Both Mikey Soto at 140 pounds and Miguel Martin del Campo at
189s fell in their respective third- and fourth-place consolation
match on Saturday at the Central Coast Section Wrestling
Championships in San Jose, and each finished in fourth place as a
result
— one place short of a trip to the state tournament.
SAN JOSE
A year ago, a loss suffered in the third- and fourth-place consolation match at the Central Coast Section Wrestling Championships at least came with the added bonus of qualifying to the state tournament, as the top four in each weight class advanced to the exclusive year-end invitational.
That wasn’t the case on Saturday, though, when the silver lining of a state bid could have eased the final placings of San Benito’s Mikey Soto and Miguel Martin del Campo.
“Both of their matches were heartbreakers,” head coach Brian DeCarli said.
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Soto at 140 pounds and Martin del Campo at 189s each fell in their respective third- and fourth-place consolation match on Saturday at the CCS Championships, and each finished in fourth place as a result — one place short of a trip to the state tournament.
A rule change in the offseason reduced the amount of state bids the CCS received — from the top four in each weight class to the top three — leaving the two senior grapplers for San Benito just short of a trip to Bakersfield.
“Any other year, we’d have two guys qualify,” added DeCarli, who noted that there are no alternates at state, either.
The losses leave San Benito without a state qualifier this year — albeit, just barely.
Soto dropped his first match on Friday when he suffered a 1-0 defeat to Cupertino junior Amir Bakhshi in the 140-pound quarterfinal. He battled back through the consolation rounds, though, defeating Wesley Oribello of Los Altos by fall (:45) and Samer El Nounou of Fremont by fall (1:48) before advancing to the consolation final after topping Alisal’s Oscar Mendez by a 9-4 decision.
But up against Bakhshi once again, Soto suffered another one-point defeat, this time by a 3-2 margin, and finished in fourth place with a 5-2 record.
“That’s another heartbreaker,” DeCarli said. “It was a tough way to end the day, that’s for sure.”
Martin del Campo’s run through 189 pounds wasn’t any less heartbreaking, though. In fact, the San Benito senior was the lone Baler to survive the championship bracket on Friday, and he opened Saturday morning in the semifinals against top-seeded Logan Kellogg of San Lorenzo Valley as a result.
But falling to Kellogg by a 4-2 decision in overtime, in a match that not only would have vaulted the Baler grappler into the 189-pound final but also earn him a state bid as well, Martin del Campo was instead moved to the consolation bracket, where finishing in third place was his only shot at extending his season.
But after defeating Jorge Campos of South San Francisco by fall (2:52) to advance to the consolation final, Martin del Campo lost to Watsonville’s Josh Castillo by a 6-1 decision one match later, and finished in fourth place with a 4-2 record.
“That was one of the weight classes where four guys were competing for three spots, and one is gonna get left out,” DeCarli said. “Unfortunately it was us.”
Martin del Campo was leading 1-0 in that match, but a second stalling call on the Baler wrestler knotted the bout at 1-all.
“It changed the complexion of the match,” DeCarli said.
Martin del Campo then “rushed a bad shot,” DeCarli added, and Castillo caught the mistake for a takedown and a three-point near-fall.
“We were where we wanted to be in that match until the very end,” DeCarli said.
Soto’s and Miguel del Campo’s final matches at CCS were simply a microcosm of the close calls San Benito experienced during the two-day tournament.
Bringing 13 wrestlers to Independence High School in San Jose, only five Balers made it to the second day, including Robb Rodriguez at 119 pounds, Raul Suarez at 125s and Zack Rodriguez at 135s.
But like Soto, Robb Rodriguez dropped his quarterfinal match by one point, falling to Independence’s Kaelob Obien by a 2-1 decision, while Zack Rodriguez lost his quarterfinal to Willow Glen’s Matthew Potter by fall (5:58) with just two seconds remaining in the third period.
A day later, on Saturday, Robb Rodriguez did not make weight, while both Zack Rodriguez and Suarez won their first match of the day before falling in the consolation quarterfinals.
In all, San Benito finished in 12th place with 72 points, while league-rival Gilroy compiled 243 points en route to its ninth straight section title.
“They were all kind of those gut-wrenching, one-point-loss type of things,” DeCarli said. “Usually those tend to balance themselves other out over the weekend.
“But we didn’t get over the hump in any of those matches.”
Although an offseason rule change prevented two his wrestlers from extending their season any further, DeCarli said having only the top three advance to state made the consolation finals that much more interesting.
“There’s so much more on the line, so much at stake,” he said.
“But you take the fourth qualifier away and you’ll get some disappointment.”
Central Coast Section Wrestling Championships
Teams (Top 15 of 75):
1, Gilroy, 243; 2, Saint Francis, 169.5; 3, Bellarmine, 116; 4, Riordan, 96; 5, South San Francisco, 93.5; 6, Alisal, 90; 7, Palo Alto, 83.5; 8, Palma, 79; 9, Santa Teresa, 78; 10, El Camino, 77.5; 11, Cupertino, 74; 12, San Benito, 74; 13, Los Gatos, 71; 14, Serra, 69; 15, San Lorenzo Valley, 58.5.
San Benito:
112 – Chris Baldwin
Champ. Round 1 – Jason Mendel (Harker Academy) 2-2 won by pin over Chris Baldwin (San Benito) 1-2 (Pin 3:22)
Cons. Round 1 – Chris Baldwin (San Benito) 1-2 won by tech fall over Sharvil Gupta (Mitty) 0-2 (TF 16-1)
Cons. Round 2 – Gunnar Biersdorff (Leigh) 2-2 won by tech fall over Chris Baldwin (San Benito) 1-2 (TF 16-0)
119 – Robb Rodriguez
Champ. Round 1 – Robb Rodriguez (San Benito) 2-2 won by pin over Jacob Jeglski (Los Gatos) 1-2 (Pin 3:38)
Champ. Round 2 – Robb Rodriguez (San Benito) 2-2 won by major decision over Willy Lamacchia (Harbor) 2-2 (Maj 10-1)
Quarterfinal – Kaelob Obien (Independence) 4-2 won by decision over Robb Rodriguez (San Benito) 2-2 (Dec 2-1)
Cons. Round 4 – Joey Christopherson (Palo Alto) 5-3 won by forfeit over Robb Rodriguez (San Benito) 2-2 (FF)
125 – Raul Suarez
Champ. Round 1 – John Claitor (Half Moon Bay) 5-1 won by decision over Raul Suarez (San Benito) 4-2 (Dec 9-5)
Cons. Round 1 – Raul Suarez (San Benito) 4-2 received a bye () (Bye)
Cons. Round 2 – Raul Suarez (San Benito) 4-2 won by pin over Tony Melano (North Monterey County) 0-2 (Pin 4:49)
Cons. Round 3 – Raul Suarez (San Benito) 4-2 won by major decision over Johnathan Lewis (Leigh) 2-2 (Maj 14-5)
Cons. Round 4 – Raul Suarez (San Benito) 4-2 won by major decision over Dominic Revilla (Sacred Heart) 2-2 (Maj 12-0)
Cons. Round 5 – Nick Ortiz (Palo Alto) 5-2 won by decision over Raul Suarez (San Benito) 4-2 (Dec 2-0)
130 – Dominic Cortes
Champ. Round 1 – Omar El-Kurd (El Camino) 3-2 won by major decision over Dominic Cortes (San Benito) 1-2 (Maj 16-2)
Cons. Round 1 – Dominic Cortes (San Benito) 1-2 won by pin over Tyler Torrecillas (Leigh) 0-2 (Pin 1:47)
Cons. Round 2 – Anthony Rivera (Half Moon Bay) 2-2 won by major decision over Dominic Cortes (San Benito) 1-2 (Maj 9-1)
135 – Zack Rodriguez
Champ. Round 1 – Zack Rodriguez (San Benito) 3-2 won in overtime over Mitch Magat (Riordan) 6-2 (OT 6-4)
Champ. Round 2 – Zack Rodriguez (San Benito) 3-2 won by major decision over Michael Atondo (Mitty) 4-2 (Maj 13-4)
Quarterfinal – Matthew Potter (Willow Glen) 4-2 won by pin over Zack Rodriguez (San Benito) 3-2 (Pin 5:58)
Cons. Round 4 – Zack Rodriguez (San Benito) 3-2 won by tech fall over Jordan Servito (Lynbrook) 3-2 (TF 16-1)
Cons. Round 5 – Mitch Magat (Riordan) 6-2 won by decision over Zack Rodriguez (San Benito) 3-2 (Dec 4-2)
140 – Mikey Soto
Champ. Round 1 – Mikey Soto (San Benito) 5-2 won by decision over Bryan Batisto (Harbor) 2-2 (Dec 8-1)
Champ. Round 2 – Mikey Soto (San Benito) 5-2 won by pin over Bo Hall (Serra) 2-2 (Pin 3:49)
Quarterfinal – Amir Bakhshi (Cupertino) 5-1 won by decision over Mikey Soto (San Benito) 5-2 (Dec 1-0)
Cons. Round 4 – Mikey Soto (San Benito) 5-2 won by pin over Wesley Oribello (Los Altos) 3-2 (Pin 0:45)
Cons. Round 5 – Mikey Soto (San Benito) 5-2 won by pin over Samer El Nounou (Fremont) 3-2 (Pin 1:48)
Cons. Semi – Mikey Soto (San Benito) 5-2 won by decision over Oscar Mendez (Alisal) 4-2 (Dec 9-4)
3rd Place Match – Amir Bakhshi (Cupertino) 5-1 won by decision over Mikey Soto (San Benito) 5-2 (Dec 3-2)
145 – Greg Landry
Champ. Round 1 – Ray Jimenez (James Lick) 3-2 won by major decision over Greg Landry (San Benito) 0-2 (Maj 12-2)
Cons. Round 1 – Brian Martinez (Half Moon Bay) 3-2 won in overtime over Greg Landry (San Benito) 0-2 (OT 10-8)
152 – Jonathan Arballo
Champ. Round 1 – Jonathan Arballo (San Benito) 1-2 won by decision over Zack Figueroa (Watsonville) 0-2 (Dec 9-5)
Champ. Round 2 – Ryan Sarmiento (Palma) 2-2 won by major decision over Jonathan Arballo (San Benito) 1-2 (Maj 15-4)
Cons. Round 2 – Bryan Diaz (Overfelt) 2-2 won by pin over Jonathan Arballo (San Benito) 1-2 (Pin 3:14)
160 – Nick Mendizabal
Champ. Round 1 – Roberto Gonzalez (Overfelt) 3-2 won by pin over Nick Mendizabal (San Benito) 0-2 (Pin 3:56)
Cons. Round 1 – Nick Mendizabal (San Benito) 0-2 received a bye () (Bye)
Cons. Round 2 – Diego Gaxiola (Mitty) 4-2 won by pin over Nick Mendizabal (San Benito) 0-2 (Pin 2:53)
171 – Joey Garcia
Champ. Round 1 – Andrew Pappas (Monta Vista) 3-2 won by major decision over Joey Garcia (San Benito) 0-2 (Maj 15-5)
Cons. Round 1 – Douglas Medrano (San Jose) 1-2 won by decision over Joey Garcia (San Benito) 0-2 (Dec 5-1)
189 – Miguel Martin Del Campo
Champ. Round 1 – Miguel Martin Del Campo (San Benito) 4-2 received a bye () (Bye)
Champ. Round 2 – Miguel Martin Del Campo (San Benito) 4-2 won by pin over Gabe Flores (Sacred Heart) 1-2 (Pin 1:31)
Quarterfinal – Miguel Martin Del Campo (San Benito) 4-2 won by decision over Keaton Klockow (Pacific Grove) 3-2 (Dec 6-0)
Semifinal – Logan Kellogg (SLV) 4-1 won in overtime over Miguel Martin Del Campo (San Benito) 4-2 (OT 4-2)
Cons. Semi – Miguel Martin Del Campo (San Benito) 4-2 won by pin over Jorge Campos (South San Francisco) 5-2 (Pin 2:52)
3rd Place Match – Josh Castillo (Watsonville) 5-1 won by decision over Miguel Martin Del Campo (San Benito) 4-2 (Dec 6-1)
215 – Javier Bustillos
Champ. Round 1 – Javier Bustillos (San Benito) 1-2 won by decision over Jose Tochez (Palo Alto) 1-2 (Dec 3-1)
Champ. Round 2 – Will Basler (Woodside) 5-1 won by major decision over Javier Bustillos (San Benito) 1-2 (Maj 14-3)
Cons. Round 2 – Kevin Nguyen (Evergreen Valley) 2-2 won by decision over Javier Bustillos (San Benito) 1-2 (Dec 7-5)
CIF State Girls Wrestling Invitational
San Benito junior Jennifer Espinoza competed at the inaugural CIF State Girls Wrestling Invitational last weekend at Lemoore High School, and finished 0-2 in the 98-pound weight class. Espinoza lost her first match by a 9-7 decision to Rosie Guzman of Nogales, and was then defeated by Angela Fragoso of North Salinas by a 12-3 decision in the consolation bracket.
