It didn’t go as planned for the San Benito wrestling squad Saturday at Palma High in the Tri-County Athletic League championships, but the Balers will be represented well at the Central Coast Section tournament Feb. 24 and Feb. 25 in San Jose.
Eight Balers qualified for the section championship in their individual weight class, as the team finished sixth out of seven teams.
Head coach Brian DeCarli was disappointed the team couldn’t do better with three wrestlers disqualified because of weight or injuries, he said.
“It is just disappointing when we didn’t bring 14 weights,” DeCarli said. “I said the most important thing was making weight and staying healthy. We were supposed to bring 13. But due to weight and injury issues we brought 10.”
Of those 10 wrestlers three finished in third place.
Wrestling in the 170-pound weight class, Tim Castillo finished 3-1 and in third place. Castillo’s only loss was to eventual champion, Gilroy’s Mark Penyacek. He defeated Palma’s Timmy Jimenez 4-0 in the third-place match.
San Benito’s Ricardo Sosa clinched third place in the 195-pound class with a 4-3 victory over Palma’s Cole Rianda. Sosa finished the tournament 2-1, losing to North Salinas’ Niko Alvarez.
In the 138-pound weight class, Dominic Cortes placed third with decisive 10-0 victory over Salinas’ Isaac Hernandez. Cortes’ only loss came to champion Christian Palacios of Palma in the tournament’s second round.
“I think we did pretty good,” Cortes said. “A lot of us messed up in the beginning. Overall, we did pretty good. I’m happy I got third but I have lots to still do at CCS. I think I can do good. Robb (Rodriguez) too. But other than that, we pretty much did what … we wanted to.”
Rodriguez, wrestling in the 132-pound weight class, finished in fourth place overall. But Rodriguez’s two losses were close.
He fell to eventual champion, Gilroy’s Niko Villarreal, in a close match in the second round, and lost 1-0 to Palma’s Alex Garcia in the third-place match. Rodriguez was one of three Balers to finish fourth in their weight class. Alex Gonzalez (220) and Jacob Rea (182) placed fourth.
Elijah Riddle (106) and Patrick Ippolito (113) qualified for the CCS championship by finishing fifth in their weight class.
In San Jose, DeCarli expects an improved squad and a better overall showing, he said.
“I think what we showed today was how we were throughout the season,” DeCarli said. “We had some higher moments but we had some lower moments. There were some teaching moments where kids still need to learn how to wrestle a whole match.”
He continued: “So we did some of that today. We didn’t finish some of the matches that we should have. It’s different circumstances. We didn’t come out today. We are improving in that area but we didn’t prove that today.”
The team has gotten better each week throughout the season, but needs to be at its best Friday, he said.
“Next week we need to win those matches,” DeCarli said. “There are no moral victories. We have to get out there and perform. I’d rather us wrestle better next week when it truly matters the most. We have to wrestle more consistently top to bottom.”
Cortes reached the CCS championships last year. This time he wants to go further, he said.
“I can see myself placing and hopefully going to state,” he said. “As a team, we are a young team and we make silly mistakes, but I hope for the best.”
No San Benito wrestler is seeded at the championship tournament.
