By Jeremy McDonald
jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
DALLAS, Ore.– Dallas early and often found pins against their final Central for their Senior Night Thursday Night in The Den.
In fact, of the first five of six matches were pins as they built a 30-6 match lead over the Panthers with the lone points for Central early on came way of a Ty Pearson pin at 128 that made it then 6-6 in match points.
“I know that family,” Pearson said of his pin of Quentin Foster. “They really move fast a lot so I was just trying to keep him on his toes, keep him moving.”
The pin that felt like a quick blink of an eye was one of four victories for the Panthers as heavyweight Miguel Sandoval picked up a pin over Braydon Wallace. Adrian Martinez too got a win at 106 with a 9-6 decision.
Cesar Rodriguez looked to be on his way to a tech fall against Kimmy Holgate at 113 pounds, but the Lady Dragon Wrestler flipped the script in the closing seconds with a five-near fall that nearly turned the then 14-4 match almost into a Holgate win. Rodriguez kept fighting to the final whistle to avoid the pin by Holgate.
At 160, Central’s Brock Pierce found himself in a big 7-2 hole entering the third period before taking control of the match with a massive takedown down to make it a 7-4 match 15 seconds into the period.
Pierce’s on-top moves were met by resistance by Dallas’ Bryce Miller bottom-defense with Miller not moving an inch for Pierce’s offense.
“I couldn’t seem to get a cross face or anything, it’s frustrating is what it is,” said Pierce of the match in the 7-4 defeat. “I can definitely move my feet more, move him around. Like trying to move him up and try to get takedowns.”
Jared Coxen (170), PJ Holgate (182) took home wins as did Cooper Hise (195).
At 220, Thomas Rocha had to dig deep against the Panthers Jordyn Montano. Faced with a deficit Rocha slowly climbed his way back into the match.
Eventually Rocha, on his Senior night, had Montano on the ropes as Rocha was turning the Central grappler with his bench cheering as the energy was building with the home crowd.
“It’s all mental, it’s all tough. They teach us in the weight room, you can’t give up you can’t stay on your back. You got to keep fighting through it and it felt good,” said Rocha.
Montano kept fighting off the pin though faced with a difficult task of squeezing out of Rocha’s grip with the momentum against him, but the Panther wrestler couldn’t as Rocha picked up the pin with the home bench and Rocha exploding out with celebration.
“It was amazing, that’s the best part about Dallas. Everyone’s a family and everyone’s there for you,” said Rocha. “It just feels amazing.”
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
