Surprising Virgin Valley wins Bulldog Grappler

It’s been 12 years since Virgin Valley last won a state wrestling title.

If Saturday is any indication, the drought may not last much longer.

Virgin Valley had five wrestlers win titles Saturday en route to winning the Bulldog Grappler at Centennial. The Bulldogs had 152 points. Host Centennial finished second with 140 points, followed by Palo Verde (139.5), Las Vegas (136) and Western (89).

“A lot of the kids have wrestled here (in Mesquite) since they were young,” said Virgin Valley head coach Skyler Woods. “They were around when (Virgin Valley) was dominant in the past, and that’s where they want to be.”

Virgin Valley had won four consecutive Class 3A state championship, beginning in 1999, and was the state runner-up the following two years.

The program has fallen off a bit since then, but Saturday’s effort is an indication the Bulldogs are on the rise.

Jacob Baird (106 pounds), Juan Dominguez (120), Hunter Woods (132), Broc Smith (152) and Hector Garcia (285) each won a title, and Fernando Gonzalez (126) placed second.

“We wrestled pretty well overall,” Skyler Woods said. “We always feel like we can wrestle with anyone in the state. It’s good to go in to those tournaments because some of the bigger schools don’t think the small schools are able to do that. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from, as long as you put in the time. We got a bunch of guys that have worked. They’ve been wrestling nine to 10 months a year.

“We don’t have a full team, but the guys that we do have are solid. I think we’re going to do a good job for sure. Here in Mesquite, we have a hard time selling some of the weights. We’re missing from 170 (pounds) to heavyweight. As long as the guys we have perform, we’ll be right in the middle of it. We have a good tournament team. The guys we do have score us a lot of points.”