Sierra Vista’s Ramos able to break Las Vegas’ dominating grip

Sierra Vista's Andrew Ramos was in trouble in a 285-pound semifinal match during Friday's Class 4A state wrestling tournament at Cox Pavilion.

Sunrise Region champion Austin Woo of Las Vegas had him on his back, and appeared ready to repeat the first-period pin he gave Ramos in the Mountain Lions' first match of the season.

Luckily for Ramos, history doesn't always repeat itself.

The lone Sierra Vista semifinalist quickly turned the tables on Woo to become one of the finalists in today's state championship matches, which begin at 5:45 p.m.

"I've definitely improved over the year," Ramos said. "This is definitely uplifting.

"(Woo's) a very good wrestler; he's no chump. So it was just hard work. That's all I can remember during practice this last week."

Woo's loss aside, Las Vegas ran away with the lead at the 4A tournament with 114 points. Second-place Churchill County has 39½ points, and Bishop Manogue and Reno are tied for third with 39 points apiece.

The Wildcats placed six wrestlers in the finals, including five scoring competitors. Las Vegas' Dave Prieto at 189 pounds reached the finals as a nonscoring wrestler.

Ramos, who took the class title at the Sunset Region last week, will face Eldorado's Michael Williams for what would be the Mountain Lions' second state championship in school history.

"We've only had one state champion (112-pounder James Rueda), and that was six years ago," Ramos said. "This is huge for our school's program … so I'm just hoping to bring up more people to come in and say, 'Yeah, we're good. This is what the coaches can do for us.'

"If I win, that is what I want to represent."

Bishop Gorman (38 points), Green Valley (37), Carson (36), Cimarron-Memorial (35½), Palo Verde (33) and Spring Valley (29) rounded out the top 10.

The Gaels qualified only two wrestlers, but both will be in today's finals.

Gorman's Steven Hernandez continued his quest for a fourth state championship with a 4-minute, 29-second semifinal pin over Churchill County's Zarek Sanchez at 152 pounds. Teammate Johnny Field used an overtime takedown to edge Junior Valladares of Carson 11-9 at 171 pounds.

In the smallest weight class, Jordan Hart of Palo Verde dispatched Spring Valley's Trevor Siedlecki, 21-7. Earlier, Siedlecki pulled off one of the day's biggest upsets with a first-period pin of defending state champion Curtis Lampert of Spanish Springs.

Lowry leads the Class 3A tournament with 155½ points, and Boulder City is second with 99. Moapa Valley is fifth with 46, and Virgin Valley has 28 points.

In Class 2A, Pershing County leads with 85½ points. Battle Mountain is second with 75½, followed by White Pine with 66.

Contact reporter Sean Walker at swalker@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0430.