Two Baler wrestlers are off to the California Interscholastic
Federation wrestling meet following weekend matches at the Central
Coast Section meet at Independence High.
SAN JOSE – Two Baler wrestlers are off to the California Interscholastic Federation wrestling meet following weekend matches at the Central Coast Section meet at Independence High.
Octavio Lucatero placed second at 135 pounds, while Brent Kelsey took third at 125 pounds. The top three in each weight class advanced to the state meet March 7-8 in Stockton.
Hollister, which came in as the defending CCS champion, took seventh in the team standings with 89 points, five points behind sixth-place Terra Nova. It was the Baler’s worst CCS finish in coach Matt Olejnik’s nine seasons as head coach.
“It was a disappointing season,” said Olejnik. “But considering the guys we had out to injury and all the things that happened, I guess it was all right.”
Lucatero was ever so close to taking the title from defending champ Ron Raquino of Santa Teresa, who beat Lucatero in the semifinals last year. Lucatero’s late rally in the finals against Raquino fell just short as he lost 6-5 despite scoring five points in the last 44 seconds.
Olejnik spent much of the match bantering with officials about Raquino’s stalling tactics. Raquino was finally given a warning with just over a minute to go.
“Raquino started stalling midway through the second period,” said Olejnik. “I was calling the referees idiots and using profanity. We’ve had issues in the past and I think he was taking it out on my wrestler. Octavio was taking most of the action to Raquino. If they would have warned him earlier in the match, he would have had to have opened up.”
“I was disappointed,” said Lucatero, a junior. “I thought I could beat him. I was doing most of the work. I stood up and he wouldn’t let me go. The rules state he has to. I hope to place in the top 8 at state.”
Lucatero went 3-0 on Friday to reach Saturday’s semifinals with Armondo Palomo of Bellarmine.
Against Palomo, Lucatero broke a scoreless first period with three points. He extended the lead to 7-2 before winning 7-3. After the match, Lucatero and Palomo squared off in a glaring contest. The referee made them shake hands a second time.
“He’s a solid wrestler,” said Lucatero. “He was just mad I beat him.”
Lucatero’s other wins were a first-round forfeit, a technical fall over Daniel Gutierrez of James Lick and an 8-2 decision over Isahi Detrinidad of Overfelt.
Lucatero was seeded second entering the tournament, which ignited a controversy at the seeding meeting with the Gilroy brass, who wanted Gilbert Gutierrez seeded ahead of Lucatero. Gutierrez defeated Lucatero for the Tri-County Athletic League title, but Lucatero defeated Gutierrez when the schools met head-to-head.
Olejnik, who was the league representative at the seeding meeting, explained what happened.
“Before the seeding meeting, their coach, Armando Gonzalez, raised his hand and said there was an issue about seeding Lucatero ahead of his wrestler,” said Olejnik. “They were 1-1 during the year, so that’s even, so I used other criteria. Lucatero was 31-7 overall, while Gutierrez was 28-11. If that wasn’t enough difference, then I went to what they did in tournaments. Lucatero had five seconds and a first. Gutierrez had three fifths. At MidCals, Lucatero was second while Gutierrez didn’t place.
“I knew going in that if they weren’t going to seed Gutierrez second, then I didn’t want Gutierrez seeded third and Lucatero fourth. They weren’t going to seed Gutierrez second. Gonzalez was mad at first, but after he realized I was right, he came up and told me such after the meeting.”
Kelsey decisioned Adam Zubiate of North County 7-4 to capture third place. Kelsey’s big break came at Friday’s weigh-ins when defending champ Marcus Pettis of Salinas didn’t make weight.
“Pettis not making weight opened it up for Brent,” said Olejnik. “Brent was prime example of what four years of commitment can do for you. I was happy for him. He worked hard and now he’s going to state.”
Kelsey, who was unseeded, pinned Chris Minafo of Monterey to open the tournament. He then routed Zubiate 19-5. He lost respectably to eventual champ Danny San Juan of Gilroy 8-4. Kelsey bounced back to blank Sam Olivas of Willow Glen 9-0 and edge Bernard Ancheta of St. Francis 4-1. He won an active decision over Richard Gonzales of Overfelt 16-9 as each wrestler came close to pinning the other.
The Balers Jamie Driskill, just a sophomore, placed fifth. On Friday, Driskill was unbeaten. He won three easy bouts – 10-2 against Jeff Arabe of Wilcox, 10-0 over Victor Estrada of Gonzales and 16-3 over fourth-seed Mitch Conley of Cupertino.
Driskill met eventual champ Armando Gonzalez in Saturday’s semifinals. Driskill wrestled gutsy in the first two rounds as the two were tied 0-0 heading into the third period. Driskill gambled with a shoot early in the period and Gonzalez was ready for the counter takedown. Gonzalez pulled out a 6-0 win.
Driskill dropped a wild 13-11 decision to Vincent Nagishbendi of Terra Nova before dropping Conley 16-9.
Hollister’s Joe Verissimo, at 103 pounds, was stunned by a takedown by Parker Sha of Terra Nova in the last three seconds and lost 2-1 in the match which ousted Verissimo. Sha ended up taking sixth. Verissimo, just a sophomore, had a tech fall over Josh Wang of Lynbrook; an 11-4 decision to beat Alejandro Dominguez of Live Oak, then lost a tech fall against titlist John Gurich, Jr. of Gilroy. He came back on Saturday to beat Tommy Ngo of Overfelt with a pin.
Junior Nick Carpenter had a good run, going 3-2. Carpenter defeated Joe Russell of Seaside 12-7, then was pinned by David Kullman of Cupertino. Carpenter pinned his next two opponents – Andrew Teeter of King City and Andrew Hutchinson of Serra. Carpenter was eliminated by Patrick Griffin of Bellarmine 11-3.
“I’ve been practicing hard the past few weeks and it has paid off,” said Carpenter. “I felt I should have done better, but the better wrestlers won.”
Here are the results of other Baler wrestlers:
Danny DiSalvo (112 pounds) fell to Scott Cuzner of Bellarmine and was pinned by Jason Sapuder of St. Francis. Neither Cuzner or Sapuder placed in the top six.
-Anthony Sunseri (130) lost to Greg Crane of Fremont 13-8, then beat Martin Nofzinger of Terra Nova 12-5. Sunseri dropped a tough 2-1 decision to Ross Larkin. Sunseri threw his headgear after the match and the Balers were penalized a point in the team standings. Neither Crane or Larkin placed in the top six.
-Alex Diaz (140) defeated Jacob Acosta of Milpitas 6-2. Diaz was pinned by Frank Haag of St. Francis before being eliminated by Ted Caselli of Wilcox 5-4. Haag took sixth.
-Trevor Guerra (145) lost to Nick Rey of Half Moon Bay (hey, rhymes!) 3-0. Guerra beat David Marquez of Alvarez 4-2, then lost to Andrew Power of Bellarmine by technical fall. Neither Power or Rey were in the top sixth.
-Robbie Johnson (152) lost to Chris Sermone of Silver Creek 13-1 before pinning Devin Alcantra of Riordan. Johnson was ousted by Matt Swartzel of Seaside 15-12. Neither Sermone of Swartzel were in the top six.
-Shawn Donnelly (215) started the tournament very strong with pins on Victor Espericue of Overfelt and Chris Williams of Palma. Donnelly lost to eventual champ Tony Barrow of Mitty by pin, then was pinned by third place finisher Amir Faraj-Perry of Willow Glen.
-Heavyweight Tito Flores, the lone league champ for the Balers, went a disappointing 0-2. Flores lost to Ramirez-Baker 6-0, then was pinned by Tyler Porras of Westmont. Neither Ramirez-Baker or Porras were in the top sixth.
Tourney notes: Gilroy coasted to the team title with 213 points. Los Gatos was second with 153.5.
Baler bit: Baler Debra Ruiz is scheduled to wrestle an exhibition match at the state meet.
