If there is a more mano a mano high school sport than wrestling,
I haven’t discovered it.
If there is a more mano a mano high school sport than wrestling, I haven’t discovered it.
It was on display this past weekend at Gilroy High with the Mid-Cals. The drama of the team race was decided before the finals began. But it was several individual matchups that produced great theater.
If your a purist, you could find poetry in the lightweight bout between the little men – Gilroy’s Jesse Delgado and Quincy’s Cody Pack. If you’re more of a casual fan, the bout one weight class up between Elk Grove’s Sophan Mey and San Benito’s Junior Davila had to get you excited.
That’s the nature of the sport. Some bouts are more tactical than others. Obviously, the high-scoring bouts are more fun to watch. It’s kind of like watching a wide-open soccer match.
But let’s get back to the Delgado-Pack 106-pound matchup.
These are the two most talented lightest weight wrestlers in the state. Each was looking for an edge Saturday. Delgado got it first and rode that edge to victory.
Therein lies the problem. Whereas, there are always going to be the inevitable low-scoring affairs, such as Delgado’s 3-2 win, the rules say that each wrestler has to make an effort to force the action.
And the referee said that wasn’t the case for Delgado. Whether you agree with that or not, there was another way to view the bout. Pack either wasn’t making an effort to force the action or wasn’t able to because Delgado was stronger.
So why does Delgado get penalized for stalling? This brings in the subjective nature of the sport. From my vantage point, I could see why Delgado was called for stalling. What I couldn’t see is what Pack was doing about it. Why, since he wasn’t trying to force the action, wasn’t he warned about stalling? One could make an argument that he was too scared to make a move for fear that Delgado would get an extra edge and pin him.
Nevertheless, give Delgado credit. He may be a freshman but he’s a smart young man. Instead of gloating over his performance, he was hard on himself saying he could have done more. Sometimes you have to do what you need to do to win. One can argue that winning ugly is better than losing pretty.
Which brings us to the Davila-Mey 115-pound match. It was a dandy regardless of which wrestler one favored. It was non-stop action where one more experienced wrestler (Mey) did what he had to do to beat a freshman who didn’t quite have his savvy.
“It was a great match, what people want to see,” said San Benito coach Matt Olejnik. “It was good, solid wrestling, two guys going after each other.”
Hard to argue with the ‘Balers’ coach. In a perfect world, all matches would be like that one or the 130-pound final which was 10-10 at one point before Tim Navarette of Shasta pinned Seth Hicks of Central.
But that’s not the nature of wrestling. When there are two wrestlers like Delgado and Pack who are so close in ability that any slight edge can be the difference between winning or losing, or pinning or being pinned, it becomes more like a chess match.
“He’s a winner,” GHS coach Armando Gonzalez said of Delgado. “That’s what counts.”
And a champion.
Contact Marc David at (408) 842-1694 or at md****@sv**********.com.
