Junior Davila finished second at 121 pounds, Miguel Martin del
Campo was fifth at 191 pounds, and the San Benito Haybalers
compiled 115 points to take 14th place at the 30th Annual Mid-Cal
Classic in Gilroy last weekend.
GILROY
Trailing Fabian Garcia 4-3 early in the second round of the 121-pound final, San Benito’s Junior Davila positioned himself above the Turlock grappler in the corner of the mat, with his left hand holding Garcia’s ankle, his right arm controlling Garcia’s movement in a headlock.
The 121-pound Baler appeared to be in control.
But instead of Davila earning any takedown points, the two wrestlers were whistled out of bounds — a controversial call that resulted in a hail of boos from the Mid-Cal Classic crowd at Gilroy High on Saturday night.
“When I went out of bounds, I thought I had it,” said Davila, the No. 8-ranked wrestler in the state at 121 pounds, according to The California Wrestler. “Guess not.”
Garcia made sure the apparent takedown was as close as Davila would get, though. The No. 3-ranked wrestler exploded off the ensuing whistle at center mat, caught Davila off-guard and wrapped up the San Benito senior around the thighs before delivering a body slam that changed the entire complexion of the 121-pound championship bout.
Garcia, who previously defeated Davila by a 10-9 decision at the Apple Cider Invitational on Jan. 9, then capitalized on his strong position when he scored a pair of three-point near-falls in the second round, eventually cruising to a 14-4 major decision Saturday at Mid-Cals.
After narrowly losing by one point to Garcia earlier this month, Davila had since been gunning for a rematch with the Turlock wrestler.
“I’ve got to work harder,” Davila said. “That second period killed me. Fighting off my back took a lot of energy out of me.
“I thought I did well standing, but I’ve got to work on both bottom and top.”
Davila was the lone Baler to advance to Saturday’s championship round at Mid-Cals, which welcomed 67 teams for two days of wrestling at Gilroy High.
“We stopped working on bottom,” San Benito head coach Brian DeCarli said of Davila’s final match. “We started to think too much about what happened than thinking about what needed to be done to get out.
“All it takes is one good turn by one good [wrestler].”
San Benito compiled 115 points and finished in 14th place, just one point ahead of Ceres. Vacaville claimed the top spot with 336.5 points, easily defeating host Gilroy, which finished runner-up for the second straight year with 249 points. Defending champion Selma was fourth with 187 points.
Davila wasn’t San Benito’s lone placer, though. Miguel Martin del Campo, wrestling at 191 pounds after competing at 215s for much of the season, bounced back through the consolation rounds to finish in fifth place.
After falling to Kingsburg’s Tanner Roberts by fall (1:18) in the third round on Friday, Martin del Campo won four straight matches before winding up in the fifth- and sixth-place consolation round, where he was given a second chance against Roberts.
“Going into it, I was kind of mad because he beat me [on Friday],” Martin del Campo said.
“But I think he was tired from yesterday. Like around the second round, he started gassing.”
Trailing 2-0 after one, Martin del Campo slipped out of a headlock and swung around toward Roberts’ back, scoring a takedown to knot the match up at 2-all. Able to work better from a standing position, though, Martin del Campo allowed Roberts to escape in the third round, giving the Kingsburg grappler a 3-2 lead late.
“But I’m a lot more competitive at this weight class,” Martin del Campo said. “And I just came out stronger today. I felt better.”
Also known as “Bear,” Martin del Campo picked up a pair of takedowns midway through the final period before scoring a win by fall at 5:59 — not a second to spare.
“So much of it is the mental side and his confidence … he wrestled well,” DeCarli said. “The biggest difference is that he kept wrestling. He could have stayed down after that first takedown, but he didn’t.”
The tournament, which is considered larger than the Central Coast Section Championships, was a tale of two days for San Benito, which qualified seven wrestlers to Saturday’s competition, including three wrestlers who remained in title contention.
However, only Davila was able to win-out toward a championship bid.
“[Friday] was a good day for us,” DeCarli said. “I think [Saturday] we did a poor job out there … with mat awareness.”
Like Davila, Balers Robb Rodriguez at 114 pounds and Edgar Ortega at 132 pounds each posted undefeated records during Friday’s early matches, and each opened Saturday’s competition in the quarterfinal round.
However, Rodriguez suffered a narrow 4-3 decision to second-seeded Johnnie Nguyen of Andrew Hill in the semifinal round, then lost by an 11-3 major decision to Duy Nguyen of Wilcox in the consolation round.
“I felt like the first day, I had the easy side of the bracket. It wasn’t really challenging,” said Rodriguez, a freshman. “In the second day, I think I came out and wrestled lazy — not to my best.”
Rodriguez and the second-seeded Nguyen were tied 2-2 in the third round of the quarterfinals when Nguyen scored a takedown with 30 seconds remaining. Rodriguez eked out an escape late, but couldn’t score any additional points.
“I wrestled sloppy, and that’s why he got me,” Rodriguez said. “He was a solid wrestler and had good defense, but I didn’t have the best offense to win.”
Meanwhile, Ortega, who was also positioned in the quarterfinal round to open Saturday’s competition, lost to top-seeded Willie Fox by a 15-0 technical fall, then suffered a narrow 4-3 loss to Yoni Alon of Gunn in the consolation bracket.
“I think he’s beatable, but I need to work harder,” Ortega said of Gilroy’s Fox, who won the 132-pound bracket. “I was disappointed I lost my second match (on Saturday). I should have still been wrestling. Sometimes you have good days and sometimes you have bad days.”
Good or bad, the two-day tourney simply acted as Mikey Soto’s return. The 137-pound grappler, who had been out since late December with a shoulder injury, returned to the mat last weekend and went 3-2.
“I felt I didn’t wrestle as good because I had been out. But I think I still had a good tournament,” said Soto, who lost his first match on Friday. “My first match I got put in a half-nelson and I felt the (shoulder) pain. I wanted to be back as soon as I could because I like wrestling, and I want to be prepared for league and section.”
DeCarli said the Balers struggled in close matches at the tournament, which is essentially San Benito’s last true test prior to the Tri-County Athletic League and Central Coast Section Championships.
The Balers will return to TCAL action on Tuesday when they will visit Salinas at 6:30 p.m.
“If you’re competitive in the match, you always have a chance to win, and we didn’t necessarily put ourselves in a good position,” DeCarli said. “But the best thing is that we have four weeks to make everything right.”
30th Annual Mid-Cal Classic
San Benito Haybalers
105 – N/A
114 – Robb Rodriguez, 2-2, DNP. Friday: Bye; Def. Gabe Balderas of Ceres, 11-0 maj. dec.; Def. Lance Palmer of Clovis West, 6-1 dec. Saturday: Lost to Johnnie Nguyen of Andrew Hill by 4-3 dec.; Lost to Duy Nguyen of Wilcox by 11-3 maj. dec.
121 – Junior Davila, 4-1, 2nd place. Friday: Bye; Def. Devin Smith of Kingsburg, 20-4 tech. fall; Def. Sebastian Lopez of Silver Creek by fall (:35). Saturday: Def. John Fife of Vacaville by 19-3 tech. fall; Def. Adam Magnusson of Madera South by fall (1:41); Lost to Fabian Garcia of Turlock by 14-4 maj. dec.
127 – Nikko Espinoza, 1-2. Friday: Def. Mitch Bouyer of El Camino by fall (1:52); Lost to John Claitor of Halk Moon Bay by fall (5:17); Bye; Lost to Kevin Coss of Vacaville by 16-3 maj. dec. Saturday: Done.
132 – Edgar Ortega, 3-2, DNP. Friday: Def. Jeremy Cothran of Santa Teresa by fall (1:47); Def. Cesar Moreno of North Monterey County by 12-10 OT dec.; Def. Sergio Lopez of Dos Palos by 8-3 dec. Saturday: Lost to Willie Fox of Gilroy by 15-0 tech. fall; Lost to Yoni Alon of Gunn by 4-3 dec.
137 – Mikey Soto, 3-2, DNP. Friday: Bye; Lost to Monte Renteria of Dinuba by fall (3:37); Def. Ricardo Espinoza of North Salinas by 12-7 dec.; Def. Michael Morag of Gunn by 6-0 dec.; Def. Anthony Garcia of Soledad by 10-6 dec. Saturday: Lost to Johnny Nicolas of Madera South by 7-2 dec.
142 – Tim Christenson, 2-2, DNP. Friday: Def. Cody Heier of Kingsburg by 7-2 dec.; Lost to Robert Vasquez of Pitman by 10-0 maj. dec.; Def Cesar Sancen of Soledad by 5-4 dec.; Lost to Mikey Lucero of Gilroy by 10-3 dec. Saturday: Done.
147 – Eric Henry, 3-2, DNP. Friday: Def. Zack Davidson of Galt by 13-7 dec.; Lost to Cody Owen of Madera South by 13-0 maj. dec.; Def. Ander O’Connor of Archbishop Riordan by 7-1 dec.; Def. Johnny Carr of El Camino by 12-9 dec.; Lost to Fala Salem of South San Francisco by 21-7 maj. dec. Saturday: Done.
154 – Eric Garcia. 0-2, DNP. Friday: Lost to Armando Gonzalez of Overfelt by fall (3:05); Lost to Armando Martinez by 13-11 dec. Saturday: Done.
162 – Justin Raine, 4-2, DNP. Friday: Def. Angelo Goumenidis of El Camino by 7-2 dec.; Lost to Kelan Gans of Palo Alto by 8-4 dec.; Def. Marquis Scott of Monterey by 7-4 dec.; Def. Avi Sangha of Los Banos by 2-0 dec.; Def. Roberto Gonzalez of Overfelt by 5-4 dec. Saturday: Lost to Matt Chapman of North Monterey County by 7-3 dec.
173 – Luke Diller, 0-2. DNP. Friday: Lost to Kevin Scroggins of Turlock by fall (5:39); Lost to Jason Pena of Dos Palos by 4-0 dec. Saturday: Done.
191 – Miguel Martin del Campo, 5-2, 5th place. Friday: Bye; Def. Deion Deng of Archbishop Riordan by fall (1:20); Lost to Tanner Roberts of Kingsburg by fall (1:18); Def. Jordan Lugar of Rio Linda by fall (2:02). Saturday: Def. Nate Velasquez of Palo Alto by fall (2:32); Def. Bojorquez of Buhach Colony by forfeit; Def. Sukhraj of Los Gatos by 3-0 dec.; Lost to Castillo of Watsonville by 11-2 maj. dec.; Def. Tanner Roberts of Kingsburg by fall (5:59).
217 – Adam Davis, 2-2. DNP. Friday: Bye; Def. Ralph Cisneros of Dinuba by fall (3:50); Lost to Jonathon Brower of Galt by 8-3 dec.; Def. Kenneth Marquez of Overfelt by fall (4:38). Saturday: Lost to Berto Martinez of Madera South by fall (2:27).
287 – N/A
Teams
1. Vacaville 336.5
2. Gilroy 249.0
3. Madera South 188.5
4. Selma 187.0
5. Pitman 179.0
6. Oak Grove 169.5
7. Kingsburg 164.5
8. Turlock 160.0
9. Cupertino 155.0
10. Overfelt 154.5
11. Central 139.0
12. Los Banos 128.0
13. Clovis West 123.0
14. San Benito 115.0
15. Ceres 114.0
16. Mount Pleasant 111.0
17. Palo Alto 109.5
18. Dos Palos 108.0
19. College Park 102.0
20. Dinuba 96.5
21. Los Gatos 94.5
22. Buhach Colony 93.0
23. Castro Valley 88.0
24. Aptos 86.0
25. El Camino 84.5
26. Monterey 84.0
27. South San Francisco 79.5
28. Alisal 77.0
29. Palma 74.0
30. Wilcox 72.5
31. Andrew Hill 68.5
32. Salinas 64.5
33. Junipero Serra 64.0
34. Newark Memorial 60.5
35. Galt 60.0
36. Silver Creek 55.0
37. Santa Teresa 53.5
38. Saratoga 53.5
39. Watsonville 52.0
40. Sobrato 47.0
41. James Lick 45.0
42. North Salinas 44.0
43. George Washington 42.0
44. Harbor 42.0
45. Archbishop Riordan 38.5
46. San Lorenzo Valley 38.0
47. Half Moon Bay 35.0
48. Soledad 31.0
49. College Park 2 27.0
50. North Monterey County 27.0
51. Oakland Tech 25.0
52. Gunn 23.0
53. Rio Linda 23.0
54. Dougherty Valley 22.0
55. Gonzales 20.0
56. Leigh 18.0
57. Monta Vista 18.0
58. El Diamante 17.0
59. Christopher Ranch 14.0
60. Terra Nova 14.0
61. Oceana 10.0
62. Hillsdale 8.0
63. Piedmont Hills 8.0
64. Monte Vista Christian 6.0
65. Harker Academy 0.0
66. Pajaro Valley 0.0
67. Seaside 0.0
