WILLITS — While the Lower Lake Trojans didn”t accomplish either of their goals on Wednesday evening during a Coastal Mountain Conference wrestling dual against Upper Lake and Willits at Willits High School, they came darn close.
“We”re climbing up that ladder slowly but surely,” Lower Lake coach Ed Fuchs said of the improvement in the school”s wrestling program. “We were right there and we just missed out.”
Fuchs” goals were to beat Willits outright — the Trojans ended up falling 40-33 — and to score at least 20 points against CMC powerhouse Upper Lake — they fell two points shy of the mark in a 56-18 setback.
“This is a team that has dominated in the past,” Fuchs said of the Cougars. “Scoring 18 points against them isn”t bad. We held them under 60.”
There were a total of six forfeits in the Willits-Lower Lake dual — the Trojans giving up three weight divisions and the Wolveriens two.
“So we knew we had to have more than a six-point lead after the nine contested matches,” Fuchs said.
Lower Lake took an 18-16 lead after Mike Warren”s second-round pin at 222 pounds, leaving only two more contested matches before the forfeits kicked in. Unfortunately for the Trojans, freshman heavyweight William Isaacs was pinned in the second round, giving Willits a 22-18 lead on the scoreboard, and Lower Lake”s Jamal Parker could only manage a 14-8 decision at 108 pounds, making it 22-21 in the Wolverines” favor.
In other contested matches, Lower Lake picked up wins at 147 pounds, where Brandon Painchaud scored a first-round pin; and at 197 pounds, where Thaddeus Wetmore won by second-round pin.
One of the night”s key matches went to Willits at 154 pounds where Joe Sasso won by 9-6 decision over Erick Moreno.
Upper Lake 56, Lower Lake 18
Against the defending CMC champs, the Lower Lake Trojans won only two contested matches as Dominick Dingess (134 pounds) and Wetmore (184 pounds) both won by first-round pin.
Upper Lake winners by pin were Robert Simondi (162), Nick Davison (172), Joey Valdez (222), Jon Karlsson (heavyweights) and Tony Lopez (108).
In other contested matches, Bruce Tucker of Upper Lake won by 17-1 tech fall at 154 pounds and, in the night”s featured match, Upper Lake”s Travis Coleman rallied from a 6-4 deficit after the first round to beat Painchaud 15-7 at 147 pounds.
“It was a good match,” Fuchs said. “You”ll definitely see those two wrestle for the championship at the CMCs (conference finals).”
Upper Lake 63, Willits 18
The Upper Lake Cougars improved to 4-0 in dual competition with a lopsided win over the Willits Wolverines, but the ejection of Coleman against Willits” Sasso at 147 pounds, the second-to-last match of the night, had both Upper Lake coach Tom Cox and assistant Ron Campos seeing red.
Coleman, who was trailing in a close match early in the third period, was disqualified for “flagrant misconduct,” according to Cox. “They said Travis bit Sasso. We didn”t see it but the Willits coach said he saw it and he talked the official into it.”
While Coleman”s disqualification didn”t cost Upper Lake in the dual (the Cougars did lose a team point), the veteran wrestler might miss Upper Lake”s upcoming dual against a 4-0 Clear Lake team next Wednesday in Upper Lake.
“Coach (Campos) and I are physically sick over this,” Cox said. “As coach said, we”ve known Travis for a long time and this is utterly out of the kid”s character. He wrestled a phenomenal match against Painchaud (of Lower Lake) earlier and he would have come back to beat Sasso had the match continued.”
Upper Lake winners against Willits were Simondi by 12-2 decsion at 162 pounds; Bradley Brackett by pin at 184 pounds; Alex Kranich by pin at 197 pounds; Karlsson by pin in the heavyweight division; Lopez by pin at 108 pounds; Zeke Mendoza by pin at 115 pounds; Ward Beecher by pin at 140 pounds; and Tucker by pin at 154 pounds, the night”s final match.
In other wrestling action Wednesday:
Kelseyville 68, Fort Bragg 10
Kelseyville 62, St. Helena 12
Fort Bragg 33, St. Helena 22
At Kelseyville, the Kelseyville Knights didn”t have to wrestle many matches, but they dominated the majority of the ones they did against both Fort Bragg and St. Helena.
“In the matches that were contested I couldn”t be more happy,” Kelseyville coach Rob Brown said. “It was a complete turnaround from a week ago.”
In the win over Fort Bragg, Gabriel Rodriguez (heavyweights), Jacob Martinek (115) and Cristian Gomora (134) all won by pin for the Knights. Wences Rojas scored a 15-0 tech fall at 128 pounds and Aaron Copsey prevailed 8-4 at 154 pounds.
The Knights” only loss in a contested match was Alfonso Reyes” 13-5 setback at 140 pounds.
In the win over St. Helena, Kelseyville winners by pin were Martinek (115), Cristian Ponce (122) and Jeffrey Ponce (108). Reyes added a 16-1 tech fall at 140 pounds and teammate Adryan Segura also won by tech fall, 18-2, at 147 pounds.
Clear Lake 60, Middletown 24
Middletown 48, Point Arena 12
Clear Lake 66, Point Arena 0
At Middletown, Clear Lake improved to 4-0 in CMC dual action with victories over Middletown and Point Arena.
In the Clear Lake-Middletown dual, Clear Lake winners in contested matches were Rick Pierson by second-round pin over Houston Pike at 122 pounds; Gabe Wolfin by first-round pin over Jacob Riccio at 128 pounds; Shawn Larsen by first-round pin over Levy Singleton at 197 pounds; and Matt Engle by injury default at 154 pounds.
In the night”s best match, Marlon Solonga of Middletown pinned Bryan Holt in overtime at 108 pounds after the two wrestlers ended the third period tied at 11.
“A close match and a very good match,” Middletown coach Brian Hunt said.
In the Middletown-Point Arena dual, Middletown winners in contested matches were Brandon Earl by first-round pin at 147 pounds, Landon Bracisco by first-round pin at 154 pounds, and Singleton by second-round pin at 197 pounds.
Point Arena”s Quinn Moore beat Riccio by pin at 128 pounds. Point Arena also won at 134 pounds as Oscar Rios won by second-round pin over Will Aloha.
In two exhibition matches featuring girls” wrestlers, Kaylee Arviso of Middletown pinned Point Arena”s Morgan Pack in the second round. Pack also was pinned by Middletown”s BriAnne Nelson.
“Both the girls” matches were great,” Hunt said.
