A year after suffering a 3-0 defeat in the finals at the Central
Coast Section wrestling championships, San Benito’s Josh Ramirez
bounced back to take the crown Saturday, scoring an 8-1 win over
Scotts Valley’s Bassel Lutfi at Independence High School.
Ramirez was the lone Haybaler in the finals, helping his team to
a fourth-place finish.
SAN JOSE
A year after suffering a 3-0 defeat in the finals at the Central Coast Section wrestling championships, San Benito’s Josh Ramirez bounced back to take the crown Saturday, scoring an 8-1 win over Scotts Valley’s Bassel Lutfi at Independence High School.
Ramirez was the lone Haybaler in the finals, helping his team to a fourth-place finish.
“I’m glad I can represent my school and give them a great name,” Ramirez said. “But it’s all up to God. God gives me and takes my wins.”
Complaining of fatigue in last year’s finals match against St. Francis’ Dominic Kastl, Ramirez said he almost ran out of gas again this season. Breezing through the field this year may have left him lacking in stamina, but Ramirez had little trouble dominating Lutfi start to finish.
“He did a really good job,” San Benito coach Brian DeCarli said. “He’s a great kid and he’s worked so hard. We kind of expected it.
“Hopefully, in two weeks when we get to state we’ll deserve a little more.”
Joining Ramirez at the state meet in Bakersfield in two weeks will be Junior Davila (121 pounds) and Enrique Lucatero (160), who both took third in their respective divisions.
Lucatero lost in the semifinals to eventual CCS champ Kastl, giving the St. Francis junior a third straight title. Lucatero regrouped to beat Eric Ochoa of King City in the consolation semifinals 8-6 before winning the third-place match 3-2 over Monterey’s Tyler Edwards.
Davila’s 4-1 loss to Gilroy’s Willie Fox in the semifinals was a major surprise after Davila dominated the GHS freshman just a little more than a week earlier in the last dual of the season.
“The difference was Willie wrestled a very technical match,” DeCarli said.
Davila, similar to Lucatero, won his last two matches – a 20-6 decision over Los Gatos’ Andy Kreidle and then a 9-4 win over Santa Teresa’s Jeshua Aveno – for bronze.
Gilroy went on to win its seventh straight CCS title as a team, with four wrestlers in the finals and two individual champions in Jesse Delgado (114 pounds) and Martin Gonzalez (127).
