LOWER LAKE — Lower Lake High School wrestler Brandon Painchaud beat a top seed while finishing third in the 138-pound division Saturday at the Puma Classic in Santa Rosa.
Painchaud won a wild 14-10 battle with an Alhambra High School opponent, the No. 6 seed in the North Coast Section, in the quarterfinals of the 39-team tournament hosted by Maria Carrillo High School. He lost 8-0 in the semifinals to the tournament”s No. 1 seed form Vacaville, but came back to win his next two matches, including a 6-4 overtime decision in the third-place match.
“He took the guy down with about 10 seconds left in the overtime,” Lower Lake coach Ed Fuchs said.
Painchaud sustained what Fuchs said was an “upper body injury” during the tournament but was able to finish.
Another Lower Lake wrestler, Dominick Dingess, also sustained an injury in the 132-pound weight class while competing in a quarterfinal-round match, which he won by pin.
Dingess then lost by pin in the semifinals, at which point Fuchs said he pulled him from the tournament.
“He injury defaulted and finished sixth,” Fuchs said.
Medals were awarded down to eight places in all weight classes.
Also bringing home medals were Mike Warren, who was fifth at 220 pounds, including a win by pin in the fifth-place match, and Thomas Cross, who came in seventh at 170 pounds.
Cross lost his first match, losing by pin to a Maria Carrillo backup wrestler.
“He was really upset, but I calmed him down and got him refocused,” Fuchs said.
Cross responded by winning his final three matches — all by pin — to take seventh. In fact, he pinned Maria Carrillo”s frontline wrestler in the seventh-place match.
“I was really proud of him,” Fuchs said of Cross” strong finish. “Things like that are going to happen. You”re going to lose sometimes, but you have to put it aside. He did.”
Just missing out on medals were Erick Moreno at 145 pounds and Thaddeus Wetmore at 182 pounds.
Lower Lake travels to Fort Bragg on Wednesday for a Coastal Mountain Conference dual meet that also includes Point Arena. Next weekend the Trojans compete in the Ukiah Invitational.
