UPPER LAKE — Drawing the biggest crowd Tom Cox has seen at a wrestling match during his coaching tenure at Upper Lake High School, the Cougars didn”t disappoint the home fans, pummeling Fort Bragg 55-24 and Middletown 78-6 in a Coastal Mountain Conference tri-meet on Wednesday.
“It was our only home match of the season and people showed up,” Cox said. “This is the biggest crowd I”ve seen as head coach and my assistant Ron Campos agreed. We”re thankful for the crowd. It was great for the kids.”
Upper Lake improved to 4-0 in the CMC standings and faces only one other major obstacle in its quest to clinch the conference title — the defending-champion Willits Wolverines. Lower Lake travels to Willits on Feb. 11 for a title showdown.
Neither Middletown, which was missing a handful of key wrestlers, or Fort Bragg did much to slow down the Cougars, who are strong from top to bottom. Upper Lake 145-pound standout Robbie Avery defeated Jake Walsh 18-4 in his only match of the night, while another team mainstay, 215-pounder Randy Dickinson, pinned both of his opponents in the first round, needing less than a minute to do it.
Also for the Cougars, Russell Dickinson beat Jarrod Rudy of Middletown 9-0 at 135 pounds. Dickinson also pinned Fort Bragg”s Sterling Lewis in a 130-pound match.
In one of the night”s highly anticipated matches, Upper Lake”s Brian Hatfield beat Middletown”s Jason Hill 8-2.
Other Cougar highlights included Bruce Tucker”s pin at 130 pounds against Middletown, Charlie Coburn”s second-round pin of Middletown”s Tyler Hamilton at 145 pounds, pins at 152 pounds by Amos Burns and 171 pounds by Antonio DiConza against Middletown opponents, and Brandon Sneathen”s pin at 140 pounds against Fort Bragg.
“I”m really proud of our kids, especially the younger ones,” Cox said. “I was really excited because our younger kids wrestled so well.”
Cox said Upper Lake”s match against Middletown would have been much closer had the Mustangs been at full strength.
“The kids they had out there had a lot of guts and wrestled hard,” Cox said.
In other CMC wrestling action Wednesday:
Clear Lake 39 L. Lake 33
Clear Lake 42, K,ville 30
Lower Lake 39, K”ville 30
At Lower Lake, wrestling visited Lower Lake”s new gym for the first time and was a big hit for athletes, coaches and fans alike as the Trojans entertained Clear Lake and Kelseyville in a tri-meet.
“It was so amazing,” Lower Lake coach Ed Fuchs said. “For every match we dimmed the (main) lights and illuminated the mat with the spotlights. It was great.”
Fuchs said the wrestling meet drew a larger-than-normal crowd. One reason was the new gym and the other one was that it was the Trojans” only home meet of the season.
“We didn”t have a home meet last year because of weather-related problems and this was our only one this year,” Fuchs said.
While the Trojans were hoping for a sweep in their debut at the new gym, Fuchs said the effort was there in both matches.
“They went our there and fought hard,” Fuchs said of his wrestlers. “Even the kids who lost I applauded them because they fought so hard.”
Against Clear Lake, Lower Lake picked up wins at 112 pounds, where Johnny Radford won a 19-9 major decision; at 135 pounds, where Joseph Dingess won on a first-round pin; at 152 pounds, where Tyler Johnson won a 20-5 tech fall; at 215 pounds, where Dylan Terra won on a first-round pin; and in the heavyweight division, where Cody Torres scored a first-round pin.
Clear Lake winners were Brandon Holt at 119 pounds on a major decision; Mike DeAngelo by pin at 125 pounds; Robby Hammers by tech fall at 140 pounds; Derek Larson by pin at 160 pounds; and Mike Reynolds by pin at 189 pounds. The Cardinals also won by forfeit at 103 and 171 pounds.
In its victory over Kelseyville, Lower Lake winners included Jonathan Smith by first-round pin at 160 pounds; Justin Harrison by second-round pin at 215 pounds; and Torres by 9-6 decision over Nick Cardinale-Smith in the heavyweight division.
In Clear Lake”s victory over Kelseyville, Clear Lake winners were Holt, Hammers, Matt Lockwood, Lucas Thomson and Reynolds, all by pin.
Kelseyville winners included Thomas Esberg by pin at 125 pounds; Anthony Esberg by pin at 135 pounds; Troy Davis by pin at 171 pounds; Jordan Brown by pin at 215 pounds; and Morgan Nelson by injury default in the heavyweight division.
