This 2025-2026 wrestling season has been a huge season full of different duels and tournaments for all the wrestlers to compete in. The biggest one for JV wrestlers, however, is the JV Zone tournament that is for every 3A Southern Nevada wrestling school, as well as some other higher schools. Friday afternoon, Pahrump Valley coaches took 18 wrestlers and managers over to Clark High School, where they would meet with around 40 different schools in this huge tournament, ready to compete and make a statement. The tournament had officially begun at 4 PM, and all wrestlers were ready to start the action.
Once the first round kicked off, all Pahrump wrestlers got their match and were ready to battle. Some wrestlers, like Marlon Garcia, Bryce Whitney, and Cameron Scherer were successful in their matches and were able to advance to the winners’ bracket. Other wrestlers, like Chase Hansen, Ace Blumer, and Esteban Chaves, weren’t as fortunate in their respective matches. Even in loss, Blumer felt that he was going into his matches motivated, using what coaches had talked about:“I usually thought deeply about what our coaches would say in their speeches to get me motivated.” This would help Blumer in his favor as he would go on to win his next match in a dominant fashion.
Round two started right after with more impressive wins as the Trojans were catching fire early, but unfortunately for some wrestlers, they had suffered their second loss and were officially eliminated from the tournament. Chaves, being one of those few, still believed that even in his season ending in loss, he believed that his season overall was still a positive for him: “I wrestled many tough opponents this year and managed to beat some who I thought I woulda surely beat me.” Chaves’ attitude towards his season is a very positive outlook and hopes for his upcoming seasons.
Day one was officially wrapped up, and that meant the second day of the tournament was ready to kick off as nine of the Trojans were still fully alive in the tournament and ready to battle. Through the tough grind of the rest of these matches, Pahrump had secured three placers in total by the end. Scherer had grabbed fifth place in the 150 category, and Whitney and Garcia successfully got third at their respective weight classes: 157 and 215. “It was dope watching Marlon, Bryce, and Cam go out there and place, those guys are skilled, man,” junior Angel Mundo said. These were all great showings of how hard these wrestlers have worked this year, and it has fully paid off by placing at a huge tournament-like zone.
Overall, this group of wrestlers had laid it all out on the mat this past weekend and showed their passion for this sport, and for most, the results had shown through impressive decisions and moments in matches. With the season coming to an end for most, they will most certainly try to prepare next year to do even better in each individual performance. For the few boys who are still wrestling and the varsity team preparing for regionals, if you are willing to show support, go ahead and cheer for your wrestling team on their way to regionals and state!
