LOWER LAKE — It was a good night, albeit a painful one, for Lower Lake High School wrestling star Justin Harrison on Wednesday during a Coastal Mountain Conference tri-meet against Middletown and St. Helena at Lower Lake High School.
But outside of a couple of other Lower Lake wrestlers, it was pretty much just a painful night for the Trojans as they dropped a 62-12 decision to St. Helena and a 42-30 decision to Middletown. St. Helena also beat Middletown 36-30.
Harrison entered Wednesday”s meet tied for the school record with 64 career pins (set by Nate Harrison in 1995). He broke the record with a first-round pin of a St. Helena opponent at 285 pounds, then came back later in the evening to pin a Middletown opponent at 285 pounds for career pin No. 66.
“After the match I went up to congratulate him, but he was in a lot of pain,” Lower Lake coach Ed Fuchs said of Harrison”s record-setting win against his St. Helena opponent.
Harrison has an abscessed tooth, according to Fuchs. “He probably didn”t appreciate the record as much at the time but he will later.”
The abscessed tooth kept Harrison out of practice most of the week. As a result, he failed to make weight at 215 pounds and had to wrestle in the heavyweight division.
“We knew both teams (Middletown and St. Helena) had 215-pounders, but we didn”t know if they had heavyweights,” Fuchs said. “Middletown bumped up its 215 to 285 so he (Harrison) would have a match.”
Limited to only eight wrestlers for the second tri-meet in a row, the Trojans entered both the St. Helena and Middletown duals at a distinct advantage having to forfeit six matches (or 30 team points) in each.
Besides Harrison, only 119-pounder Brandon Painchaud won against St. Helena. He pinned his opponent in the first round.
In their loss to Mid-dletown, Trojan winners were Harrison, Pain-chaud (second-round pin), Thomas Cross at 140 pounds (third-round pin) and Emanuel Simms at 189 pounds (second-round pin).
Simms just missed against St. Helena, dropping a 13-12 decision after being penalized a stalling point in the final seconds of the match.
“It was not a good call,” Fuchs said.
Cross also had a close call against St. Helena.
“He was ahead 19-17 late in the third period when he got pinned,” Fuchs said.
“St. Helena has a good team,” Fuchs said of the Saints, who were the power in the CMC for many seasons.
Lower Lake wrestlers will compete in the Tamalpais Tournament on Saturday. Next Wed-nesday they host Upper Lake and Willits in CMC action.
“I hope I have more kids,” Fuchs said. “I had three out today because they were not at practice. Some of the other kids I don”t know if they want to work hard.”
And that”s something that makes Fuchs appreciate a wrestler such as Harrison all the more.
“I wish I had more kids like him,” Fuchs said. “He”s hurting, but he”s still out there. He does it because he loves it.”
Middletown coach Troy Brierly said the Mustangs had a shot to beat St. Helena but 18 points in forfeit hurt his team.
“You can”t win when you have no one in the spot,” Brierly said. “The kids wrestled well and did what they needed to but culdn”t overcome the (three) forfeits.”
The Mustangs did earn a split with their win over Lower Lake.
“A bunch of my younger, less experienced kids got some mat time and it was a good dual. Overall I”m pretty happy with our wrestling and the kids brought it like champions. I”m proud of them.”
