The San Benito wrestling squad used six pins to squeak out a 39-37 dual-meet victory over Salinas on Thursday.
The win was San Benito’s third-straight dual victory, setting up a season-ending match against the league-best Gilroy on Wednesday.
Thursday’s win came down to the final match as heavyweight wrestler Alex Gonzalez pinned his Salinas opponent to clinch the win.
“It was really close,” head coach Brian DeCarli said. “We didn’t win by much.”
It was Gonzalez, who is one of the young San Benito wrestlers, second pin in a row.
“He is really started to wrestle better and better,” DeCarli said.
As a team, the Balers are becoming more consistent and a better squad overall.
“We have really become more consistent,” he said. “We won’t win every match but we learning from every win and loss. There will be some up and downs but we are getting better.”
The Balers travel to Gilroy on Wednesday to finish the league season.
SBHS boys basketball
With a 18-point second quarter, the Balers pulled away from league-foe North Salinas and won 64-43 to earn the Balers their sixth Tri-County Athletic League victory of the season.
The first-place Balers, 6-1 and tied with Palma, were led by a game-high 15 points by Jordan Belton and a season-high 13 points by Michael Breen.
The game didn’t start out well for the Balers, though.
Using the same offensive and defensive gameplan as Alvarez, North Salinas wanted to turn the game into a high-scoring, back-and-fourth duel, head coach David Kaplansky said.
“They came out running with the ball, and pushing us to do things we didn’t want to do,” Kaplansky said.
The first quarter ended with a 19-17 San Benito lead, but Kaplansky was worried.
“It started off the same way as the last game,” Kaplansky said. “But I was impressed how the kids put it together.”
With a slim two-point lead, San Benito turned it attention to the defensive end and slowing down the fast-paced North Salinas offense.
In the second and third quarters, the Vikings were limited to only 12 points combined.
“That’s when we really started to take control of the game,” Kaplansky said. “We started to capitalize on their mistakes. We did a good job of recognition. We recognized what they were doing and we did a better job against it.”
The offense was sparked by Breen, who added energy to the offensive end of the floor, Kaplansky said.
“He did a great job,” Kaplansky said. “He did a really good job offensively. He played his best game of the year. He helped us out a lot.”
San Benito hosts Gilroy at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
AHS girls soccer
Despite an early goal by Ana Madrigal, the Hawks couldn’t hold off Georgiana Bruce Kirby Preparatory, and lost 3-2.
The Hawks started the game with a goal in the opening 10 minutes, but Kirby quickly responded.
Kirby took a 2-1 lead in the second half, but Brianna Miltimore scored to even the game at 2-2. Moments later, Kirby’s Eleanor Brock scored her third goal to put away the Hawks.
The Hawks, now 3-2 in league play, host Trinity Christian at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.
AHS girls basketball
With 17 fourth-quarter points, the girls basketball team won its fourth league game of the season Friday, beating Marina 42-27.
The Hawks, 4-1, were led by Delaney McKinney and Leslie Martinez, who each scored 12 points. Freshman Lynette Weckerle added seven points in the victory.
Marina kept the game close, heading into the fourth quarter trailing by four points, but Anzar caught fire. Six Hawks scored at least three points in the win.
The Hawks hosted KIPP Collegiate on Monday. Look online for results.
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