San Benito wrestling
A year after suffering a 3-0 defeat in the finals at the Central
Coast Section Wrestling Championships, San Benito’s Josh Ramirez
bounced back to take the crown Saturday, scoring an 8-1 win over
Scotts Valley’s Bassel Lutfi at Independence High School.
Ramirez was the lone Haybaler in the finals, helping his team to
a fourth-place finish.
San Benito wrestling
A year after suffering a 3-0 defeat in the finals at the Central Coast Section Wrestling Championships, San Benito’s Josh Ramirez bounced back to take the crown Saturday, scoring an 8-1 win over Scotts Valley’s Bassel Lutfi at Independence High School.
Ramirez was the lone Haybaler in the finals, helping his team to a fourth-place finish.
Joining Ramirez at the state meet in Bakersfield in two weeks will be Junior Davila (121 pounds) and Enrique Lucatero (160), who both took third in their respective divisions.
Lucatero lost in the semifinals to eventual CCS champ Kastl, giving the St. Francis junior a third straight title. Lucatero regrouped to beat Eric Ochoa of King City in the consolation semifinals 8-6 before winning the third-place match 3-2 over Monterey’s Tyler Edwards.
Davila’s 4-1 loss to Gilroy’s Willie Fox in the semifinals was a major surprise after Davila dominated the GHS freshman just a little more than a week earlier in the last dual of the season.
Davila, similar to Lucatero, won his last two matches – a 20-6 decision over Los Gatos’ Andy Kreidle and then a 9-4 win over Santa Teresa’s Jeshua Aveno – for bronze.
San Benito girls’ basketball
After compiling a 21-4 record and earning a second straight Tri-County Athletic League title, the Balers were awarded the No. 1 seed in this week’s Central Coast Section Division I playoffs, becoming the first girls basketball team at San Benito to earn the postseason’s top billing.
The Balers are scheduled to play on Saturday, Feb. 28 at Milpitas High against the winner of No. 8 Salinas (16-11) and No. 9 Monte Vista (16-9). Those two teams will meet in Salinas on Thursday night.
Although they haven’t seen Monte Vista this season, a battle with Salinas on Saturday would come just eight days after San Benito defeated the Cowboys 38-27 in the regular-season finale last Friday.
Forcing 35 turnovers, 11 in the first quarter alone, San Benito prevented the Cowboys from ever finding a rhythm as defense won the game and assured the Balers (11-1 TCAL) a share of their second straight TCAL title with North Salinas (11-1 TCAL, 21-3).
San Benito boys’ basketball
The San Benito High boys’ basketball team (14-12) earned the No. 9 seed in this week’s Division I playoffs, and were scheduled to play at No. 8 Independence (21-6) in San Jose on Thursday night.
That game was held after The Pinnacle’s press time.
San Benito baseball
The San Benito High baseball team opened its 2009 regular season last Thursday at Valley Christian in San Jose where they managed to shutout the two-time defending section champs through six innings of baseball.
If only it was a six-inning game, though.
Although they left 10 runners on base, seven of whom were in scoring position, Valley Christian finally exploded during a seven-run fifth inning and marred an otherwise strong opening game for the Balers, which couldn’t rebound from the two-error frame in the fifth and lost 7-4.
The Balers were slated to play at St. Francis of Mountain View on Tuesday night, although results were not reported at The Pinnacle’s press time.
San Benito boys’ golf
On Monday at the Corral de Tierra Country Club in Salinas, the Haybalers finished in third among four teams after both Palma and Carmel carded matching scores of 190. But San Benito’s 194 wasn’t far behind.
San Benito was led by Will Cross and Nathan Winn, each of whom shot matching 37’s for the Haybalers, while Marcus Synegal and Diego Navarro each contributed 39’s. Joey Amaral shot a 42 and Justin Palmquist rounded out the Baler
