HESPERIA – The gym inside Hesperia High School turned from green to pink overnight as Hesperia hosted Shelby, Holton and Fremont for their 16th Annual Pink Out event.
The Pink Out is an event that the Panthers put on in an effort to support local families that have been affected by cancer. This year’s recipients of the funds raised from the event were Fred Scheffler, Brianne Tapanila and Peggy Thompson.
Before the action on the mats began, Hesperia also took a moment to honor their seniors for Senior Night. The trio of senior grapplers – Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Ortiz, Dominick Smith and Skyler Stalbaum – were honored.
The Panthers started the night off with a bout against Shelby. The Tigers came away with a win in that one, taking a 42-33 victory in a back-and-forth affair.
Freshman Carter Fuentes got Hesperia off to a good start in that one, taking a 14-12 decision victory over Shelby’s Antonio Cano in the 106-pound weight class. That earned the Panthers a 3-0 lead off the bat.
Shelby responded with two dominant victories by Cesar Cadena (113 lbs.) over Ethan Newman and Juan Brito (120 lbs.) over Paul Barkfelt. Cadena won by technical fall after reaching a score of 19-3, while Brito won by pin to push Shelby in front 11-3.
Hesperia closed in with an Aiden Smith (126 lbs.) pin over Peyton Hoover, but Shelby roared back with a pin of their own from Devin Exton (132 lbs.) over Dain Kraus.
The Tigers owned a 17-9 lead at that point, but watched it disappear when Hesperia’s Dominick Smith (138 lbs.) pinned Angel Ewing. The Panthers added a win via forfeit for Stalbaum after that, reclaiming the lead at 21-17.
That was as close as Hesperia came to victory for the remainder of that match. Shelby rattled off four straight victories after that. Brody Fessenden (150 lbs.) beat Ryan Fuentes by technical fall before Jaylin Henderson (157 lbs.) beat Brant Hutson by pin. Ussiah Russell (165 lbs.) added a 9-7 decision over Logan Kammer and Max Hagstrom (175 lbs.) finished the run with a default win by forfeit.
With a 41-17 lead in the blink of an eye and only three weight classes remaining, the Panthers had no hope of a comeback victory. That bout between the two schools ended with two pins from Hesperia by Keith Nulf (190 lbs.) and Noah Walker (285 lbs.) and a win by technical fall for Shelby’s Axel Moritz (215 lbs.).
Walker’s victory for Hesperia also pushed him into triple digits in career victories as a junior, achieving win number 100.
The Panthers took on Holton in their second action of the night, dropping another close contest by a score of 46-35.
Grabbing wins in that matchup were Aiden Smith, Kraus, Dominick Smith, Stalbaum, Ryan Fuentes and Walker. All of those matches, other than Aiden Smith’s, were decided by pin.
Shelby finished the night in first place, snagging a win over Fremont by an eyelash at 40-39.
Cadena, Exton, Fessenden, Henderson, Moritz, Colin Fenton and Cano all notched victories for the Tigers.
