Even though most of the San Benito High wrestlers were wrestling
up a weight class, they still managed to defeat visiting Palma 59-9
Tuesday.
It wasn’t even the most lopsided dual meet win for the Balers,
but it was by far Palma’s worst lost of the season. The Balers had
wins earlier this year in the Kenny Fehlman and Silicon Valley
Classic that were also pretty lopsided. The Balers defeated Willow
Glen 66-6 and Reardon 72-3.
Even though most of the San Benito High wrestlers were wrestling up a weight class, they still managed to defeat visiting Palma 59-9 Tuesday.
It wasn’t even the most lopsided dual meet win for the Balers, but it was by far Palma’s worst lost of the season. The Balers had wins earlier this year in the Kenny Fehlman and Silicon Valley Classic that were also pretty lopsided. The Balers defeated Willow Glen 66-6 and Reardon 72-3.
“They looked good despite their low numbers that came out,” said Palma coach Simon Jimenez. “They have several quality guys. We are kind of rebuilding right now.”
Nick Carpenter had to sit out at 152 for the Balers to keep his matches down because he already has about 30 matches this year. Anthony Sunseri also sat out as a precaution because of an elbow injury he suffered during the weekend tournament.
Octavio Lucatero, wrestling up at 145 for the Balers, was easily able to work his slightly taller freshman opponent, Matt Sims, before drawing blood and winning 18-3.
“It would have been to nice to have Octavio stay down at 140 to wrestle that other wrester who was pretty tough,” said Baler coach Matt Olejnik.
Evan Rodriquez got that match at 140 and battled to a tough 13-6 decision over Lee Breschini.
Palma had 10 underclassmen wrestling Wednesday, and two of the varsity wrestlers were out because of deaths in the family.
“They have a real young team, but they got some guys that might do something if they keep working hard.” Olejnik said. “It was a good performance for us. It was a good tuneup for Mid-Cals. ”
The Balers recorded five pins in the meet. One of the most impressive was by freshman Bob Glashan in the 112-pound weight class. He pinned his opponent Matt Leach 45 seconds into the third period after being worked over pretty hard in the first.
“He’s good and aggressive,” Olejnik said. “We need some of those younger guys to get some experience because we will need them to score some points in the finals.”
Kyle Horn pinned Victor DiBartelemue 45 seconds into the 171-pound weight match. Tito Flores (Hvy) and Nilo Velasquez (130) had second-period pins, while Alex Diaz (152) squeezed his opponent with 1:20 to go.
One of the closest matches of the evening was in the 135-pound class between Hollister’s Chris Uribe and Palma’s Russ Larkin. Larkin was leading by a couple points before Uribe scored a takedown and another in overtime to win 8-6.
“I knew I had to get that first takedown,” Uribe said. “I put everything I had into getting the takedowns.”
In the 125-pound weight class, Andrew Sandoval scored a near fall in the third period to win 8-6 over Chris Castillo. And Matt De La Rosa edged Zach Turner 4-2 after a late reverse in the third period of the 215 match.
Bruce Butler (pinned in 103) and Chis Mora (12-8 loss in the 119) were the only two Balers two lose a match.
The only two Baler losses were a second-period pin in 103-pound class against The Balers will be at the Mid-Cals in Gilroy this week beginning Friday and continuing on Saturday.
