Pins, wins and plenty of action as Trojan wrestlers start season

The Pahrump Valley wrestling team kicked off their 2022-23 season with a first week packed full of action.

Their week began with a doubleheader at home against Chaparral and Valley high schools last Tuesday evening. The Trojans won both of those matchups.

Following Tuesday’s duals, the Trojans traveled to Boulder City for a much larger event on Saturday.

Saturday’s event had the Trojans going head-to-head with four other schools in their first major tournament of the season.

After getting past their first three opponents of the tournament rather easily, the Trojans were set up to meet the Moapa Valley Pirates in the championship round.

Pahrump Valley was able to get six wins in the 13 matches between the two schools.

Only two of the Trojans’ six wins were by way of pinfall. Junior Brennen Benedict and senior Ty Hanks each won their matches with pins in the first round.

Cole Miller and Nathan Schaaf each won their matches against Moapa Valley by way of forfeits, while Jayms Vilona won his matches by a 10-4 decision.

While the matchup was close, ultimately it was the Pirates who came away with the 36-30 victory. This was the first and only loss for the Trojans this season.

Pahrump Valley had their most recent match in a road meeting at Sunrise Mountain High School this past Tuesday night.

The Miners don’t have a full roster, so the meet didn’t last long.

With 13 available weight classes, Sunrise Mountain only had five wrestlers who participated in the event.

Trojan wrestlers in the 106-, 113-, 120- and 126-pound weight classes all received wins via forfeit. Pahrump Valley’s first wrestler who competed on Tuesday was Cole Miller in the 132-pound division.

Miller fell behind on the scoreboard early and had to fight his way back into the match. Going into the third and final round, Miller was trailing 7-5. After being able to get up and on his feet at the start of round three, Miller cut into his opponent’s lead, cutting it down to 7-6.

With just under a minute left in the match, Miller was taken down to the mat, increasing his opponent’s lead to 9-6. This would end up being the final score as Miller was defeated by a 9-6 decision.

The next match of the night for Pahrump Valley was Jayms Vilona in the 138-pound weight class. He jumped out to a 7-0 lead on the scoreboard before winning his match with a first-round pin.

The Trojans would pick up four more wins via forfeit before returning to action in the last three weight classes of the night.

Sophomore Ethen Hutchinson had arguably the most impressive match of the night. Despite the scoreboard being low on points, the match didn’t lack in excitement.

Hutchinson and his opponent went to the second round tied 2-2 on the scoreboard. Hutchinson was on the verge of being pinned by his opponent before he was able to complete his reversal attempt and put his opponent in a pinning position for the victory.

Following Hutchinson’s match, it was time for the Hanks brothers to get in on the action.

Tannor Hanks was up first in the 215-pound weight class. He was able to get a first-round pin against his opponent. Following Tannor’s win, Ty Hanks finished off the night in the 285-pound division.

After being caught off-guard by his opponent, Hanks was taken down to the mat. However, he and his opponent were immediately stood up because they went out of bounds on the takedown.

On the ensuing restart, Hanks took control and was able to take his opponent down to the mat. After a brief rolling around period by the two wrestlers, Hanks was able to get his opponent in a position to be pinned and win the match.

Pahrump Valley came away with a 72-3 victory over the Miners.

The Trojans will be back in action this Saturday when they travel to Spring Valley High School. That meet is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.

Contact sports writer/editor Danny Smyth at dsmyth@pvtimes.com. Follow @the_dannysmyth on Twitter.