Trojans wrestlers struggle with lineup in last tournament

Trojans grapplers went to one of the toughest duals of the year at Spring Valley on Saturday. Although they didn’t win a match, going 0-4, the team showed some promise.

The Trojans were missing five wrestlers going into the match and so had to forfeit those points.

“I could have easily brought up five wrestlers from the junior varsity team,” Trojans coach Craig Rieger said. “But the JV team had a match at Foothill and so I left things as they were.”

Rieger said with three of his wrestlers that eligibility was the problem.

“That hurt us and we still don’t have a 106-pounder,” he said. “Dustin Riley got hurt and so he was out at 152. He is wrestling really well but went to the hospital and he took a week off, which was fine.”

So the bottom line is when the Trojans don’t fill all 14 weight classes, they have to forfeit the ones they don’t fill and those points counted against them.

“We had four close matches,” the coach said.

And if Pahrump had those five wrestlers, who knows what the outcome would have been.

The points of those matches as follows: Liberty 39, Pahrump 30; Coronado 34, Pahrump 30; Spring Valley 54, Pahrump 27 and Clark 51, Pahrump 30.

“What’s neat is we had some guys step up,” Rieger said.

He said many of those guys that won on Saturday were sophomores. Sophomore Dylan Grossell (132 pounds) went 4-0, sophomore Tristan Maughan (138) went 4-0, senior Garrett Monje (170) went 3-1, and sophomore Christian Monje (195) went 4-0.

“These guys have a lot of heart,” Rieger said. “They would be behind in their match and they would come back and win.”

Tristan Maughan was the wrestler of the week because the coach said he came down in weight and won four solid matches.

“I did well because I was much more confident this tournament,” Maughan said. “I have started to mature and just do better.”

Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com