Balers seek to qualify a full team to the CCS Championships
HOLLISTER
Although it might not carry much weight when compared to the Central Coast Section Championships, this weekend’s Tri-County Athletic League Championships will decide which weights will compete for the San Benito Haybalers at the section meet later this month.
Head coach Brian DeCarli plans on bringing 14 wrestlers to TCALs on Saturday at Gilroy High School, and expects to qualify all 14 when everything is said and done.
“We’ll have everybody on weight and it’ll probably be different than what we’ve seen most of the year,” DeCarli said.
Perhaps the most glaring addition to the lineup will be Zack Rodriguez at 132 pounds. The senior grappler was accidentally kicked in the head during a match at the Coast Classic in mid-December, and had been held out of the lineup since as a precaution.
“We’ve been rotating in different lineups and just trying to be as competitive as we can with all the injuries we’ve had this year,” DeCarli said.
While mainstays Robb Rodriguez (114 pounds) Junior Davila (121), Mikey Soto (142), Edgar Ortega (154), Miguel Martin del Campo (191) and Adam Davis (217) will occupy their usual weight classes, Balers Jay Garcia at 127 pounds and Eric Henry at 137 pounds recently won their challenge matches during practice, and will compete at TCALs as a result.
“We just want to get to through the regular season as healthy as we can,” said DeCarli, whose Balers competed against Gilroy Wednesday night in the final dual meet of the regular season.
Although San Benito built an early 13-5 lead in the match, Gilroy took over in the heavier weight classes en route to a 47-25 triumph, and earned its eighth straight undefeated dual meet season in the process.
Saturday’s TCAL Championships provide a fresh start, however.
“We’ll still have some ups and downs at TCALs because we have a couple of guys at some new positions, we have a couple of guys coming back from injury and we have three freshmen in the lineup,” DeCarli added. “I still think we’ll have some growing pains.
“But I’m excited to see what we can get done and what we can accomplish.”
Last year, San Benito qualified all 14 wrestlers to CCS and finished in third place at TCALs with 220 points, just slightly behind runner-up Gilroy (224 points) and first-place Palma (224.5 points).
Meanwhile, Anthony Gatto (105 pounds), Justin Raine (162), Luke Diller (173) and Nick Angelo (287) will all make their TCAL debut on Saturday, when the top six placers in each weight class will advance to the CCS Championships on Feb. 19-20.
“Saturday will be a great test,” DeCarli said.
The TCAL Championships start at 10 a.m., on Saturday at Gilroy High School.
