POINT ARENA — Tyler Johnson won both of his matches at 152 pounds on Wednesday as the Lower Lake High School wrestling team beat Point Arena 37-24 and lost to Fort Bragg 39-15 during a Coastal Mountain Conference tri-meet at Point Arena High School.
“I”m a happy camper,” Lower Lake coach Ed Fuchs said of his young squad”s performance in its CMC debut. “We”re coming along. The score (against Fort Bragg) doesn”t show how close it was.”
The Trojans actually left a handful of wrestlers behind in Lower Lake that they could have used against Fort Bragg, according to Fuchs, who said it was his decision.
“They missed practices and if you want to wrestle in the matches, you have to show up to practice,” Fuchs said. “That”s my policy.”
Johnson won an 11-3 decision against Point Arena and came back with a hard-fought 8-7 victory over Fort Bragg”s Jake Walsh, one of the night”s better matches, according to Fuchs.
“He won it with four (two-point) takedowns,” Fuchs said of Johnson.
Also in the Fort Bragg match, Lower Lake”s David Jordan scored a first-round pin at 171 pounds and Justin Harrison scored a second-round pin at 215 pounds. Two matches that didn”t go the Trojans” way saw Joseph Dingess fall 10-7 at 130 pounds, and Cody Torres lose on a third-round pin to Fort Bragg”s Matthew Rashad, the No. 1 heavyweight in the CMC.
Torres nearly scored a major upset against Rashad, according to Fuchs.
“He nearly got a pin in the first round ? I thought he had it,” Fuchs said.
Torres held an 8-4 lead before Rashad pinned him with a minute remaining in the final round.
Against Point Arena, Dingess scored an 11-9 decision over Kiljan Cochran. Lower Lake picked up another win at 215 pounds where Dylan Terra pinned Zean Moore in the first round.
