Coby Tillery was a young man in a hurry Saturday.
Pahrump Valley High School’s sophomore 132-pounder made quick work of each of his four opponents as the Trojans split four matches at the Boulder City Duals.
First came a 59-second pin of Christian Ballenger of Cheyenne. That was followed by Gabe Garcia of Bonanza who succumbed in 1 minute, 55 seconds.
Almost going to a second period apparently didn’t sit well with Tillery, who proceeded to polish off foes from Boulder City (:40) and Foothill (:47) to cap his 4-0 day.
In each of his bouts, Tillery, who reached the Class 3A State Tournament last season as a freshman at 126, recorded an early takedown and remained in control until he recorded the fall.
“Foothill was probably my toughest match,” Tillery said of his win over Keyden Larson. But there was no big secret to his success.
“Mainly the bar, coach’s favorite move,” he said. “Running it, working it. I didn’t run it at all last year, but I did it today and it was working for me.”
Several weights higher up, another sophomore enjoyed a perfect day.
Parker Kisling had to work a little harder than Tillery up at 220, needing more time to pin his first opponent, Anthony Burns of Cheyenne, than Tillery needed to win all four of his bouts.
But Kisling was just warming up, and he recorded first-period pins against Bonanza (1:58), Boulder City (1:03) and Foothill (:44).
“What was working for me was the head-and-arm with the half-nelson,” said Kisling, who said his bouts were “pretty much routine all the way through.”
The fourth-year wrestler said he had a good season with the junior varsity last year, which meant he was facing four opponents new to him in Boulder City. That was fine with him.
“It’s good,” he said. “Wrestling new people, new styles, see how people work.”
But Saturday it was other people seeing how Kisling works. His 6-3 lead at the time of his pin against Jesse Guadarrama of Cheyenne represented the only points he surrendered all day.
Otherwise, results for the Trojans were all over the map, not surprising considering the level of inexperience on the roster.
“We’re a young team,” coach Craig Rieger said. “Even the seniors on our team, most of them are first-time wrestlers or first-year varsity kids. We only have four returners, and here today we only had three of them.”
Pahrump Valley had solid days from the lowest weights, with Sean Grey (106) and Mason Prunchak (113) each going 3-1, and in the upper weights, as heavyweight Tannor Hanks went 3-1 to complement Kisling’s 4-0 at 220.
Also going 3-1 was Henry Amaya at 138.
“Some kids wrestled well, but in one match they just fell apart,” Rieger said. “Henry Amaya had a good day, then one match he got pinned. Mason Prunchak, another of those returners, wrestled well but had one match he just fell apart.”
In several bouts, Pahrump Valley wrestlers were locked in a tight battle, then suddenly, one false move had them fighting for their lives.
“That’s the inexperience,” Rieger said. “Our first-year seniors look like our freshmen. They had a tough day.”
The Trojans won their first two matches, defeating Cheyenne 48-24 and Bonanza 45-33 before falling to Boulder City and Foothill by identical 46-36 scores.
They did that despite forfeiting two weight classes, 120 because a wrestler did not make weight and 195 because of the absence of junior Anthony Pearson, a state qualifier last year.
The inexperience is not entirely because of graduation losses, Rieger said.
“It’s a tough sport,” he noted. “A lot of the upperclassmen, as they get older, it’s like, I just don’t want to do it anymore. So you’ve got to give the others credit for participating.“
The Trojans won’t have to wait long for another test, as they head to Spring Valley High School tonight for a tri-match with the Grizzlies and Las Vegas High School.