Pirates wrestlers take State

Moapa Valley High School seniors Caleb Anderson and Morris Wolfley, and junior Stetson Houston won their weight classes at the NIAA State Wrestling Championships in Winnemucca on Saturday, Feb. 14. As a result, the Pirates placed fourth amongst 3A teams and were the top team out of the Southern 3A.

“All three finals matches were wars. It was really special to go 3-for-3 in the finals,” said MVHS head coach Ryan Anderson. “If you would have told me at the beginning of the year that our team would have finished fourth, I might have been a little doubtful. But they just kept grinding all season and getting better and better.”

Caleb Anderson, wrestling at 138 pounds, won two matches by pinfall before gutting out a tight 3-2 decision over Lowry’s Teyo Gomez in the 3A championship bout. Gomez was penalized for stalling in the match, which was a tactic many of the Pirates’ opponents tried to employ.

“[T]he other teams know we push the pace and score lots of points to get the match out of their hands early, so they all tried to slow us down and keep the score low, thinking we would gas out in the third period and that our boys didn’t know how to win close matches,” Coach Anderson explained. “Watching all three of our kids show them they knew how to win close matches that go the distance was extremely gratifying as a coach.”

Wolfley became a three-time state champion by winning the 126-pound, 3A weight class. He had a technical fall victory in the quarterfinals, a pinfall over teammate Tyson Houston in the semis and a 4-1 decision over The Meadows’ Brandon Avila-Ramos in the championship. Tyson Houston, an MVHS senior, went on to finish fourth.

“That is a tough story. He has faced a lot of adversity through injuries and having Morris in his weight class his entire career,” Coach Anderson remarked. “He’s an amazing young man and my heart hurts for him, but he will win at life. I’m confident of that.”

Tyson’s brother, Stetson, won the 3A, 132-pound championship with a 4-0 decision over Truckee’s Jack Ridgel. He won 7-2 in the semifinal round and 17-0 in the quarterfinals. That means Moapa Valley has two father-son wrestling championship duos: Ryan and Caleb Anderson, and Tyson and Stetson Houston.

Junior Ryker Katich won his consolation final with a 42-second pinfall to finish third at 165 pounds. He went 3-1 with two pinfall victories and a 15-0 technical fall win.

Also winning matches for the Pirates were Tred Cameron, Steele Meeks, King Walker, Jayden Staley and Connor Wolfley. All of them went 1-2 in the tournament to help the team earn enough points to best the Pahrump Valley Trojans, who beat the Pirates at regionals.

“We obviously fell a bit short in the regional tournament, but our goal as a team is to always try and peak at the state tournament. We try to build and build and build so we can get our best performance there, and I think, for the most part, we achieved that,” Anderson said.