UPPER LAKE — Joe Valdez upset Jordan Brown at 217 pounds and the Upper Lake Cougars closed out a perfect Coastal Mountain Conference dual season with wins over Kelseyville and Point Arena on Wednesday evening at Upper Lake.
Upper Lake beat Kelseyville 62-11 and Point Arena 78-6, its seventh and eighth victories in as many dual matches this season.
“Nobody can take anything away from Upper Lake. They have a tremendous team,” Kelseyville coach Rob Brown said. “His guys wrestled good like they always do,” Brown added of Upper Lake coach Tom Cox”s Cougars. “Even the guys who lost wrestled well. They don”t give you anything.”
Valdez, a sophomore and first-year wrestler for Upper Lake, had a 10-2 lead in the second round against the veteran Brown before pinning him.
“Joe”s gonna be good,” Cox said.
Upper Lake”s other wins came at 127 pounds, where Travis Coleman pinned Wences Rojas in the third round; at 132 pounds, where Nick Mai pinned Alphonso Reyes in the second round; at 137 pounds, where Ward Beecher decisioned Adryan Segura 7-3; at 142 pounds, where Robert Simondi won by 17-0 technical fall against Reed Rasmussen; at 147 pounds, where Nick Davison pinned Enrique Gonzalez in the first round; and in the heavyweight division, where Jacob Warner pinned Nate Fine in the first round.
The Cougars also received forfeits at 105, 154, 162 and 173 pounds.
Kelseyville winners were Jeff Ponce by 16-5 major decision over Zeke Mendoza at 114 pounds; Christian Ponce, who decisioned Tony Lopez, 8-7; and Andrew Copsey, who won by 15-5 major decision over Andrew Frazier.
It was the final home match for Upper Lake seniors Warner, Frazier and Emily Knispel, who experienced just one dual loss in their careers. Knispel and Warner are four-year veterans.
In Upper Lake”s win over Point Arena, only four weight classes were contested and the Cougars won three — Lopez won a 12-2 major decision at 121 pounds while Simondi (137) and Davison (147) won by pin.
Kelseyville also beat Point Arena 47-11. The two schools split the four contested weight divisions. Christian Ponce pinned his opponent at 121 pounds and Segura won by pin at 137 pounds.
Upper Lake returns to action Saturday in the North Coast Section Duals featuring the top placers in various leagues. Upper Lake, Willits and Clear Lake are three of the 10 teams in the field.
“We”ve won it the last two years,” Cox said.
