Wrestling: SBHS looks to imrove at CCS championship

The San Benito wrestling squad hopes to continue its season-long improvement Friday and Saturday at the Central Coast Section wrestling championship at Independence High School in San Jose.
The Balers, coming off a sixth-place finish at the Tri-County Athletic League championship Feb. 18 at Palma High, will send eight wrestlers to the annual championships.
However, no Baler will enter the tournament with a seed or ranking.
Wrestlers Tim Castillo (170), Dominic Cortes (138) and Ricardo Sosa (195) all hope to stay on the podium after their third-place finishes at the TCAL tournament.
But after the TCAL championships, head coach Brian DeCarli hoped his team would show improvement in San Jose.
“There are no moral victories,” he said last week. “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.”
The team needs to react faster to mistakes and not become complacent, he said.
“When we get to the postseason, not everything is going to fall in your favor, so when it doesn’t, you have to react faster,” he said Saturday. “We will have to work on that this week – that continuous motion. Not everything is going to go your way – you need to work harder. That’s what we will have to work on this week: Wrestling for the entire time.”
He continued: “We need to see a better showing. The kids have worked their tail off in the room throughout the season to get this far.”
TCAL fourth-place finishers Alex Gonzalez (182), Jacob Rea (220) and Robb Rodriguez (132) will try to reach the podium at the CCS tournament. And Elijah Riddle (106) and Patrick Ippolito (113) look to improve on fifth-place TCAL finishes.
Overall, the Balers expect a better showing in San Jose.
“We are a young team and we make silly mistakes, but I hope for the best,” Cortes said last week.
The first round begins at 10 a.m. Friday. If any Baler advances into the fourth round, the tournament continues Saturday at 10 a.m.