Trojan wrestlers take top spot at Desert Oasis tournament

The Pahrump Valley wrestling team is off to another great start to begin this season after sweeping the Diamondback Duals on Saturday at Desert Oasis High School.

The tournament featured 10 teams – nine from the Southern Nevada area and one from Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

The Trojans kicked off their tournament in a rematch against the Bonanza Bengals – a team they played just a week prior in another dual.

Pahrump Valley won 11 of the 14 matches, including six of them in first-round pinfalls, defeating the Bengals by a score of 63-12.

When senior Cole Venturo won his match in 21 seconds, I thought for sure that was going to be the fastest pin of the day for the Trojans, if not the tournament.

I was wrong. And it happened just five matches later.

Sophomore Ethan Hutchinson was able to pin his opponent in just 14 seconds.

In the Trojans’ three losses, two were via decision and one was by way of pinfall.

For their second-round matchup, Pahrump Valley faced the Wildcats team – the only non-school team in the tournament.

The Wildcats were made up of wrestlers from multiple schools, including two wrestlers from Pahrump Valley.

Jonathan DeLaLuz and Nate Schaaf competed for the Wildcats on Saturday.

DeLaLuz was the only one to get a win against the Trojans in a pinfall against Oscar Bosket. Schaaf was defeated by Cole Miller in a 21-14 decision. The score doesn’t depict just how close and exciting the match was.

Pahrump Valley would come away with a 75-6 victory over the Wildcats.

The Trojans’ third matchup of the day was their closest in the tournament. They came head-to-head with another Wildcats team, but this time it was Las Vegas High School.

Pahrump Valley had eight victories by pinfall and two forfeit wins. The only match that went to decision between the two teams was a 7-5 win by Las Vegas’ Fernando Torres over Pahrump Valley’s Kyle Heaney.

Venturo finished with his second pinfall win of the day in less than a minute. He ended this matchup with a pin in 59 seconds.

Venturo would win three of his five matches of the day inside the first minute, and he would win four of his five matches in the first round.

Senior Tannor Hanks was the only other Trojan to get a win in the first round against the Las Vegas Wildcats. He scored a pin at the 1:12 mark of the first round.

Pahrump Valley would go on to win their matchup against the Wildcats by a score of 60-21.

In their final matchup of the bracket rounds of the tournament, the Trojans faced off against the Mojave Rattlers.

Mojave entered the matchup with an 0-3 record in the tournament.

The Trojans won nine of the 10 matches between the two teams. There were four forfeits by Mojave due to not having wrestlers in the weight classes.

The only Pahrump Valley wrestler that didn’t win his match against Mojave was Hutchinson, who was pinned in the second round by his opponent.

The Trojans finished four matches inside of the first minute, including two matches inside the first 30 seconds by the Hanks brothers – Ty and Tannor.

Pahrump Valley came away with a 78-6 victory, making them 4-0 and undefeated in the tournament heading into the championship round against Lake Mead Christian Academy.

Lake Mead entered the matchup with a perfect 4-0 record, as well, after beating Wheat Ridge, Clark, Silverado and Desert Oasis.

Their closest match of the tournament was a 39-35 victory over Silverado. After falling behind 30-9 in the first seven matches, Lake Mead went on to win five of the remaining six matches to get the win.

Pahrump Valley received victories in 11 of the 14 matches against Lake Mead. Seven of the wins came with pinfalls.

Four Trojans won their championship matches with pins in the first minute.

Pahrump would defeat Lake Mead by a score of 66-18 to take home first place and an undefeated 5-0 record.

The Trojans had seven wrestlers finish the tournament undefeated. Venturo, Tannor Hanks and Brennen Benedict led the team with 5-0 records.

The other undefeated wrestlers were Jacob Gray (4-0), Steven Howard (3-0), Tyler Heaney (2-0) and Bishop Carter (1-0).

Pahrump Valley will be off until after the new year and will return to the mats on Tuesday, Jan. 3. They’ll head back to Desert Oasis High School for a matchup with the Diamondbacks and the Eldorado Sundevils.

The matches will begin at 5 p.m.

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