Storm’s mat mastery of Rams resumes

RIO RANCHO – The Cleveland High School wrestling team has a tradition of beating its city foe, Rio Rancho High School, but never by a margin as great as this: 60-9.

The Storm’s lopsided victory on the mat in the Thunderdome on Jan. 24 was the third win in a row for the Storm, their 11th in the last 13 meetings, and improved their all-time record vs. RRHS to 11-4.

And RRHS coach Michael Santos wasn’t there to see it; he’d been “escorted” out of a high school gym during the previous weekend’s Top of the Rockies tournament, and then suspended for a match by the New Mexico Activities Association.

Even though the Rams were missing three matmen due to injury, Cleveland wrestlers came out loaded for bear – or Rams, in this case.

Match by match, here’s how the evening played out, with the CHS wrestler listed first and the running score in parentheses):

285: Cleveland’s Gabe Marquez was awarded a forfeit. (6-0)

107: Izzy Guevara won a 2-1 decision over Eli Archibeque. (9-0)

114: Roman Luttrell pinned Mohammad Faigh in 1:40. (15-0)

121: Josh Ortega pinned Zion Medina in 1:30. (21-0)

117: Marcus Abeyta won a 14-1 major decision over Max Santos. (25-0)

133: Tristan Dodd earned a second period technical fall with a 21-6 decision over Michael Reichbach. (30-0)

139: Wade Wallace persevered through three blood stoppages for Diego Archibeque for a fall in 5:04. (36-0)

145: Reagan Luttrell pinned Judea Morales with 1:01 left in the third period. (42-0)

152: Joe Coon pinned Diego Francisco in 3:47. (48-0)

160: Merik Ellsworth trailed Antonio Chavez, 3-0, Chavez made it 4-0 with an escape to start the third period, and survived a takedown for the Rams’ first win, 4-2. (48-3).

172: Troy Logan was the second and final victim of the Rams, as Jacari Smith pinned him in 3:08. (48-9)

189: Degan Baca pinned Jeremiah Rios in 3:27. (54-9)

215: Micah Martinez needed just 1:10 to pin Kevin Do-Nguyen. (60-9)

Prior to the varsity boys’ match, the Rams and Storm girls battled on the mats, although the Storm had more wrestlers and thus gained more points via forfeits in their 54-12 victory.

There were five head-to-head matches, all decided by fall, with Storm girls winning four of them.

“They’re missing some guys; we’re missing some guys. It’s just that time of year, right? Sick, kids banged up,” CHS coach Evan Copeland said. “To get a win against those guys, a very good program, very good wrestling team.”

Copeland said the Storm had “some good wins at 127, 139, 145; at 139 and 145, we lost the first takedown, kinda got in rhythm and then it was a back-and-forth match, and we were able to put those two matches away in the third period.

“152 was good match – a rematch of a state semifinal last year,” he added. “I’m happy to come out with a victory.”

Takedowns: The District 1-5A championship comes down to the outcome of the Storm’s Jan. 31 duals vs. Cibola and Volcano Vista at VVHS. The regional tournament, which took place at Cleveland last season, will be held at Eldorado on Feb. 17, a week before the state meet (Feb. 23-24).

… Copeland said wrestling participation at CHS is at an all-time high, with 75 boys and 25 girls. “We’re excited and trying to grow,” he added, happy with the increase in girls’ participation.