HOLIDAY CLASSIC: Panthers’ Wosick parlays familiarity into title

Palo Verde wrestler Billy Wosick knew his finals opponent well.

The senior 133-pounder entered the Las Vegas Holiday Classic with a 1-1 record against Silverado’s Andrew Burr in the past calendar year, including Wosick’s only loss of the young season.

But with one minute remaining and clinging to a 3-2 lead, Wosick saw an opportunity to get a leg up on his rival, and he made full use of it.

“I’m kind of a long kid, and I love ankle-pick shots,” Wosick said. “He took a step forward, so I picked it and tried to keep a hold of it to take him down.”

Wosick scored a takedown midway through the third period to edge Burr 5-3 for the 133-pound title, helping lead Palo Verde to 240 points and a third-place finish Saturday at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Mountain View (Ariz.) edged Victor Valley (Calif.), 258½ to 258 for the team championship.

“It’s amazing, when you can get that first takedown,” said Wosick, who improved to 20-1 on the year. “After the first takedown, everything seems to slow down and settle. I was just happy I could get it first.”

Wosick grabbed Burr in a headlock on the left side, made the Skyhawk wrestler take a step, then lunged for an ankle pick to hand Burr his first loss of the season.

“He’s someone that I look forward to wrestling,” Wosick said of Burr, who fell to 23-1. “I was glad I could get him this time; he’s getting better and better. Every time I see him in the bracket, I know I’m going to have him sometime. And I love close matches; the matches that come down to one or two points, those are the good ones.”

Palo Verde had two other flight champions.

Jordon Hart cruised to an 8-2 decision over Thaddeus Nelson of Marshfield (Ore.) for the 120-pound title, and Marcus Judd won his second straight tournament championship and improved to 20-0 on the year with a 5-3 win over Moapa Valley’s Parker Chappell.

“We have a lot of key seniors who really worked hard in the offseason to make sure they’d be in a position to have a good season,” Palo Verde coach Scott Nemchek said. “(Judd and Hart) are completely opposite in weights, and they make everybody around them better, at both ends of the lineup. I think that benefits the whole team.

“They’re like little coaches in the room, too. They’ll take time out with the new guys, and show them the moves.”

The Panthers also added a string of points from the consolation bracket, including fifth-place finishes by Zee Garcia (152) and Ryan Ratliff (195).

“They all did a very good job of working in the offseason,” Nemchek said. “I told them, 'take six weeks off; you guys have earned it.’ But they called me 10 days later, and wanted me to open up the (wrestling) room. They couldn’t wait to get back in the room again.”

Two-time defending state champion Alex Aniciete of Las Vegas High won the 145 title with a 5-minute pin over Seth Monty of Mountain View, and Spring Valley’s Ray Waters had a pin in 1:45 of the 170 title match to pace the Grizzlies to fifth place.

Brandon Fisher of Shadow Ridge went to 28-0 on the season after claiming the title at 195, and Eldorado’s Mike Williams improved to 29-0 with a title at 285.

Basic’s Nick Gomez (106), Boulder City’s Brandon Foster (195) and Las Vegas’ Lahmad Evans (285) each placed third.