KELSEYVILLE — Willits defeated Kelseyville 42-29 and Middletown 54-19 in Coastal Mountain Conference wrestling action Wednesday evening at Kelseyville High School.
Kelseyville also beat Middletown 51-24 to improve its CMC dual record to 3-1.
The host Knights battled back and forth with Willits, also 3-1 in the CMC standings, and the dual wasn”t decided until the final two matches involving heavyweights and 105-pounders.
Jordan Brown”s second-round pin at 217 pounds moved Kelseyville to within seven points of the Wolverines at 36-29. In the heavyweight battle that followed, heavily favored Alex Bowlds of Willits took on Kelseyville”s Nate Fine.
“I”m sure they were expecting to get six points (the number of points a team earns for a pin),” Kelseyville coach Rob Brown said. “But no one told Nate he was supposed to lose.”
Bowlds took a 3-1 lead into the third round and scored a pair of takedowns before emerging with a hard-fought 7-2 victory.
“He wrestled extraordinary,” Brown said of Fine. “I”m really happy with his performance even though he didn”t win.”
Willits earned three points for Bowlds” victory to open up a 39-29 lead and clinch the head-to-head win against the Knights.
The final weight division battle also went to Willits as Jose Arreguin scored five points in the third round to snap a 7-7 tie and beat Jake Martinek 12-7 at 105 pounds.
Kelseyville won each of the first three matches to go up 14-0. Christian Ponce pinned his opponent in 1:09 of the first round at 114 pounds and Jeffry Ponce took a 7-4 decision at 121 pounds. Wences Rojas followed with a 16-0 tech fall at 127 pounds.
“He did a phenomenal job,” Brown of Rojas, who moved up a weight division.
Willits rallied with pins at 132 and 137 pounds to close the team scoring to 14-12.
Kelseyville”s next win came at 142 pounds as Adryan Segura, also up a weight class, outlasted Willits” Joseph Sasso 1-0. Seguara scored the only point of the match on an escape in the third round.
“A great match,” Brown said. “I told Adryan it was going to be a one-point match and he would have to wear him down. That”s what he did. He was giving up some weight but he still pulled it out.”
Willits answered with pins at 147 and 154 pounds. The Wolverines also won by forfeit at 162 pounds to go up 30-17 on the scoreboard.
Andrew Copsey gave Kelseyville six more points with a second-round pin at 173 pounds. Willits won at 191 pounds by forfeit.
While the Knights gave up only two forfeits to the Wolverines, Brown said Kelseyville needs to fill all of its weight classes to move up into the upper echelon of the CMC.
“I”ve got some guys coming up from the middle school, where I also coach, who will help us out,” Brown said.
Still, the Knights have made great strides under Brown.
“We had six guys on the team three years ago,” Brown said. “I”m real happy where our guys are at right now. The interest in this sport has gone up at the school the last two years three-fold. It”s been phenomenal. It”s just a matter of getting the sport to be cool again with the kids.
“I”m right exactly where I want to be,” Brown said of his timeline for returning the Knights to wrestling prominence in the county and conference.
“Three years ago we were one of the worst teams in the league,” he said. “If it wouldn”t have been for Point Arena, we would have been the worst.”
Kelseyville vs. Middletown
While the Knights ended up handily beating Middletown, Brown said the Mustangs put up a good fight in the weight divisions that were contested — seven out of 14.
“I know Troy is battling a numbers thing,” Brown said of Middle-town coach Troy Brierly, who doesn”t have a full squad this season.
In those matches contested between the two teams, Middletown”s Anthony Castaldo pinned Cameron Serrano in 48 seconds at 146 pounds; Kelseyville”s Copsey won by 17-0 technical fall at 173 pounds; Kelseyville”s Brown won by 10-6 decision at 217 pounds; Kelseyville”s Martinek won by second-round pin at 105 pounds; Kelseyville”s Christian Ponce won by 19-3 technical fall at 114 pounds; and Kelseyville”s Jeffry Ponce scored a 34-second pin at 121 pounds.
In an exhibition match, Kelseyville”s Cammy Miller outlasted Middletown”s Karen Castellanos 8-6 in double-overtime.
