The Del Sol wrestler committed a minor unsportsmanlike penalty as he left the match costing his team 1 team point as well. So the score was 48-17 Pirates with 3 matches remaining.
Ryan McMurray (195) was up next for the Pirates. McMurray is wrestling about 10 lbs above his natural weight class in order to fill a hole in the Pirate lineup and avoid forfeits.
“Giving up as much weight as he does creates difficult matches for Ryan,” said Anderson. “Despite that, he was fired up and he wrestled one of his better matches of the season.”
McMurray won by a major decision win (9-0) over his opponent adding 4 team points to the Pirates’ team score, 52-17.
Jackson Mills (220) wasn’t able to be in the lineup for the Pirates so the team gave up a forfeit at 220, 52-23.
Alex Paulino (Heavy Weight), who joined the team late, has been plagued with an injury all season. Due to that late start, Paulina decided he wanted to make his mark at home against a division team. Paulino came out on fire, fought through the pain of his injury, and pinned his opponent as well. This capped off a dominant night for the Pirates and finalized the team score at 58-23.
“We were very proud of the way the boys wrestled Wednesday night in front of their home crowd,” said Anderson. “We could tell they were ready to go before the Dual and they maintained the intensity the entire night. It’s good to see all their hard work pay off and see some of the boys who have struggled this season experience success as they continue to put in the work.”
The Pirates traveled to Alamo on Friday and wrestled in an individual tournament against wrestlers from Nevada, Utah and Arizona. The Alamo tournament is a quick, one-day event The Pirates look forward to every year.
Jorge Cervantes was the star of the tournament coming away with his first tournament win. The 106 and 113 lb weight classes were combined and Jorge wrestled hard to come away with a well earned first place finish.
Gavin Henrie dominated his first two opponents and ended up in the finals against a Sunrise Mountain wrestler. Gavin ended up dropping that match and earning 2nd place overall.
“Gavin is excited to meet the Sunrise Mountain kid again and beat him when it counts,” Anderson said.
Conner Batty, William Uri, and Ryan McMurray all came away with 4th place finishes as well.
“All in all, we are very please as a coaching staff with the progress we’re seeing from our guys,” Anderson said. “They work hard, have great attitudes and are coming into their own at the right time of the season.”
The Pirates will wrestle another division Dual on Thursday at Chaparral and compete in a two-day individual Tournament at Chaparral Friday and Saturday.
