Lakewood’s Rylan Morgan gets back points on Jefferson’s Jose Soto during the 145-pound match Wednesday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
LAKEWOOD — If you were late to the wrestling dual between Jefferson and Lakewood on Wednesday night you were likely out of luck.
The dual between the two Jeffco programs lasted about 30 minutes from start to finish. Six forfeited matches, seven pins and one technical fall made for a quick dual at Lakewood High School. No match went the full six minutes.
Lakewood came out victorious with a 41-36 victory. The Tigers jumped out to a 36-0 lead with pins by David Schadler (170 pounds), Brayton Stieger (182) and Michael Inouye (220) to go along with three forfeit victories.
Stieger had the quickest pin of the night. He pinned Jefferson freshman Kyler Tolka in nine seconds.
“I went in there serious and ready to go. I put a fireman carry on his and won,” Stieger said of his fastest pin of his career. “That’s all there is to it.”
Jefferson freshman Nick Gallegos works on his 2nd period pin. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Once the dual got to the lighter weights, Jefferson showed why it currently sits at No. 5 in Class 3A by Tim Yount’s On the Mat rankings. Saints’ Cruz Ortega (106), Randy Duran (126), Nick Gallegos (138) and Brandon Onofre (152) all won by pins and Jefferson picked up two wins by forfeit.
“Just for our kids to compete and get better in every position,” Jefferson coach Oscar Fonseca said of his objective in the dual before winter break. “That is all we are looking at right now.”
The Saints’ returning state champion senior Kyle Cisneros didn’t wrestle with Lakewood forfeiting at 132 pounds. Cisneros won the 3A 126-pound title last winter and On the Mat currently has him ranked No. 1 at 132 pounds in 3A.
“We don’t pay attention to that stuff,” Fonseca said of his five wrestlers currently ranked in the top eight of their weight class in 3A. “Rankings are settled at the last day of state (tournament).”
Fonseca added he believes that with hard work “any kid” has a shot to place at the state tournament come the middle of February at Pepsi Center in Denver.
Lakewood has its own returning state champion. Junior Gabe Dinette captured the 5A title at 145 pounds last season. Dinette and a handful of other Tigers were held out for Wednesday’s dual because of injury.
“A few of our kids are out nursing some small injuries,” Lakewood coach Daren Stennes said, who added Dinette will be good to go after the winter break. “We could have had some good match ups, but we didn’t.”
The match was eventually decided when Lakewood’s Rylan Morgan won by technical fall, 15-0, in the third period in the 145-pound bout to give the Tigers an 11-point lead with one match to go.
Jefferson’s Randy Duran, left, and Lakewood’s Josh Pester lock up Wednesday night. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
However, Jefferson finished the match strong with Onofre’s first round pin to close out the dual.
“You get anxious, but you work through it,” Onofre said waiting for his match, the last of the night.
Onofre is currently ranked No. 4 at 152 pounds. The Saints’ depth this season has Jefferson primed to make some noise at state in the team standings and cement the wrestling program as the flagship athletic program for the school.
“I think it’s fun to be competing at a high level,” Onofre said.
The Saints and Tigers get back to action with duals during the first week of January after the holidays.
“I’m just going to do a lot of running and weight lifting to keep my strength up. Going to eat right too,” Stieger said of his plans over the next two weeks. “Relax of course, it’s break.”
Lakewood’s David Schadler, top, works during his second-round pin of Jefferson’s Kyler Tolka at 182 pounds. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)