East beats West in first meeting

With his team trailing cross-town rival Victoria East by 31 points, Victoria West senior wrestler Alejandro Vogt decided to break some of the tension.

Vogt looked over at his opponent and went over to the scorer's table.

"My name is Jose Reyna," he told the official scorer.

Reyna was his opponent during the final match between the Warriors and Titans in East's 52-18 win Tuesday at the District Events Center.

"He made me smile, we've been friends," Reyna said. "But when we stepped out on the mat we couldn't fake it anymore."

The teams showcased a different perspective for the rivalry Tuesday.

In most sports, the opening of East and West meant the former Memorial teammates wouldn't see each other until the two squads played or competed head-to-head.

That doesn't apply in wrestling as both teams still practice against each other everyday and the wrestlers are still close.

"Even though we go to different schools we're still going to be a team, we're still going to be together," said Vogt after both teams huddled on the mat with the Titans' logo.

For Reyna the only thing separating the two teams was the additional color they had on their black and red tights.

"Even though we're two separate teams we like to think of ourselves as a family," Reyna said.

Vogt and Reyna both compete in the 180-pound division and although the Titans had the meet in hand, the two gave wrestling fans the best show of the night.

Vogt was called for a stalling penalty in the third period and after Reyna scored a reversal the Titans looked to pick up their sixth match win of the night as Reyna led by three points with less than a minute left.

But Vogt came back and was able to tie the match at five in the waning seconds of the third period.

"I just thought to myself 'I had to take him down, I've got to do it,'" Vogt said.

Added Reyna: "He came from out of nowhere coming on strong like that."

Vogt said he had to be careful to stay in control of his moves because if he got careless trying to make a comeback Reyna was good enough to pin him. Despite tying the match up and forcing a fourth period, Vogt lost after Reyna was able to score an escape in the extra period.

"We've never wrestled like this, so intense for six minutes," Vogt said.

Vogt saw a more competitive side of the East team and Victoria sports fans saw a different kind of rivalry.

"We really felt it now," Vogt said. "In practice your really don't feel it because we're friends there."