NEWARK — It”s the bellwether of the high school wrestling season. Do well at the North Coast Section Championships and stay alive for another week. Anything less means your season ends one step short of the ultimate goal, a berth in the CIF State Championships on March 2-3 in Bakersfield.
Thirteen Lake County wrestlers still have dreams of reaching Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield following the opening rounds of the NCS Championships on Friday at Newark Memorial High School in Newark. Of that baker”s dozen, only Lower Lake”s Brandon Painchaud, the No. 4 seed in the 132-pound weight class, is still in the winner”s bracket, which means the senior still has a shot at winning the whole thing. The rest are in the consolation bracket, which means they can finish as high as third. Just reaching the third-place match later today means your guaranteed a spot in the state tourney because the top four in each of 14 weight classes move on to Bakersfield.
Those wrestlers in the consolation bracket can guarantee themselves a top-eight finish and a medal by winning their first match today. If they lose, they”re out of the tournament.
Of the 13 county wrestlers reaching today”s final rounds, the Lake County breakdown is as follows — seven from Upper Lake (a school record), three from Lower Lake, two from Clear Lake and one from Kelseyville. Middletown was shut out.
“That first match (Saturday) is a bloodbath,” a tired Upper Lake coach Tom Cox said. “And we”re probably not favored to win any of them.”
Upper Lake”s Bruce Tucker, wrestling at 152 pounds, won his first two matches on Friday but dropped a 4-1 decision in the quarterfinals.
The day started off great for the four-time-defending Coastal Mountain Conference and NCS Team Dual champions, but the Cougars, their wrestlers a collective 9-1 after the first two rounds, went 1-8 in the next round, Tucker the only survivor in the winner”s bracket to that point.
Tucker”s quarterfinal loss came to No. 2 seed Tyler Reardon of Livermore.
Joining Tucker as day-one survivors from Upper Lake are Tony Lopez, 3-1 at 106 pounds; Ward Beecher, 3-1 at 132 pounds; Travis Coleman, 3-1 at 138 pounds; Robert Simondi, 3-1 at 145 pounds; Bradley Brackett, 3-1 at 160 pounds; and Joey Valdez, 3-1 at 220 pounds.
Finishing the day 2-2 were 115-pounder Zeke Mendoza and heavyweight Jon Karlsson.
Upper Lake”s Beecher, his season on the brink, scored a two-point takedown in the final seconds of his last match Friday to win 5-4 and advance.
“It was quite the finish,” Cox said.
Cox and assistant coach Ron Campos were impressed with the way Lopez, Beecher, Coleman, Simondi, Brackett and Valdez all rallied to win their final two matches of the day after losing early on.
“All of those kids lost and had to wrestle two more times after that, which is very difficult,” Cox said. “It shows a lot of heart.”
Besides having seven wrestlers through to the second day of the tournament, Upper Lake is also tied for 10th in the team standings (out of 89 teams) with Foothill High School. One of the Cougars” goals is to finish ninth or better since no other CMC team has ever placed higher than ninth.
Lower Lake
The Lower Lake Trojans are also having a great tournament so far and are 19th in the team standings. Of the six wrestlers coach Ed Fuchs brought to Newark, three are through to the second day and every one of them won at least two matches.
“Sixteen victories out of six wrestlers, not bad,” Fuchs said.
Painchaud, the highest seeded county wrestler going into the tournament, lived up to his No. 4 ranking and then some. He beat Louis Desprez of Foothill 10-3 in his first match, came back with a 8-2 win over Levi Russell of Las Lomas in his next match, and beat No. 5 seed Bryan Jimenez of Clayton Valley 11-10 in a heart-pounding quarterfinal-round match.
“An awesome match,” Fuchs said of Painchaud, who was on a roll entering the sectional tournament and hasn”t let up one bit now that it”s here.
“He”s definitely where he needs to be,” Fuchs said.
Painchaud”s toughest test of the tournament is in today”s semifinals (between 10 and 11 a.m.) where he takes on No. 1 seed Jon Jay Chavez of De La Salle, a sophomore.
“They”ve never met,” Fuchs said of the semifinal pairing. “He (Chavez) had two pins and a tech (Friday). We know he”s quick and a good wrestler. Brandon needs to go out and wrestle his match.”
Lower Lake wrestlers still alive in the consolation bracket are 138-pounder Dominick Dingess, who is 4-1 with one pin, and Thomas Cross, who is 3-1 with three pins at 170 pounds.
Going 2-2 on the day for the Trojans were Thaddeus Wetmore at 182 pounds, Mike Warren at 220 pounds and freshman William Isaacs in the heavyweight division.
Looking back on a solid showing by his wrestlers, Fuchs said, “We were looking for four guys to make it to tomorrow and we got three. Wow, yeah, I”m excited but I”m excited because the best is yet to come. Today was fantastic.”
Clear Lake
Clear Lake”s Ryan Blyleven won his first match at 120 pounds, lost his next to fall into the consolation bracket, but came back with two straight victories to stay alive in the tournament.
Shawn Larsen, the No. 8 seed at 195 pounds, took the same path as Blyleven, winning his first match, losing his second and coming back with consecutive victories in the consolation bracket, both by pin.
Included in Clear Lake”s rooting section was head coach Ronnie Campos, who is on administrative leave. He was positioned right behind the roped off area that separates coaches from the first row of seating for fans.
Kelseyville
Kelseyville”s lone survivor, 106-pounder Jeffrey Ponce, won his first match, lost to No. 6 seed Joey Vigil of Heritage in his next match, and won each of his two consolation matches by second-round pin. He”ll face St. Patrick/St. Vincent”s Paolo Yap in his first match today. The two met up during the NCS Team Duals earlier this month in Lower Lake, Yap winning 10-2.
“Everyone knows you”ve got to win that one match if you want that medal,” Kelseyville coach Rob Brown said of the consolation wrestlers fortunate enough to reach the second day of the tournament. “And to make it to the second day of sections, it”s a big deal.”
Ponce displayed the best trait possible in a wrestler competing in a tournament as high-caliber as NCS … a short memory.
“After he lost to the No. 6 seed, Jeff just shook it off and kept on winning,” Brown said. “He had some good, solid wins.”
Two other Kelseyville wrestlers needed a win in their final match on Friday to advance only to fall short.
Adryan Segura, competing in the 138-pound division, had a 7-1 lead before making a mistake and getting pinned in the final seconds of the third round. His first loss of the day was also a third-round pin, a match in which he held a 9-3 lead at one point.
Like Segura, teammate Wences Rojas (126 pounds) also lost in the final consolation round during Friday”s action, finishing 3-2.
Also for Kelseyville, Jacob Martinez (115 pounds) and Gabe Rodriguez (220 pounds) each went 2-2.
