Wrestling team opens TCAL with easy 60-10 win at Salinas
Wednesday
SALINAS
Four days after Junior Davila, Josh Ramirez and Enrique Lucatero each won their respective weight divisions at the Apple Cider Classic in Watsonville, San Benito head coach Brian DeCarli gave all three the night off.
And Wednesday’s league opener at Salinas still wasn’t close.
The Haybalers cruised past the Cowboys 60-10 in the Tri-County Athletic League opener on Wednesday, winning 11 of the 14 weight classes, including four by forfeit and five by fall.
Steven Borba, who won his weight class at the Apple Cider Classic as well, did wrestle and defeated Dio Cerda by a 13-6 decision at 140 pounds.
But with too many wrestlers and too few weight classes, DeCarli allowed some of his starters to sit – most notably Davila, Ramirez and Lucatero – so others could showcase their talent.
“I want to give these other guys in the room an opportunity to actually get out there and wrestle as well,” DeCarli said. “I think that’s really important and they deserve that chance.
“I think they wrestled pretty well. Some of the conditioning on some of them could be improved upon, and I think just technically and fundamentally we’re a little flawed. But we’re wrestling with a lot more inexperience at that point.”
San Benito’s Raul Suarez at 103 pounds defeated Andie Torres by fall just 43 seconds into the first round to open the night, while at 130 pounds, Mikey Soto pinned Cowboy Kenny Olivas at 2:42.
Other matches that were won by pin included Morris Stevens at 125 pounds, Adrian Hernandez at 189 and Adam Davis at the heavyweight division.
In one of the closer matches of the night, San Benito’s Eduardo Tovar held on in the 171-pound bout against Salinas’ Nick Castillo.
Tovar, holding a small 2-0 lead after the first round, jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the second by scoring a 3-point near-fall. Castillo began to mount a comeback in the third, scoring an escape, a takedown and later a reverse, but couldn’t make up the deficit.
Although Castillo carried much of the momentum late, Tovar held on for a 10-7 decision.
“I think the majority of the team is wrestling really well,” DeCarli said. “And those that aren’t, we’ve just got to go back to the basics and break down a couple areas of concern and go more simple.
“At this point, we’re not really gonna get much more technical, we’re just gonna fine tune what we have.”
San Benito will wrestle Saturday at the 44th Annual William C. Overfelt Wrestling Classic at Overfelt High in San Jose. Wrestling begins at 9 a.m.
103 – SB, R. Suarez def. A. Torres by fall, :47; 112 – SAL, N. Renteria def. T. Jorgensen by dec., 10-6; 119 – SB, D. Bazan by forfeit; 125 – SB, M. Stevens def. C. Gabbert by fall, 2:38; 130 – SB, M. Soto def. K. Olivas by fall, 2:42; 135 – SB, Z. Rodriguez by forfeit; 140 – SB, S. Borba def. D. Cerda by dec., 13-6; 145 – SB, J. Fontaine by forfeit; 152 – SB, J. Raine by forfeit; 160 – SAL, C. Hernandez def. A. Loyd by dec., 6-2; 171 – SB, E. Tovar def. N. Castillo by dec., 10-7; 189 – SB, A. Hernandez def. R. Castillo by fall, 2:46; 215 – SAL, A. Martinez def. B. Mott by maj. dec., 17-6; 285 – SB, A. Davis def. M. Avila by fall, 3:43.
JV Note:
The San Benito junior varsity wrestling team defeated Salinas 42-38 Wednesday.
The match was stopped momentarily after San Benito’s Michael Rodriguez suffered an apparent rib injury during his match. He left the mat on a medical stretcher.
