SANTA ROSA — Veteran high school wrestlers weren”t always veterans. At some point in their young careers they made that jump with a win in a defining match, shedding the youthful adjective to become something much more.
That time may have come on Saturday for Upper Lake freshman Tony Lopez in a 105-pound match that put the Upper Lake Cougars on the road to a 42-25 victory over Willits in the championship match of the North Coast Section Division III Team Duals at Maria Carrillo High School in Santa Rosa.
Lopez, a distinct underdog in his match against Jose Arreguin of Willits, emerged with a 6-2 victory that rallied the Cougars to a third consecutive NCS Team Duals victory.
Trailing 16-6 after the first four weight division matches, the Cougars” bid for a NCS Team Dual threepeat was hanging by a thread.
“We were only favored in on one of the next seven matches,” Upper Lake coach Tom Cox said. “It looked pretty bleak. They (Wolverines) could smell the blood.”
And that was the situation when Lopez stepped onto the mat against Arreguin.
“That was the key match of the entire sections for us,” Cox said. “The weight rested all on Tony Lopez”s shoulders.”
Arreguin had easily beaten Lopez in the Fort Bragg Tournament in mid-December and had placed in other tournaments that Lopez had not, according to Cox.
Just before the match began, Arreguin received a few encouraging words from Upper Lake assistant coach Ron Campos, a veteran of many seasons at several Lake County schools.
“He told Tony, ?You”re as good a technical wrestler as we have on this team, you can go out and do this, it”s your time to step up,”” Cox said. “They were magical words for a magical performance.”
A nervous Lopez fell behind 2-0 early in the first round before reversing Arreguin in the final 30 seconds of the round to knot the score at 2.
“He started wrestling with confidence after that, you could see it,” Cox said.
Lopez put Arreguin on his back for three points and a 5-2 lead in the second round and added to his lead with an escape point in the third round.
“Even if it was only three points in the team standings, it was what we needed to fire our guys up,” Cox said.
And the wins kept on coming after that. Zeke Mendoza prevailed 18-10 at 114 pounds, a match that Cox had rated as a toss-up going in, and Travis Coleman pinned his opponent at 121 pounds. Nick Mai, a slight underdog at 127 pounds, pinned his opponent to give Upper Lake a 24-16 lead on the scoreboard.
Rio Nance of Willits ended Upper Lake”s string of victories by beating Ward Beecher 2-1 at 132 pounds, but the Cougars came back with four more wins in a row, beginning with Robert Simondi”s 3-0 decision over Anthony Lopes at 137 pounds. Lopes had beaten Simondi earlier this season.
Nick Davision of the Cougars then avenged a loss to Joe Sasso at last year”s Coastal Mountain Conference Championships with a 16-9 decision at 142 pounds. Bruce Tucker won by 17-2 tech fall at 147 pounds to clinch the team win against Willits. Bradley Brackett followed with a pin at 154 pounds before the Cougars lost the final match of the night at 162 pounds by pin.
“I knew when Davison won we were in good shape,” Cox said. “Once Tucker won everyone was celebrating.”
Upper Lake beat Athenian 80-0 in the opening round before knocking off St. Patrick/St. Vincent of Vallejo 55-18 in the semifinals.
Lopez, Coleman, Simondi, Tucker and Brackett all went 3-0 on the day for Upper Lake while Jacob Warner went 2-0.
“I”m so proud of these kids because they are a team,” Cox said. “All of them root for each other. The older guys know the younger ones are going to be leading this team down the road. As a coach, that”s what you want to see.”
Upper Lake”s list of threepeats may not be over yet. The Cougars shoot for a third straight team title at the CMC Championships on Saturday in Middletown. Upper Lake went 8-0 in duals during the regular season to Willits” 7-1. The Cougars need to finish one place ahead of Willits to wrap up the undisputed title. If Willits takes first to Upper Lake”s second, the two teams will share the CMC crown.
The CMC Championships serve as the qualifying tournament for the NCS Championships on Feb. 25-26. The CIF State Finals are March 4-5.
In other action Saturday at the NCS Team Duals, Clear Lake garnered third place with a 45-40 win over Hoopa, giving CMC teams a clean sweep of the top three spots in the 10-team tournament field, which is made up of the top small-school teams in several leagues throughout the section.
“The CMC is as tough now as I”ve ever seen it,” Cox said.
n Clear Lake
The Clear Lake Cardinals avenged a 46-40 loss to Hoopa in a first-round match to beat the same Hoopa team later in the day for third place. In between, the Cardinals won by forfeit over California School of the Deaf and beat St. Patrick/St. Vincent 50-20.
Wins by Matt Lockwood, who wrestled up a weight at 173 pounds, by Ryan Blyleven at 121 pounds and by Brandon Holt at 137 pounds made the difference in the rematch with Hoopa for third place.
“I put a lot on them and they came through in a big way,” Clear Lake coach Ronnie Campos said of Lockwood and Blyleven.
Lockwood was trailing on points late in the third round of his match when he turned and pinned his Hoopa opponent in the final 30 seconds, giving the Cardinals a big six points on the scoreboard.
“That one made it happen if you look at all the other matches,” Campos said. “It was a big one.”
So was Blyleven”s victory. He also moved up a weight class — from 114 to 121 — and just like Lockwood he scored a pin.
“He”s just a trooper,” Campos said. “Anything I need him to do, he does.”
The Cardinals picked up another critical six points when Holt beat the same Hoopa wrestler he had lost to earlier in the day. In fact, Holt, who had lost by decision, came back to win by pin.
“I”m super happy with them,” Campos said after collecting the third-place NCS team pennant (the top three teams receive pennants). Clear Lake has never placed in this tournament.”
The Cardinals did so minus two of their regulars, who did not attend the tournament.
Campos also gave a shout-out to his dad, Ron Campos, the assistant coach at Upper Lake.
“I couldn”t be prouder of my dad and Tom (Cox) on the threepeat,” Campos said. “It”s tough to win three years in a row.”
Said Cox, “It”s real impressive how those Clear Lake kids come together as a team. I was real impressed.”
