Alamosa grapplers defeat Pueblo West in home dual

Kolten Hillis of Alamosa controls his opponent Hayden Crosson after a near fall to hold on for a decision victory. (Courier photo by Stephen Jiron)

ALAMOSA — According to preseason rankings the No. 1 3A team, Alamosa took on 4A’s fourth ranked Pueblo West Thursday night in a head-to-head dual.  Alamosa collected five pins en route to their commanding 54-19 win at home.

The defending 3A State Champions took an immediate lead, going up 6-0 Thursday night when Nolan Johnson collected a forfeit in the 106 pound class.  Elijah DeLaCerda faced Mark Ritz in the second bout of the night. DeLaCerda collected two takedowns in the first period to go up 4-1. Another takedown and a near-fall through the second and third periods gave DeLaCerda the 9-1 decision putting Alamosa up 10-0.

Pins from Kason Smith and Joe Chavez in 3:51 and 50 seconds respectively ballooned the lead to 22-0.

Eyan Chavez suffered the first loss of the night for Alamosa. Against Nick Wilson of Pueblo West Chavez was defeated 11-1. 

In the 138 pound class Tyler Kennison got the Mean Moose back on track. In two periods Kennison added a technical fall to the books outscoring opponent Luke Bassow 15-0 at the 3:30 mark. up next was Hunter Smith.With a second to spare, Smith added six points of his own with a pin in the first period on Steven Apodaca.

At 152 pounds was Alamosa’s Kolten Hillis against Hayden Crosson. A close match saw the two combatants tied at 4-4 after one period. A penalty from Crosson gave Hillis a 5-4 lead in the second period. Hillis assured the victory with a near fall to take the decision by a score of 8-5. Brooks Anderson added to the lead for Alamosa with a forfeit making the team score 42-4.

Dillon Derting and Evan Hart of Pueblo West began the comeback for the Cyclones with two straight pin falls on Andres Mondragon and Brandon Madril respectively. Mason Leadbetter would get the final points for Pueblo West with a 8-2 decision over Zeko Rangel. Austin Trujillo of Alamosa grabbed the steering wheel back for the Mean Moose with a 4:39 pin on Sam Selves adding six points to the overall score.

With the dual well in hand Alamosa senior Logan Thompson finished things up for the home team with a first period pin in the heavyweight class. Thompson’s pin finalized the score for the Moose, giving Alamosa a 54-19 win at home.

This weekend Alamosa will head to Pueblo to take part in the Pueblo East Invitational on Dec. 8th. The invitational will be a good opportunity for Alamosa to test their mettle as other top ten teams from all classes will also be there including Lamar, Berthoud and of course On the Mat’s No. 1 preseason ranked 4A team Pueblo East.