DENVER — The front door slammed shut on the Windsor wrestling team Friday afternoon.
Fortunately, for the Wizards, the back door is wide open.
Throw out the welcome mat as they attempt to three-peat at the Class 4A State Wrestling Championships at the Pepsi Center.
“Same round as last year — the dang quarterfinals,” said Windsor coach Monte Trusty, whose team was in first place after the first day of the three-day tournament.
“If we’re going to do it (win another title), we’re going to have to do it the same way we did last year,” Trusty added. “We have what it takes, but we’ll have to see.”
The Wizards relinquished their lead in the race for the 4A team title, and are five points behind leader Discovery Canyon, which has 105 points.
Discovery Canyon is followed by Windsor (100), Broomfield (97.5), Thompson Valley (65), Pueblo South (61) and Montezuma-Cortez (61).
The Wizards still have nine wrestlers alive in action today, led by finalists Joel Salomon (113 pounds), 152-pounder Keenen Lanteri and heavyweight Robert Bishop-Cotner.
Discovery Canyon has five finalists — none against Windsor — and just one wrestler alive in consolation action.
Trusty’s comments came moments after Lanteri (45-7) scored a convincing 12-4 major decision over Pueblo County’s Keenan Willits in Friday night’s semifinals.
Lanteri, who came into the tournament ranked No. 2 but seeded No. 4, fought off more offensive shots than he took against Willits, but boosted his lead to 8-4 with a pair of third-period escapes, then added a takedown and near fall in the final 31 seconds to secure his spot in tonight’s finals at 7.
“That was a good win for us,” Trusty said. “Keenen wrestled a great match.” Lanteri methodically took on Willits offense from the neutral position, and also waited patiently during four blood timeouts (Willits’ nose) for his victory.
Salomon scored two impressive pins on Friday, sticking Valor Christian’s Austin Veen in 3 minutes, 12 seconds in the quarterfinal, then followed that up with a pin over Mesa Ridge’s Brandon Gonzalez in just 52 seconds to run his season record to 49-2.
Lanteri preceded his semifinal victory with a 6-5 victory over Sand Creek’s Jeremy Jaquess in the quarterfinals.
However, one of Salomon’s losses was to his finalist opponent, Broomfield’s Drew Romero (41-2) in last week’s reginal final.
Leading Windsor’s charge through the back door will be senior 182-pounder Cosme Martinez, who came back after a 12-5 quarterfinal loss to Montezuma-Cortez’s Trenton Gustafson (who is in the finals) with a 16-2 major decision over Pueblo County’s Tony Molinaro.
“I lost my chance for a title, but now it’s time to think about the team,” said Martinez, who physically whipped Molinaro late Friday night. “My goal now is to finish third and to get our team another title.”
Lanteri wrestled one of his most complete matches of the season in the semifinals, following a close 6-5 win over Durango’s Nick Tarpley in Friday afternoon’s quarterfinals.
Bishop-Cotner pinned Air Academy’s Justin Petrash in 4:57 in Saturday night’s semifinals and will take a 40-8 record into tonight’s final against top-seeded Dakota Gulley (35-2) of Golden.
Gulley pinned his way into Friday night’s semifinals before escaping — literally — with a 1-0 victory over Sand Creek’s Tuli Laulu in the semifinals.
Gulley easily beat Bishop-Cotner in last week’s regional final.
“They have plenty of guys left, and believe me, I’ve seen through this before,” Discovery Canyon coach Ron Sukle said. “Five points probably won’t be enough.
“The (consolation) matches are going to be huge for them,” added Sukle, a former head coach at Highland.
Windsor will put a lot of faith in its crew of wrestlers in the consolation rounds — Josh Villa (106), Jonathan Lewis (120), Vinny Gonzales (160), Joseph Keller (170), Martinez (182) and Brandon Brauser (195).
Senior Jacob Winter was on the verge of joining the Windsor contingent that will carry the load this afternoon before falling 1-0 in overtime to Noah Lennox of Golden.
CLASS 4A
Team scores — Discovery Canyon 105; Windsor 100; Broomfield 97.5; Thompson Valley 65; Montezuma-Cortez 61; Pueblo South 61; Pueblo Central 47; Golden 43; Roosevelt 43; Falcon 33; Mead 29; Valor Christian 29; Weld Central 29; Mesa Ridge 28.5; Eagle Valley 26; Palisade 25.5; Air Academy 25; Cheyenne Mountain 24; Pueblo Centennial 24; Arvada 23.5; Canon City 23; Berthoud 22; Longmont 21; Pueblo County 14; Pueblo East 14; Erie 13; Montrose 13; Ft. Morgan 12.5; Rifle 11.5; Vista Ridge 11.5; Palmer Ridge 10.5; Elizabeth 9.5; Durango 9; Niwot 9; Pueblo West 9; Woodland Park 9; Mullen 8; Sand Creek 8; Thomas Jefferson 8; Conifer 7; Mountain View 7; Summit 7; Evergreen 5; Greeley Central 5; Lewis-Palmer 4; Northridge 4; Delta 3; Frederick 2; Widefield 2.
106 pounds — Dalton Robertson, Weld Central dec. Vladyslav Kazakov, Thompson Valley, 8-5; Sam Turner, Discovery Canyon dec. Darek Huff, Broomfield, 12-10.
113 pounds — Drew Romero, Broomfield pinned Collin Williams, Thompson Valley 4:41; Joel Salomon, Windsor inj. def. Brandon Gonzalez, Mesa Ridge, :52.
120 pounds — AJ Rees, Discovery Canyon pinned Nick Wittrock, Summit, 2:45; Marcus Martinez, Pueblo South maj. dec. Aaron Carrera, Pueblo East, 8-0.
126 pounds — Bobby Amond, Cheyenne Mountain pinned Jimmy Fate, Berthoud, 5:47; Dalton Hannigan, Palisade dec. Ian Wingstrom, Ft. Morgan, 5-4.
132 pounds — Isaac Naro, Pueblo South dec. Tanner Williams, Thompson Valley, 5-0; Sonny Espinoza, Pueblo Central pinned Travis Myers, Pueblo West, :56.
138 pounds — Ryan Daves, Montezuma-Cortez pinned Hunter Shively, Conifer, 2:59; Jace Lopez, Roosevelt dec. Parker Simington, Thompson Valley, 11-4.
145 pounds — Phil Downing, Broomfield maj. dec. Dominique Hughes, Mesa Ridge, 12-4; Tyler Oberg, Discovery Canyon dec. Chad Ellis, Berthoud, 2-1 3OT.
152 pounds — Kennen Lanteri, Windsor maj. dec. Kennan Willits, Pueblo County, 12-4; Cody Soulka, Falcon dec. John Holst, Valor Christian, 9-3.
160 pounds — Francisco Marquez, Thompson Valley dec. Kyle Soulka, Falcon, 4-2; Seager Oliver, Montezuma-Cortez maj. dec. Thomas Chisholm, Woodland Park, 13-1.
170 pounds — Chaz Polson, Valor Christian dec. Adrian Mack, Discovery Canyon, 3-1; Zach Stodden, Broomfield dec. Caleb Cuneio, Air Academy, 5-2.
182 pounds — Kyle Couch, Mead dec. Josh Semmler, Roosevelt, 5-1 OT; Trenton Gustafson, Montezuma-Cortez dec. Jacob Hawthorne, Vista Ridge, 5-0.
195 pounds — Garet Krohn, Arvada tech. fall Jaime Ramos Vega, Longmont, 21-5; David Traynor, Discovery Canyon maj. dec. Logan Longworth, Weld Central, 15-5.
220 pounds — Andy Armstrong, Eagle Valley dec. Connor Eakes, Broomfield, 3-0; Garrett Benell, Canon City dec. Evan Lancelot, Pueblo Central, 3-2.
285 pounds — Dakota Gulley, Golden dec. Tuli Laulu, Sand Creek, 1-0; Robert Bishop-Cotner, Windsor pinned Justin Petrash, Air Academy, 1:35.
