DON McDERMOTT / PVT Kyle Abreu will compete today for the Pahrump Valley High School wrestling team, which takes on Boulder City and Las Vegas Faith Lutheran in Southern Nevada Class 3-A League duals, starting at 3 p.m. Advertisement

After placing a highly-respectable fifth in the Desert Storm Classic in Utah last weekend, the Pahrump Valley wrestlers are at home today for Southern Nevada Class 3-A League matches.

The Trojans, 15-2 in all duals and 3-0 in the league, will wrestle Boulder City at 4 p.m. and Las Vegas Faith Lutheran at 5 p.m. in the Ninth Grade Academy gym. At 3 p.m., Faith Lutheran and Boulder City will clash.

At Dixie High School in St. George, Utah, last weekend, coach Craig Rieger's wrestlers scored 116 points to place fifth behind Utah powers Delta (236), Dixie (164.5), Hurricane (155), and Pine View (148). Canyon View had 91, Snow Canyon 85.5, Richfield 84, Mesquite Virgin Valley 72 and Enterprise 66. Nineteen teams competed in the two-day individual-bracket tournament.

Elias Armendariz, Pahrump Valley's three-time state champion, added a Desert Storm title to his resume, defeating Richfield's Shay Hunt 8-0 in the 112-pound finals. Armendariz was 3-0 and is 19-1 in all matches this season.

Frank Lopez was second in the heavyweight division, after bowing to Snow Canyon's Kason Gubler in the championship match. Lopez, 2-1 at St. George, is 18-2.

The Trojans had two third-place finishers: Zach Weldon at 171 and Pierce Henkel at 189. Weldon, 3-1, is 20-1, while Henkel, 3-1, is 18-3.

Two matmen were fourth; 130-pounder Chris DeMille, 3-2, is 14-8, while James Chapman, at 145, was 2-2 and is now 17-2.

Kyle Abreu (140) was fifth; 3-2 at St. George, he is 13-9 this season.

Joe Colucci (215) was 1-2 and is 12-8. Ande Floyd (160) did not compete, while Elliott Owens (103, 14-3) was entered in the Junior Varsity tournament, as were Josh Armendariz (119, 10-6) and Gueran Fenicle (135, 8-9).

"I thought we wrestled well; the (Desert Storm) tournament is a tough one," said Rieger. Other than Armendariz and Lopez, no other Nevada wrestler qualified for the finals.

Today's appearance is the first of four the Trojans will have at home this season ... The Nye County Championships will be here Jan. 23 ... League teams return to PVHS Jan. 30 to wrap up the regular season ... The Southern 3-A regionals will be in Pahrump Feb. 2 ... The 3-A state tournament is Feb. 8-9 at Overton Moapa Valley High.

NOTES -- Pahrump Valley will compete in the Spring Creek-based Kiwanis Invitational Jan. 11-12 ... The defending Nevada Class 3-A state champion, Spring Creek was second out of 34 teams at the Lowry Invitational in Winnemucca last weekend. ... The Spartans trailed Nampa (Idaho) ... Class 4-A Douglas Minden was third, with Burns (Ore) fourth and 4-A Churchill County Fallon fifth ... Spring Creek's Cameron Hopper won at 112, Nick Wooden at 130 and Bryar Saddoris at 152 ... All three were 5-0, with Hopper getting four pins ... Wooden and Saddoris had three each ... Hopper was named the outstanding wrestler of the lower weights. ... Josh David was third with a 5-1 record at 125, Ryan Kyllonen also was third with a 5-1 record at 160, Kamas Wing finished fifth at 189 with a 3-2 record and Alex Baker was sixth at 140 with a 3-3 mark. ... After this week's Tournament of Champions at Reno, Spring Creek will compete Dec. 27-28 at the Sierra Nevada Classic. ... Dayton, another Northern 3-A League member, is wrestling again ... The Dust Devils were without a coach until recently, when Sal Aquino, a long-time Dayton-area youth sports mentor, took the job ... Dayton has 18 wrestlers in camp ... Being hyped in the Northern Nevada media is the 2006-2007 state 3-A heavyweight champion, Incline's Jordan Cronin ... In 2006-2007, the 6-foot-4 Cronin was 34-4, wrestling at 255 pounds.