UPPER LAKE — One day the Lower Lake Trojans want to be where the Upper Lake Cougars are now, which is on top of the Coastal Mountain Conference wrestling world.
At least that”s plan, according to Lower Lake coach Ed Fuchs.
“We”re getting there,” Fuchs said of his young Lower Lake squad, which fell 49-24 to Willits and 69-10 to Upper Lake in the conference opener for all three teams Wednesday at Upper Lake High School. “It helps us set goals for next year. We”re tired of getting squashed by those guys. Definitely hats off to (Upper Lake coach) Tom Cox and the Cougars.”
While the Trojans were competitive with Willits, that wasn”t the case against Upper Lake, which won 12 of the 14 matches. The only exceptions were Brandon Painchaud”s first-round pin of Luke Mai at 132 pounds and Thaddeus Wetmore”s 18-5 decision over Charlie Coburn at 173 pounds.
Fuchs said about the only other highlight for Lower Lake against the Cougars was Erick Moreno”s 11-3 loss to Ward Beecher at 142 pounds.
“I thought Moreno wrestled him very well. He almost took him down a couple of times,” Fuchs said.
Upper Lake winners were Zeke Mendoza by pin at 114 pounds, Travis Coleman by pin at 121 pounds, Robert Simondi by pin at 137 pounds, Andrew Frazier by pin at 191 pounds, Joey Valdez by pin at 217 pounds and Jacob Warner by pin in the heavyweight division.
Against Willits, highlights for Lower Lake were Ricardo Cuevas third-round pin of Travis Arreguin at 114 pounds, Wetmore”s win by pin at 173 pounds, and Emmanuel Simms” win by pin at 191 pounds.
In two of the night”s featured matches, Willits” Rio Nance decisioned Painchaud 6-1 at 137 pounds, and Willits” Alex Bowlds beat Cody Torres 5-1 in the heavyweight division.
In the final dual of the evening between Upper Lake and Willits, Upper Lake scored a solid 49-21 win.
“Our lightweights won the day for us,” Cox said of pins by Tony Lopez at 105 pounds and Mendoza at 114 pounds against Arreguin.
Upper Lake also scored an upset at 127 pounds where Nick Mai won 9-8 over Anthony Lopes.
“A very exciting match,” Cox said.
Other Upper Lake winners included Beecher, 3-2 at 142 pounds; Nick Davison by pin at 147 pounds; Bruce Tucker by 11-0 major decision at 154 pounds; Coburn by pin (40 seconds) at 173 pounds; and Frazier by 16-14 decision at 191 pounds.
Upper Lake and St. Helena travel to Lakeport next Wednesday to take on Clear Lake.
