After three second-place finishes, SB wins tourney
The Silicon Valley Challenge Cup wrestling tournament has been a bit of a nemesis for San Benito High.
During the past three years, the Haybalers have performed extremely well but have taken home second place each time, including falling to Bellarmine 43-30 in last year’s championship match.
Adding to the challenge, this year San Benito was without four of its starters due to injury and eligibility issues.
The ‘Balers fought through that to go unbeaten in pool play Friday and then earned a pair of narrow victories in bracket play Saturday to take home the championship of the dual meet tournament.
“It feels good, especially after three second-place finishes,” coach Matt Olejnik said.
San Benito used some late-match heroics in the finals against Folsom to earn a 34-32 victory.
The ‘Balers 160-pounder Fernando Lucatero rallied late with four takedowns in the last 30 seconds to earn the win and clinch the title.
Olejnik also credited the performance of 140-pound wrestler Chris Fernquist, who had been pinned in each match leading into the finals but delivered a gutsy performance by holding off his opponent for four and a half minutes to prevent a pin and save San Benito two points – which ended up being the final margin of victory.
“If he’s not able to stay off his back, we don’t win,” Olejnik said.
The ‘Balers semifinal match against Golden Valley (Merced) also proved to be a challenge.
“Los Gatos lost early in the tournament to Golden Valley so we knew Golden Valley was a good team,” Olejnik said of the Cougars pool-play win over one of the top-ranked Central Coast Section teams.
With the score tied at 30 entering the final match, San Benito sophomore Josh Ramirez recorded a pin to give the ‘Balers a 35-30 win and advance them to the finals of the Gold Bracket, which included all of the undefeated teams from pool play.
“It really helps us out because we still have four guys out of our lineup,” Olejnik said. “By the time February rolls around we should be good to go.”
Olejnik expects Armando Lerma (119 pounds), Christian Solis (135) and Sammy Ramirez (171) to be cleared later this week and Luis Barocio is still nursing his separated shoulder.
San Benito easily coasted through its pool play on Friday.
It opened play with a 68-9 victory over Monta Vista, then followed with wins over Amador Valley (63-13) and Bellarmine’s No. 2 team (70-6).
Fernando and Enrique Lucatero (145 pounds) were the top ‘Baler wrestlers, each finishing with spotless 6-0 records.
Josh Ramirez (152), Junior Davila (112) and Gio Coelho (125) also had strong tournaments with 5-1 records and 215-pounder Ryan Cowell and heavyweight Buddy Braza also had just one loss in the tournament.
Freshman Taylor Cousette provided a spark for San Benito. Filling in for Sammy Ramirez at 171 pounds, the junior varsity call up had a pair of pins.
“He was a pleasant surprise,” Olejnik said.
The ‘Balers return to Tri-County Athletic League action this week when they host Alvarez at 7pm Wednesday.
