MIDDLETOWN — The Upper Lake Cougars didn”t have the most wrestlers in the finals or the most weight division winners on Saturday during the Coastal Mountain Conference Championships at Middletown High School. What they did have was the most depth and that”s why they finished with the most points ? again.
Claiming their third straight CMC team title only a week after securing a third consecutive North Coast Section Duals championships, the Upper Lake Cougars overcame a huge deficit to edge out the Clear Lake Cardinals 170-166 ? during Saturday”s competition, capping a perfect run though the 2011 CMC season — Upper Lake also went 8-0 in dual matches during the regular season.
Clear Lake led by as many 40 points after the winner”s semifinals on Saturday, but the Cougars battled back to pull out the victory. Although the Cardinals won five weight classes to Upper Lake”s four, including three head-to-head meetings in the championship round, the Cougars reaped a windfall of points in the consolation bracket, including three third-place finishes to the Cardinals” none.
“That”s how we did it last year and that”s how we won this year,” Upper Lake coach Tom Cox said. “But I take my hat off to Clear Lake. What they did was amazing.”
“We were way ahead at one point,” Clear Lake first-year coach Ronnie Campos said. “But I was watching them (Cougars) creep up on me, creep up on me.”
Four consolation semifinal victories by pin helped the Cougars whittle away at the Cardinals” lead, according to Cox.
“Ron (Campos, assistant coach) and I took the kids outside at one point and challenged them,” Cox said. “We want to win our last match in every tournament and we pretty much did that (in Middletown).”
Clear Lake pushed Upper Lake to the limit while going 5-3 in championship matches to the Cougars” 4-3. Three of those finals — at 127 pounds, at 154 pounds and at 217 pounds — all went to the Cardinals at the expense of the Cougars.
Jake Humble scored one of the big upsets of the tournament with a double-overtime decision over Ward Beecher at 127 pounds.
“The finals were exciting and exciting is not a good enough word,” Campos said with an eye toward the Humble-Beecher final.
Humble so impressed the field that the coaches voted him the tournament”s Outstanding Lightweight, and that includes Cox.
“As much as we wanted Ward to win, you can”t take anything away from him,” Cox said of Humble. “He got our vote.”
Another upset occurred at 217 pounds where sClear Lake enior Robert Morfin beat Joe Valdez.
The Cardinals also won at 154 pounds where Robby Hammers defeated Bradley Brackett.
“Clear Lake has had an amazing season,” Cox said.
Clear Lake also picked up firsts at 114 pounds, where Ryan Blyleven defeated Kelseyville”s Jeffrey Ponce in the finals, and at 191 pounds, where Shawn Larsen beat Middletown”s Paul Rogers.
Reaching the finals for Clear Lake and taking second were Brandon Holt at 132 pounds, Matt Lockwood at 160 pounds, and Michael Reynolds at 191 pounds.
Upper Lake weight class winners were Tony Lopez at 105 pounds, Travis Coleman at 121 pounds, Bruce Tucker at 142 pounds and Nick Davison at 147 pounds.
In addition to seconds by Beecher, Brackett and Valdez, the Cougars added all-important thirds at 114 pounds (Zeke Mendoza), 132 pounds (Robert Simondi) and the heavyweight division (Jacob Warner).
In fact, Warner”s victory by pin in the third-place match was among the biggest of the day for the Cougars, according to Cox.
“I told him he just won us a team title,” Cox said. “He”s a senior, so what a poignant moment for Jacob.”
Another key for the Cougars was Lopez beating rival Jose Arreguin of Willits for the 105-pound title.
“He dominated him,” Cox said.
Between Clear Lake, Upper Lake and Brandon Painchaud”s first-place finish at 137 pounds for Lower Lake, Lake County teams won 10 of the 14 weight division titles. The only non-Lake County winners were Willits” Rio Nance at 132 pounds, Willits” Thomas Bender at 160 pounds, Fort Bragg”s Jacob Richards at 173 pounds and Willits” Quinton Bowlds in the heavyweight division. Richards was named the Outstanding Heavyweight.
Kelseyville didn”t have a weight division champion but the Knights recorded three seconds and a third. The seconds went to Ponce at 114, Wences Rojas at 121 and Adryan Segura at 137, and the third went to Jordan Brown at 217.
Besides Painchaud”s win at 137 pounds for Lower Lake, the Trojans added a second in the heavyweight division (Cody Torres) and thirds at 127 pounds (Dominick Dingess) and 147 pounds (Jacob Grove).
For tournament host Middletown, seconds went to Rogers at 191 and Ryan Fontenot at 147. The Mustangs also picked up thirds at 105 pounds (Pike Houston) and 152 pounds (Dorian Decker).
The top three finishers in each weight division automatically qualify for the North Coast Section Championships, which open Friday and run through Saturday in Fremont. Upper Lake will send 11 wrestlers and Clear Lake eight.
“It was a big deal for us to be only three points behind them,” Clear Lake”s Campos said in summing up the Cardinals” close call against the Cougars. “I came out of there feeling like a winner and I hope my team feels the same way.”
The top four finishers in each weight class at NCS move on to the CIF State Championships the weekend of March 4-5.
