Twelve wrestlers qualify for CCS; two win TCAL titles
Gilroy – The two highest-ranked San Benito wrestlers left Gilroy High on Saturday without a Tri-County Athletic League title. But all is not lost for the Haybalers after they qualified at least 12 wrestlers to this weekend’s Central Coast Section championships.
Fernando Lucatero, the top-ranked 162-pounder in CCS, was upset in the semifinals, and No. 2-ranked 114-pounder Junior Davila won his first match to advance to the finals, but did not wrestle because of illness. But they and 10 other wrestlers qualified for CCS with their top-four finishes and Sammy Ramirez (171) still has a shot to join them.
Ramirez didn’t wrestle Saturday due to illness but will face Salinas’ Eddie Edeza – the fourth-place finisher in TCAL – at 3pm today with the winner earning the fourth and final berth to CCS.
“It’s kind of a bittersweet tournament,” San Benito coach Matt Olejnik said. “We limped into CCS. We had some upsets. It just was not our best effort. We’ve got a week to get ready.”
The ‘Balers sent six wrestlers to the finals – a disappointment considering 10 wrestlers were favored to reach the finals based on seeding.
“On a positive note, Armando Lerma upped his seeding,” Olejnik said of the third-ranked 121-pounder who reached the finals.
Two ‘Balers earned TCAL titles, with Luis Barocio winning at 137 pounds and Buddy Barraza claiming the heavyweight title.
For Barocio, who had taken second place the past two seasons, it was a fitting conclusion for the senior to earn the title in his final TCAL tournament.
“I don’t know the words, but it just feels so good,” Barocio said. “It’s my senior year, I had to win. I’m pretty excited.”
Barocio faced a tough battle from Gilroy’s Vincent Aboytes, with Aboytes taking an early 5-2 lead. Barocio closed the gap to 5-4 by the end of the first period and was on top 8-7 entering the third.
After lengthening his lead to 11-7, Barocio finally ended the match with a pin at 5:25.
The title is also rewarding to the senior, who battled an early season collarbone injury that he suffered at the Sierra Nevada Classic in Reno, Nev.
“I had to not put any pressure on it so I wouldn’t feel any pain coming into TCALs,” Barocio said.
In the final match of the day, Barraza overcame a tremendous weight disadvantage to win the 287-pound title.
Barraza, a junior who actually tips the scales at 208 pounds, estimated he was outweighed by at least 50 pounds against Gilroy’s Chaz Guerrero.
“I probably made a dumb decision dropping all this weight,” said Barraza, who started the season at 275 pounds. “It’s getting easier. I’m getting stronger and I have more agility. I feel like I’m stronger than a lot of my opponents.”
Barraza had pinned Guerrero one minute into their match a week and a half ago in a duel meet, but Guerrero didn’t go down as easy this time. Entering the third period, it was tied at 2-2.
But Barraza dominated the third and earned the pin at 5:27 to take the title.
“I was really sick today, but I stuck through and did what I had to do,” Barraza said.
The day’s biggest upset was easily Lucatero’s loss to eventual champion Max Panziera of Palma at 162 pounds.
Lucatero had beaten Panziera twice this season, but was done in by a mistake.
“He was beating the guy 4-1 and made a mistake and got pinned,” Olejnik said. “I think if the match goes six (minutes), he beats him.”
In the team competition, Gilroy easily coasted to the team title. The Mustangs won nine individual titles as they piled up 294 points. San Benito finished second with 210.5, followed by Palma (178.5), Salinas (157), North Salinas (108), Alvarez (76) and Alisal (32).
The CCS championships begin Friday at Independence High and continue Saturday at Overfelt High.
