Taos News

Rocky Mountain High Grappling

Fillis shows his strength, but falls short of championship win

By JEANS PINEDA jpineda@taosnews.com

The Taos Tigers on Saturday (Jan. 8) went north to Pagosa Springs, where the Pirates hosted the Rocky Mountain Invitational, and came away with a series of losses balanced out by an impressive showing by Lucas Fillis.

This was an invitational in which defending 2A Colorado state champions, Centauri Falcons, were present. Defending 4A New Mexico state champions, Aztec High, were scheduled to attend but did not show. The Pueblo Central Wildcats also did not show.

As expected the Falcons racked up the most points as a team, finishing in first place with 186 points. Taos with a count of six wrestlers finished 11th out of 15th with 58 points.

Del Norte’s lone wrestler, Malachi Gallegos, netted the school 28 points by winning all of his matches within the 120-pound weight class.

Also within that same weight class, Taos’ Cruz Trujillo (1-2) lost early on to the more experienced senior from Monte Vista, Nathaniel Juarez (15-6).

In the 160-pound weight class, Taos’ Lucion Martinez (0-2) lost in the first round to Monticello’s Thomas Fullmer (3-3).

In the 190-pound weight class, Taos’ Jerome Martinez (124) managed to get past the first round by defeating Dolores’ Gavin Baker (0-2). In the second round he ran into a roadblock in the form of Centauri’s Byron Shawcroft (154). Martinez won the third-place match against Monticello’s Oakley Adams (17-7) by pin in the second period.

In the 220 pound weight class, Taos’ Uriel Chavez had a bye in the first round. In the first period of the semifinals he pinned Centauri sophomore Skylar Montague (2-9). Chavez lost in the championship match by decision to Centauri’s Omar Hernandez (3-0). In the third period Chavez was penalized twice and that turned out to be the deciding factor.

Fillis (12-3) continues his strong season by reaching the championship match within the 285 pound weight class. He made light work of Pagosa Springs freshman Antonio Quesada (1-2) with a pin in the first period. It was a tougher match against Ignacio’s Jeremy Roderick (11-5) in the semifinals. Roderick had four takedowns against Fillis, but Fillis still got the victory by pin in the second period. Fillis could not get past Bloomfield’s Robert Williams (17-4) to claim the title of champion. Williams won by pin in the second period.

SPORTS

en-us

2022-01-13T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-13T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://taosnews.pressreader.com/article/281779927484833

Santa Fe New Mexican