Rio Rancho High School went five for six in state championship matches Saturday evening, as the Rams laid claim to their fourth title in five years.

It wasn't as dominating a performance as the Rams had done three years ago, when they won seven individual crowns and their second state title in a row, but it matched their 2005 outing, when they also had five individuals win crowns.

As expected, the Rams' talented trio of brothers Matt and Max Ortega and Vicente Varela went into the 5A event as No. 1 seeds and won championships, giving them a combined 11 among them. 119-Louis Trujillo, only a freshman, won his first title, as did 171-Paul Cabbage. Only 152-Victor Sanchez, like Varela and Matt Ortega a senior making his final bid for a title, fell short.

The Rams wound up with 213.5 points, while the team that upset them last year in their bid for a four-peat, Eldorado (198.5), was second. Rio Grande (173.5) was third and had also been expected to pose a threat to the Rams' run to the title.

"Obviously, winning the state title was a goal for our team and we had a great performance in the finals," first-year coach Jason Nickal said. "I had pretty high expectations going in and I would have been disappointed with less than six (in the championships), so I was real happy when we got those six guys in the finals. And it was nice we scored some points in the upper weights."

The Rams had 101.5 points after Friday's action, while the Ravens (96) were second and Eldorado (94) was third.

Heading into the championship round Saturday evening, which began almost an hour later than scheduled, the Rams had a two-point lead over the Eagles, 190.5-188.5, while Rio Grande (169.5) was third and fourth-place Los Lunas (143.5) had dropped from contention.

Second-seeded Trujillo (48-3) pinned Colin Miller of Cibola in 4:48, then nailed Gallup's Carlos Armendariz in 2:47. Trujillo then picked up a 6-0 decision over Mayfield's Sean Cramberg, whom he'd defeated in the Joe Vivian Classic earlier this season, before defeating top-seeded Augustin Silva of Los Lunas, 4-3.. Trujillo's late first-period takedown, giving him a 4-3 lead, turned out to be the final points in the match.

Matt Ortega (44-1), the top seed, picked up his fourth crown in as many divisions, having won at 103 as a freshman, 112 the next year and 119 last year. His first three victories were by fall: Eldorado's T.J. Provencio (2:33), Los Lunas's Mario Montano (4:50) and La Cueva's Marcus Baca (3:20).

Ortega then grabbed an 8-1 lead in the second period before holding off a late rally by Albuquerque High's Seth Chavez, the only wrestler he'd lost to all year (Joe Vivian Classic championship match), in a 9-5 victory.

Ortega's nose was his toughest opponent: The match was stopped three times to have his bloody nose plugged.

Sophomore Max Ortega (41-3), also a No. 1 seed, matched his older brother with three pins in the early rounds: Ali Morales (3:51) of Rio Grande, Eldorado's Andy Montgomery (5:22) and Cibola's Kale Gable (3:39) were his trio of victims.

In the championship match against 4 seed David Rael of Santa Fe, Max Ortega fashioned four first-period takedowns for an early 8-3 lead, used a second-period reversal for a 10-3 lead after two periods, then added two more takedowns, coupled with a pair of escapes by Rael, for a 14-5 victory. Ortega had defeated Rael 8-2 for a championship at the Vivian Classic.

Varela (45-0), another top seed, topped the Ortega brothers' early rounds by winning in first-round pins. His victims, in order, were Anthony Romero of Los Lunas (:47), Matt Raymer of Manzano (1:10) and Justin Vigil of Rio Grande (:52).

West Mesa's Jesse Long was a bit more stubborn in the title match. Varela crafted three first-period takedowns for a 6-2 lead heading into the second period, then picked up three points in a near-fall that Nickal insisted to the referee should have been a pin. Varela led 13-2 after the second period; the third period was scoreless.

It was his second win of the year over Long, who had been pinned in 2:41 by Varela in a Vivian Classic championship match.

Varela had been a state champ at 112 as a freshman, then at 130 as a sophomore and again as a junior. This time, his victory clinched the blue trophy for his team.

Cabbage (47-6) met Andrew Geissler of Eldorado for the third time this season. The No. 2 seed racked up pins of Travis Scribner of Cibola (4:31) and Alec Hopkins of West Mesa (1:43) before facing Mike Rode, the brother of former Rams basketball standout Brio Rode, in the semifinals. There, Cabbage posted a 12-3 major decision over Rode, and headed to the championship match against Geissler, the No. 1 seed, whom Cabbage had defeated 7-5 in the Southwest Duals and then 3-2 in the Rams-Eagles dual match less than a week later.

Geissler again was no match for Cabbage, managing only one point, and that via a penalty, in his 9-1 loss to the Ram.

Sanchez (40-7), the No. 1 seed at 152, breezed to the championship match, pinning Las Cruces' Joseph Daniels in :42, notching a technical fall over Gadsden's Eddie Martinez in 3:40, and following suit with another technical fall, this one by a lopsided 15-0 score, over Gallup's T.J. Gamenez in the semifinals.

But Rio Grande's Adrian Baca, the 3 seed, wasn't about to go as easily as Sanchez's first three foes.

After a scoreless first period, Sanchez started the second period in the down position and escaped for a 1-0 lead. Baca was down in the third period and escaped to tie the match at 1.

Neither wrestler scored in the first 30-second overtime, so Baca began the second OT in the down position and managed an escape. Given the same opportunity in the third OT period, Sanchez was unable to escape and Baca got away with a 2-1 victory.

189-Adolfo Midence's face looked like he'd walked into a meat grinder. The senior, competing in his first year on the mats, finished fourth after being pinned by Mayfield's Neil Dolly in 1:18. Earlier, Midence earned a first-round forfeit but was pinned by Rio Grande's Nicholas Antillon in 5:34.

Relegated to the consolation bracket, Midence pinned Carlsbad's Jon Escareno in :52 and decisioned Sandia's Conn Kearney, 9-3. Midence moved into the battle for third place after his next opponent, Manzano's Caleb Krummel, defaulted.

Although he couldn't look forward to improving upon his status or help the Rams defend their title in 2008, Midence has something else to look forward to: the 2008 football season, when he'll be playing at New Mexico Highlands University.

103-Nathaniel Lujan, only an eighth-grader, who finished fifth after a 16-0 technical fall over West Mesa's Arthur Martinez. Lujan beat second-seeded Justin Martinez of Manzano 7-2, then pinned Highland's Armando Gallegos in 2:38. Lujan was then pinned in 5:12 by state runner-up John Ortega of Cibola, before getting pinned by Justin Martinez in 4:25.

Other Rams competing but not finishing among the top six were:

112-Caleb Rubalcaba, also an eighth-grader, who pinned Cibola's Marcus Martinez in 5:22, then lost a 7-0 decision to West Mesa's Jordan Espinosa. In the consolation bracket, Rubalcaba beat Seth Gonzales of Sandia, 9-0, before seeing his day end in a 7-2 loss to Justin Arellano of Los Lunas.

140-Chris Rubalcaba, who lost a 4-3 decision to Albuquerque High's Gilbert Garcia, then beat Manzano's Dan Wilkinson 10-4. West Mesa's Russell Wilson sent Rubalcaba, a sophomore, packing in a 14-3 major decision.

145-Armando Mendibles, who lost two of his three matches. The junior was pinned in 2:48 by Gadsden's David Najera in 2:48, then recorded a fall over Las Cruces' Alex Ramsey in 2:31. Mendibles was then pinned in 3:45 by Hobbs' Ryan Jackson.

160-Jordan O'Farrell, who pinned Onate's Danny Hobbs in 2:14 before getting pinned by unseeded A.J. Pacheco of Sandia, who finished second, in 3:49. In the consolation bracket, O'Farrell, a junior, pinned Carlsbad's Isaac Florez in 2:26 before seeing his tournament run end in a 14-2 loss to Gallup's Aaron French.

215- Robbie Hix, who lost both of his matches. Hix, a senior, came out on the short end of a 12-2 major decision to No. 1 seed A.J. Rachal of Hobbs before a forfeit in the first round of the consolation bracket sent him up against Eldorado's Andres Grajeda, who pinned him in 4:35.

Other state champions were 103-Joaquin Marquez, a Mayfield freshman; 112-Jordan Santiago, an Albuquerque High freshman; 140-Tyler Davy, an Eldorado senior; 145-Jimmy Nevarez III of Mayfield, a three-time state champ; 160-Travis Saxon of Santa Fe; 189-Austin Baucom, another Eldorado senior; 215-A.J. Rachal of Hobbs, a senior and that school's first champ; and heavyweight Payton Henderson, a Highland senior.

Marquez (29-0), Nevarez (53-0) and Baucom (27-0) joined Arizona State-bound Varela as undefeated champions.

The thrill and esteem of laying claim to a pair of four-time state wrestling champs could be extended to a fourth four-timer next February.

And, if Max Ortega maintains his drive for excellence and continues to do well in the classroom, in a mere two years he could become only the second New Mexican to win five state championships.

After his brother Max and Varela completed their quest for four state titles within a few minutes of each other, Max Ortega was asked how it felt to have a shot at five.

"I'm a step closer, I guess, so yeah, it's real exciting," he said. "I try not to think about that.

"Right now it is a lot closer so I'm excited about it. I'm going to just start working a lot harder," he said. "We're probably going to take a little while off, then go to, like, the nationals, maybe some Greco in the summer."

As far as the possibility of wrestling with his brother again as a Hoosier, he said that would be great but, hey, he's only a sophomore.

"I think once my junior year hits I'll start thinking about it a lot harder, but right now I'm just happy that I took state again."

None of his three was more special than another.

"I think all of them were about the same. State is state," he said. "I guess this year is maybe the best because it's 'the now."

Nickal said the team celebrated its victory at a Rio Rancho restaurant owned by former Rams assistant mat coach Rodney Romero.

"We all got together and the team went to Taste of Haven and ate a whole bunch of enchiladas, had a good time, hoisted the trophy - and they doused me with a bucket of ice water," Nickal said, noting that by then he had removed the suit he'd worn for the tournament and donned sweats. "You'd have thought we won the Super Bowl."

Nickal said it was a great way to end the season on the mats, which was without incident, except for the minor accident and DWI citation that forced the suspension of a 2006 state champ.

"The kids were great, very focused, and had individual goals they wanted to accomplish, and they took care of academics," he said. "Usually, when you make good choices and live your life right, good things happen to you."

Although it's too early to make any boasts about being ready to defend the new crown in 2008, Nickal knows he'll have a lot of talent back on the mats.

"You don't replace a Matt and a Vicente, you just hope to get a quality wrestler and state placer," he said. "We do have some young guys that are probably going to surprise some people. We have some young people that will try to live up to Matt and Vicente and, hopefully, that tradition will still continue."

Takedowns: Some former Rams matmen were at the Star Center Saturday: Nick Kinnard, Mat Trujillo, Dominic Valencia and the school's first state champ, Brian Pitts, who said he was recruiting for Adams State College, were on hand.

... Nickal said Varela and the Ortega brothers are heading to Virginia Beach for the senior nationals in a few weeks.