San Benito will compete at Mid Cals next, although will be
without three key wrestlers
HOLLISTER
The shorthanded San Benito High wrestling team picked up a pair of wins over Alisal (45-23) and Everett Alvarez (33-6) on Tuesday night in Hollister, easily cruising past the two league opponents with all eyes on this weekend’s Mid Cals in Gilroy.
However, after last weekend’s William C. Overfelt Wrestling Classic in San Jose, the Haybalers will be heading to Mid Cals missing key parts.
San Benito lost David Bazan (112), Junior Davila (119) and Morris Stevens (125) to injuries on Saturday at the Overfelt tournament, where the Haybalers finished sixth, nonetheless.
“That’s the silver lining, even though you’ve got to look for that lining,” San Benito head coach Brian DeCarli said. “All things considered, we did pretty good. We had a good showing.”
Not one of the three wrestlers is expected to compete this weekend in Gilroy, however. Davila suffered a hand injury at Overfelt, Stevens separated his shoulder, while Bazan was left groggy after being slammed to the mat.
DeCarli pulled him from the rest of Saturday’s tournament as a precautionary measure.
“The way this last week’s been going, we need to recoup and get healthy,” DeCarli said. “That’s our main concern right now. We need to get everyone healthy.”
Josh Ramirez provided San Benito with a positive performance at Overfelt, though, as the 152-pounder was named outstanding middleweight wrestler after he won his weight division.
Enrique Lucatero placed as well, finishing in third at 160 pounds.
Geo Coelho at 135 and Josh Fontaine at 145 were each named consolation champions after compiling 4-1 records, while Davila and Stevens, despite their injuries, finished well enough to earn fifth and sixth place, respectively.
On Tuesday, the ‘Balers defeated Alvarez, which only had two varsity wrestlers. In those matches, San Benito’s Eduardo Tovar lost by fall at 171 pounds, while teammate Nick Angelo lost by decision at 215 pounds.
The Alisal Trojans brought a full lineup, though, and DeCarli highlighted two junior varsity call-ups and two freshmen.
At 125 pounds, freshman Dominic Cortes lost by a 6-5 decision to his varsity opponent, while fellow frosh Zack Firestine lost by pin at 130 pounds.
“He was in on a couple of takedowns,” DeCali said of Firestine. “But they were both actually really competitive.”
The coach’s two JV call-ups, Kevin Downs at 119 pounds and Russell Brown at 215, each won their respective matches by pin.
“Tonight was good because we got some of our younger guys out there,” DeCarli said. “And it was good because some of them wrestled pretty well.”
San Benito will compete next at Mid Cals on Friday and Saturday at Gilroy High.
