It’s called the
”
snowball effect
”
.
That’s the way Hollister head wrestling coach Matt Olejnik
described the Balers’ 76-3 demolition of Live Oak at O’Donnell Gym
Thursday night.
It’s called the “snowball effect”.
That’s the way Hollister head wrestling coach Matt Olejnik described the Balers’ 76-3 demolition of Live Oak at O’Donnell Gym Thursday night.
“The snowball starts rolliing and there isn’t anything to stop it,” said Olejnik. “It was like what happened to us against Gilroy. I think we’re a different team now than we were then.”
The Balers will have another chance with the powerful Mustangs when the Tri-County Athletic League meet takes place in Hollister Feb. 15. at 10 a.m. For now, the Balers can enjoy their pinfest with the Acorns, who won only one match. That came at 147 where Live Oak’s Matt Henderson decisioned Trevor Guerra 5-2. Henderson added a near fall for three points in the third period, then held on after a takedown by Guerra.
“It was a good battle,” said Henderson. “After I got that near fall, I stalled out the rest of the match.”
Guerra was one of six seniors on the Baler wrestling team, though only four wrestled. Robbie Johnson sat out with a dose of impetigo, while Deborah Ruiz, fourth in the state at last week’s tournament in Vallejo, won’t wrestle until the CIF State Meet on March 7.
The other seniors – Brent Kelsey, Shawn Donnelly and Gilbert Perez – all won by pin. Kelsey was up 7-1 on Ishmael Marisclan at 125 before pinning Marisclan at 1:44. Donnelly pinned Jonathan Redmond at 1:07 at 191 via cradle. Perez used an inside cradle to pin Pat Courtney at 1:32 in the 152-pound weight class.
Other pins include Francisco Aviles, who pinned Daniel Wahl at 3:48, snapping a 6-6 stalemate at 162; Ryan Dunne fell behind 2-2 and was struggling with Brian Smith until stunning the hometown crowd at 3:29 with a pin of Smith at 173; heavyweight Tito Flores took Mike Gamez down then squashed Gamez at 1:26; Joe Verissimo took his time in pinning Alejandro Dominguez at 4:43 at 105.
Other Baler winners were Anthony Suneri (forfeit) at 132; Octavio Lucatero, who had an abundance of chances to pin Ashby Shaw at 137, but Lucatero let Shaw escape to work on his takedowns. Guerra won by technical fall 22-7; Alex Diaz won by forfeit at 142; Jessie Grace won by forfeit at 219; Dan DiSalvo won by forfeit at 114; Jamie Driskill tech falled Scott Arnett 16-1 at 121.
JV score: 73-6 Balers. JV coach John Kiesewetter, who is now officially retired from coaching, didn’t have much coaching to do in his last match. There were only three matches.
Jeremiah Porteur won in overtime 9-7 at 112 pounds for the Balers. John Araiza defeated his opponent 8-0 at 147. The Balers Jake Mahan was pinned at heavyweight.
There is a JV T-CAL tournament this Saturday at 10 a.m.
