SBHS posts the 77-6 victory over a short-staffed Live Oak team.
Top-ranked Mustangs coming to town Feb. 8.
Hollister – The San Benito High wrestling squad picked up an easy 77-6 win against visiting Live Oak on Wednesday as the Acorns were forced to forfeit several matches because they didn’t have enough grapplers to compete in all of the weight classes.
But the Balers (3-0 Tri-County Athletic League, 13-5 overall) got some good competition from the short-staffed Acorns. Competition that could prove to be crucial as the Hollister squad prepares itself for its meet against a very tough Gilroy group coming up on February 8 at SBHS.
“Everything is going to go through Gilroy this season,” said Hollister head coach Matt Olejnik. “They’re obviously putting together another phenomenal season with a well-balanced team. So, we’re going to have our work cut out for us but this is a rivalry and strange things happen in rivalries. So we’re just going to give it our best shot and see what happens.”
Hollister’s Chris Mora, a junior, started things out at 119 pounds with a win by pin in the second period of the match. Sophomore Luis Barocio was up next at 125 pounds with a gritty performance that saw come back from a two-point deficit early on to tie the score before losing in overtime.
“Luis showed a lot of guts coming back,” Olejnik said. ‘He stuck with it and he didn’t panic.”
Jesus Segero, one of the team’s most improved athletes this season wrestling at 130 pounds, looked good in a win by technical fall toward the end of his match.
Alex Diaz, a 145-pound senior, took a 6-0 win with a pin at the end of the first period of his match. Evan Rodriguez, at 152 pounds, looked good in his first-period win that saw him pin his opponent with a cradle move in the first period.
At 189 pounds, Francisco Aviles, who is coming off a major ankle injury, only needed 14 seconds to pin his opponent on Wednesday.
San Benito will need more performances from wrestlers like Aviles in the upper-divisions in order to pull of an upset when Gilroy comes to town.
The Balers will be hosting the Salinas Cowboys, a team they haven’t seen much of this year, next Wednesday at 7pm.
