The Moriarty High wrestling team opened the 2009-10 season with a decisive 54-21 dual victory at home against a short-handed Manzano contingent last week.

"Not bad" is how Pintos third-year coach Dennis Friedland described his team's initial outing on Dec. 2.

"But the kids were a little jacked up," he added. "They got fizzled out in their matches. Sometimes, getting too pumped up takes too much energy out of you."

Moriarty surged for a 9-0 lead at the match's outset with brothers Trey and Keaton Chancellor getting victories, respectively at 103 and 112 pounds. Keaton, a senior, earned a fall just 17 seconds into his match.

But then the Pintos were beset by an adversity that quickly deflated their spirits. Moriarty's Erik Berroteran, in his 119-pound match against Manzano's Nick Sanchez, hollered in pain a half minute into the first period.

The Pintos' athletic trainer, Matt Vasquez, rushed to the mat to attend to the injured wrestler. Berroteran's left elbow was unhinged from its socket, and it was noticeably askew.

The resulting default drew the Monarchs to within three points at 9-6. But the bigger concern was and is determining how serious the wrestler was hurt.

"I talked with his dad (former Moriarty boys soccer coach Michael Berroteran on Dec. 3)," Moriarty assistant wrestling coach John Barela said in a telephone interview on Sunday. "They popped the elbow back in place. There wasn't any damage to the elbow socket. That was fine. And they didn't think there was any damage to the tendons and muscles, but they were waiting for the swelling to go down."

Michael Berroteran did not immediately return the Telegraph's phone call seeking an update on his son's injury.

"They said it was a complete dislocation (of the elbow), whatever that means," Friedland said after the dual on Dec. 2. "It was by the same kid who broke his clavicle last year."

Coincidentally, Erik Berroteran had fractured his collarbone during the same two teams' early season dual in 2008.

With both teams desperately trying to refocus, the Monarchs tied the score at 9 when Chris Martinez got a hard-fought, come-from-behind, 10-8 decision at 125 against Daniel Nieto. The deciding takedown came with 32 seconds left in overtime.

Moriarty regained the lead at 15-9 via a Manzano forfeit in the 130 division. But the Monarchs knotted the score once again when Brian O'Neil pinned Pinto Caleb Gonzales at the 2:48 mark of the 135 confrontation.

"My goal is to take state," said O'Neil, a senior from Cedar Crest. "But it's going to take a lot of constant motion and focus, keeping busy, keeping your head in the game."

But that's when Moriarty, preceded by a LeeLand Sons decision at 140 and coupled with two Manzano forfeits, got three straight pins for a commanding 48-15 advantage. That five-match sweep iced the team victory.

For the Pintos, junior Jake Marchand pinned John Marquez at 3:32 in the 152 match, senior Kiki Salcido pinned Dillon Chavez at 1:28 in their 160 battle, and junior Jacob Griego put Julian Martinez on his back as the buzzer sounded to end the first period of their 171 match.

Moriarty senior Stephen Apodaca (145) said the cross-mountain rivalry between the two schools' wrestling programs doesn't have the same camaraderie it once did when many of the wrestlers, on both sides of the mat, had grown up together, often competing for the same junior youth team.

"We still meet early in the season every year, so it's still intense because of that," Apodaca said. "But it's not the same."

To wrap up the dual, Moriarty garnered 12 more points off Manzano forfeits, and Monarch Alphonso Adonis pinned Caleb Encinias, whom Friedland described as "very young," in the 215 match.

Encinias had a major decision in the works with a 16-7 lead when the fall occurred. He simply ran out of gas with only 47.6 seconds remaining in the third.

"I think the kids were disappointed with their performances (despite the overall win)," Friedland said. "We have high expectations of ourselves this season."

More Moriarty

The Pintos (8-1 in duals) showed they are in the running for a state Class 4A title this season with their second-place finish at the prestigious, multiteam Southwest Shootout Duals at Rio Rancho High on Friday and Saturday.

"It's hard to say," said Friedland when asked what the elevated placement tells him about where his team stands. "There's a lot of depth in 4A. But there were a lot of good teams at the tournament, too, and we beat Safford (Ariz.) — they're state champs — and we beat other good teams like Liberal (Kan.) and Cherry Creek (Colo.). Cherry Creek has about 4,000 students at their school. And Rio Rancho (the Shootout winner) was tough, but we wrestled them well. We won six matches against (the reigning state 5A champion Rams)."

With 8-0 tourney records, Salcido and Sons, both seniors, were named to the all-tournament team.

"I feel really confident," Salcido said in the Pintos' wrestling room on Monday.

"But there's definitely things we need to work on, like technique and conditioning," added Sons, who was standing with Salcido.

"But I do think this is definitely the year for us," Salcido continued. "Believing has always been our motto, but this time it (a state team title) is going to happen."

"This is definitely the year," Sons emphasized.

Moriarty in Jaguar Invitational at Santa Fe Capital: Friday, about 1 p.m.; Saturday, about 9 a.m.

Manzano at Highland Invitational: Saturday, 9 a.m.