Cleveland’s Joe Coon, with advantage, posted a 13-1 major-decision over the Rams’ Diego Francisco in their 152-pound meeting, the match Wednesday evening. (Herron photo)

 

For the 10th time in their last dozen meetings, Cleveland High School came out on top in its match with cross-town rival Rio Rancho, 52-9, Wednesday evening in the RAC.

As they had done a week earlier vs. visiting Atrisco Heritage Academy, the Storm came out firing winning the first seven matches – five by fall – before the Reams’ lone state champ from 2022, Marcus Williams, pinned the Storm’s Elias Gurule in a tidy 1:06.

Williams’ teammate, Kaleb Medina, then decisioned Isaac Bachicha, 12-5, for what turned out to be the Rams’ final victory in the 13-match showdown.

The Storm improved to 10-4 all-time vs. the Rams, who won the teams’ first two meetings on the mat, in 2010 and 2011, in the RAC, which were CHS’s first two seasons of competition.

Here are the results of the evening’s matches as they took place, with the host Rams wrestler listed first and the match score following in parentheses:

160: Jacob Lesperance was pinned by Ruger Stewart in the final second of the first period. (CHS, 6-0)

172: Aden Lorimer lost a 7-2 decision to Benjamin Valencia. (CHS, 9-0)

189: Javier Camarena was pinned in the first period by Micah Martinez. (CHS, 15-0)

215: Christopher Garcia was pinned by Harris Mbueha in 1:21. (CHS, 21-0)

Hwt: Michael Santos, the son of Rams coach Mike Santos, lost on a late takedown to Andrew Rivera, 5-3. (CHS, 24-0)

107: Javier Pacheco was pinned by the Storm’s ’22 state champ, Roman Luttrell, in 24 seconds. (CHS, 30-0)

114: Josiah Neri was pinned by Joshua Ortega with nine seconds remaining in the third period. (CHS, 36-0)

121: Williams needed just 1:06 to pin Elias Gurule. (CHS, 36-6)

127: Medina notched an 8-3 decision over Isaac Bachicha, in the match that clinched the dual victory for the Storm. (CHS, 36-9)

133: Diego Archuleta lost a 4-1 decision to Matthew Dixon. (CHS, 39-9)

139: Gabriel Miera trailed the distance in his match with Xavier Lucero, with Lucero taking a 10-8 decision. (CHS, 42-9)

145: Antonio Chavez was the victim of a second-period fall registered by JP Montoya. (CHS, 48-9)

152: Diego Francisco was no match for veteran Joe Coon, who posted a 13-1 major-decision to end the evening’s action. (CHS, 52-9)

Earlier, the RRHS girls wrestlers won two matches from the Storm, and the Storm took one match vs. the Rams – all falls. RRHS forfeited the other scheduled match, so the teams tied at 12-12.

The Storm will face Volcano Vista, which won the Conflict at Cleveland and the annual Joe Vivian Tournament this month, on Jan. 25 in the Thunderdome. Cibola will also be there for a three-team showdown.

The Rams head north on I-25 to participate in the Top of the Rockies tournament this weekend in Brighton, Colorado.

Both city teams will participate in the annual APS Metro Championships Jan. 27-28 in Volcano Vista’s “Ring of Fire” gymnasium.

Read more on the Storm-Rams dual match in the Jan. 26 Observer.