In their second meeting of the year Discovery Canyon’s Patrick Allis had a bit more breathing room while battling Pueblo East’s Ryan Roth in the Region 2 126-pound championship.

Allis claimed an 11-5 win over Roth, a more comfortable win than the 10-8 decision from earlier this season.

But with Allis and Roth ranking No. 1 and No. 2 at 4A 126 pounds, respectively, Saturday’s Region 2 clash might not be the last time the two face off this year.

“They’ve been ranked No. 1 and 2 pretty much all year long, but you have to take it one match at a time,” said Discovery Canyon coach Marques Bravo. “More than likely he’s a kid that is going to make it to the finals, and we have to do our job and make it to the finals too.”

Allis, who won the 120-pound state championship last season, hopes he will see Roth again next weekend at Denver's Pepsi Center.

“That’s who I expect to face and I know how to wrestle him,” Allis said. “I think seeing him in the finals again would be cool. We always put on a pretty good match so that’s who I hope it is but whoever steps out in front of me I’m going to wrestle hard.”

It would be a change of scenery for Allis, who defeated Vance VomBaur of Windsor in the state final last year after falling to him twice during the regular season.

“I was the underdog last year, so that’s in the back of my head thinking not every match is guaranteed just because I beat him before,” Allis said.

Host Discovery Canyon brought home one other regional title with Dylan Ruane pulling out a close 6-5 decision over Elijah Wisthoff of Pueblo East.

“He was just really excited to get that match back because that kid pinned Dylan earlier in the year at Arvada West and he’s dangerous,” Bravo said. “If you make a mistake he’ll make you pay for it, so it was nice for Dylan to get that win back.”

Tanner Sulke (152, third) and Andrew Keegan (170, fourth) also qualified for the state tournament from Discovery Canyon.

Falcon places third, qualifies seven for state championships

Falcon brought home three individual regional championships and placed third as the top area team in the Region 2 tournament. Pueblo East won the tourney.

Freshman James Brown took the 120 championship in his first regional competition, while 160-pounder Caleb Sherrill and 182-pound Michael Bird also claimed titles.

Bird had the fastest pin of the finals, taking down Palmer’s Skylar Owens-Hall in just 21 seconds.

“When I was talking to him before the match, you could just tell,” said Falcon coach Robert Lovato. “He’s been an underdog all his life and now he’s trying to get to the top. In the coaches meeting I think a lot of people doubted him, and I think he wanted to prove something this weekend and he did.”

Brown claimed a narrow 4-2 victory over Pueblo West’s Kobi Montano, despite still recovering from the flu.

Lovato said he expects Brown to maintain his composure next week through the state tournament, despite being only a freshman.

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Falcon's James Brown, right, wrestles Pueblo West's Kobi Montano in the 120-pound Region 2 championship. Brown won 4-2. (Lindsey Smith, The Gazette)

“He’s the type of kid that it doesn’t matter if it’s a small tournament or a big tournament,” Lovato said. “It doesn't faze him. We’ve had a lot of success this year so we’re going to continue doing what we’ve done to get that success.”

At 160, Sherrill claimed a 9-4 victory over 4A's No. 8 wrestler Diego Duarte of Pueblo East. Sherrill is ranked No. 5 at 160 pounds in 4A.

"Caleb is the hardest worker we have and today he went after it and proved he belongs here," Lovato said. "He will be in the middle of this next week. I think he's ready."

Levi Hendrix (106, third), Clint Brown (132, third), Jarrod Davis (195, second) and Jonathan Lozano (285, fourth) also qualified for the state tournament.

Canon City’s James Ruona, ranked No. 4 in 132 pounds, defeated Falcon’s Clint Brown, the classification’s No. 3 wrestler, in the tournament semifinals. Ruona went on to beat Pueblo East’s Jace Trujillo with a second-period pin.

Region 2 state qualifiers

106: (2nd) Avelino Mota, Widefield; (3rd) Levi Hendrix, Falcon; (4th) Hayden Fuller, Vista Ridge

113: (2nd) Zeon Ortega, Canon City; (4th) Ricky Ortiz, Mitchell

120: (3rd) Ezavian Ortega, Canon City; (4th) Charles Lyons, Sand Creek

126: (3rd) Cameron Muransky, Widefield

132: (4th) Seth Long, Widefield

138: (2nd) Tyler Bemrose, Vista Ridge

145: (3rd) Logan Robb, Widefield

152: (3rd) Tanner Sukle, Discovery Canyon; (4th) Nestor Torrez, Harrison

160: (4th) Ben Therin, Vista Ridge

170: (3rd) Shae Jackson, Widefield; (4th) Andrew Keegan, Discovery Canyon

182: (3rd) Michael Cornelius, Liberty

195: (3rd) Jeffery Winborne, Canon City

220: (2nd) Gage Pruitt, Canon City; (3rd) Kyon McDonald, Harrison

285: (2nd) Nate Mesa, Harrison