LAKEPORT — Clear Lake High School wrestling coach Ronnie Campos said he can”t remember the last time the Cardinals beat the Willits Wolverines in a Coastal Mountain Conference dual prior to their to 48-30 victory over the Wolverines on Wednesday evening in Lakeport.
“I know we haven”t beaten them in the last 10 years and it might be the last 20,” Campos said. “It”s a big deal when we beat Willits.”
Clear Lake also beat Fort Bragg 60-16 in the CMC opener for all three teams, moving the Cardinals atop the CMC standings with three-time defending champion Upper Lake (2-0) and Middletown (2-0).
While a young Clear Lake squad may not yet be ready to contend with a veteran Upper Lake club, Campos said he lives by a coaching mantra, “We never go out to lose.”
Upper Lake, the team to beat again this year, has a pretty good head start in terms of building an overall program, according to Campos.
“They”re six years into it and this is only my second year here,” Campos said. “I”ve got a lot of young guys, but they”re just tough. And those guys really came through against Willits.”
As with all duals pairing two contending teams, coaches look for the most advantageous matchups, moving wrestlers up or down a weight class, and such was the case with Clear Lake-Willits.
“They got a couple of their top guys in matches they thought they could win,” Campos added.
One of those matches, and one of the key matches of the night, had Matt Engle of Clear Lake going up against Joe Sasso of Willits. Engle won 6-3 to give the Cardinals a nine-point lead on the scoreboard.
“When Engle beat Sasso, their hopes went down the tubes,” Campos said of the Wolverines. “It took the wind right out of their sails. Engle stepped up and just whooped him. They weren”t expecting that.”
Two other key wins for Clear Lake came at 184 pounds, where Raul Rendon pinned Jose Velarde, and at 220 pounds, where freshman Julian Lewis won a 4-3 decision by scoring an escape point in the final seconds of the third period.
After a Clear Lake forfeit in the heavyweight division, the Cardinals” Bryan Holt sealed the victory with a pin at 108 pounds.
“Our key matches we won,” Campos said.
The final match of the dual at 115 pounds proved to be a costly one for the Cardinals as Omar Romero sprained his back because of an illegal hold by Willits” Jose Arreguin. Romero was awarded the victory but ended up in the hospital.
In the victory over Fort Bragg, Clear Lake winners in the 11 contested weight classes were Romero by pin at 115 pounds, Rick Pierson by 8-1 decision at 122 pounds, Gabe Wolfin by pin at 128 pounds, Ryan Blyleven by pin at 134 pounds, Nathan Powers by 7-4 decision at 147 pounds, Engle by 5-4 decision at 154 pounds, Julio Gonzales by pin at 222 pounds, and Lewis by pin at 287 pounds.
Clear Lake travels to the Eureka Tournament on Saturday. The team”s next dual is Wednesday at Middletown.
