DEL NORTE — Thursday night Del Norte wrestling played host to Sierra Grande-Centennial and Sargent for a Triangular. The Panthers-Rams dispatched both of the other squads thanks to a large team. SG-Centennial got the better of Del Norte 48-28 and cleared Sargent 53-11.

Del Norte 30, Sargent 24

The first dual of the night took place between the host Tigers and the Sargent Farmers. As seemed to be the theme of the night, the two teams didn’t share a whole lot of weights in common. Twelve of the points in the dual came from actual matches while the rest were the result of forfeits.

The first match of the night was Diego Heredia of Del Norte against Sargent’s Marcus Lopez in the heavyweight class. After a little pacing, Heredia took a shot and earned a takedown quickly following it up with a pin to put the Tigers a 6-0 lead.

Del Norte’s Isaac Peerman faced Manuel Morales-Palma of Sargent at 152 pounds. Peerman and Morales lasted into the second period. Del Norte’s Peerman carried a 4-2 lead into the second period and continued to score. A reversal from Morales in the second period led to a pin for from the Farmer to even things at 6 points. Following the assignment of the forfeits, Del Norte claimed the 30-24 win.

Sierra Grande-Centennial 48, Del Norte 28

In the second dual of the night, the Tigers and Panther-Rams faced off. The first bout of the contest took place between Del Norte’s Anthony Balderas and SG-Centennial’s Bobby Maes.

Balderas was in control for the majority of the first period scoring with a takedown and picking up 6 near fall points to lead 8-0 into the second period. A takedown in the second period and a reversal and 3 more near-fall points pushed Balderas to a 15-0 Major Decision giving the home team a 4-0 lead.

The second match took place between Del Norte’s Preston Terrell and Isabella Durgan in the 170-pound class. Durgan was a state qualifier last year. Through the first two periods, Terrell was scoring consistently while Durgan picked up two points with escapes. Terrell led entering the third period 12-2. There Terrell would score with 5 more near-fall points to earn a major decision over Durgan 17-2.

The final weight up for grabs in the dual was 152 pounds and pit Isaac Peerman of Del Norte against Brady Kuhns of SG-Centennial. Kuhns qualified for the State Tournament at 152 pounds last year representing Sanford. Kuhns earned a win with a pin at 1:15 to get Sierra Grande’s first on the mat points of the night trailing 10-6. Sierra Grande-Centennial fielded a larger team in the dual and picked up the lion’s share of the forfeit points to take a 48-28 win.

Sierra Grande-Centennial 53, Sargent 11

The final dual took place between SG-Centennial and Sargent.

Diego Ocampo of Sierra Grande and Parker Ford of Sargent met at 126 pounds. Ford worked quickly and efficiently to build a 4-2 lead after one. A reversal and 5 near-fall points in the second period gave Ford a 12-2 lead entering the third. Ford added 5 more points in the final period to take a 17-2 Major Decision giving Sargent a 5-0 lead.

At 132 pounds, it was Sierra Grande’s Richie Atencio facing Byron Burkhart of Sargent. Following a takedown from Burkhart, Atencio earned a reversal and turned it into a near fall to take a 5-2 lead after one. From the down position in the second period, Atencio picked up a reversal and a near fall. He would later amass points with two more takedowns and another near fall to go ahead 16-4 entering the final period. Three more near-fall points in the third period gave Atencio the Major Decision and tied the team score at 5 apiece.

That brought Sargent’s Mitchell Plane and Isaias Minchaca of Sierra Grande to the mat at 138 pounds. Minchaca controlled the pace taking a 14-2 lead into the third period. There Minchaca earned a pin at 4:22 to give the Panthers-Rams an 11-5 lead.

The final bout of the night took place at 152 pounds between Manuel Morales-Palma of Sargent and Michael Lobato of Sierra Grande. The bout between Morales-Palma and Lobato saw scoring from both sides. Lobato led the first period with a reversal and a near fall to go up 5-2. Morales did the majority of the scoring in the second period to take the lead 8-7 entering the third period. In the final period, Morales gave Sargent 6 more team points scoring a fall at the 4:22 mark to tie the dual at 11-11. All of the forfeits went to Sierra Grande-Centennial and they would claim a 53-11 team win.

All three teams’ next action will be tournament play at the Custer County Bobcat Invite this Saturday, the action begins at 9 a.m. All three teams will also be back in the valley for Center’s Valley Classic on February 1st.