SANTA ROSA >> Sophomore Gabe Freeman not only logged the best finish among Lower Lake High School wrestlers competing on Saturday in the Puma Classic at Maria Carrillo High School in Santa Rosa, but he may have just served notice that a North Coast Section medal is within his grasp this year.
So said Lower Lake head coach Ed Fuchs after watching his standout 140-pounder go 3-2 in the tournament. The sixth seed in his weight class, Freeman pinned the No. 3 seed in the quarterfinals before losing to No. 2 seed and eventual champion Cadence Mitchell of San Mateo’s St. Gregory High School in the semifinals by 11-6 decision.
Freeman faced two other high seeds before his day was done. In his first consolation match, he beat No. 5 seed Noah Russell of Petaluma, a wrestler he had lost to in early January at the King of the Mat tournament in Windsor.
“That is a good match for him to get back before the sections,” Fuchs said.
That win put Freeman into the third-place match where he lost to No. 1 seed Jack Norton of McKinleyville High School by 5-2 decision. It was 3-2 until a late takedown by Norton accounted for the final margin of victory.
Norton entered the tournament ranked third in the section at 140 pounds.
“He gets the takedown instead and he wins 4-3,” Fuchs said of Freeman. “So we’ll be working on our takedowns before sections get here. That match tells me he (Freeman) may not be too far away from winning a medal (at sections).”
Lower Lake also brought home sixth- and seventh-place medals from the sectional tourney. Heavyweight William Isaacs went 1-2, one loss by 1-0 decision and the other by forfeit (for disciplinary reasons), in finishing sixth. Had he won the match he ultimately forfeited, he would have been in contention for third place, according to Fuchs.
The 1-0 loss was to Rangel Lowry of Freedom High School, who ended up in second place.
“Will has to learn to score points from his back,” Fuchs said. “The kid rode him out the whole third period to win 1-0.”
Peerliss Brooke came in seventh with a 2-1 record at 182 pounds.
“He won the matches he needed to win as a freshman to take the seventh-place medal,” Fuchs said.
Just missing out on a medal was Jeremiah Long, who went 2-2 at 147 pounds. He lost 9-8 in his final match, one that he needed to win to secure some type of medal.
“I thought he wrestled very good,” Fuchs said.
Weeden Wetmore, 1-2 in his matches at 222 pounds, also needed to win his final match to get into medal contention.
It was the final regular-season weekend tournament for the Trojans, who can now concentrate on their big Coastal Mountain Conference dual on Wednesday at home against Fort Bragg and Kelseyville. Lower Lake (4-0) and Fort Bragg (5-0) open things up at 5 p.m. and the winner will have the inside track toward securing a CMC title and perhaps a perfect conference record in dual-meet competition.
Lower Lake beat Fort Bragg a year ago although the Timberwolves went on to win the conference. It was their only dual loss.
“I’m so excited,” Fuchs said of Wednesday’s showdown. “We haven’t seen them (Timberwolves) this season and they haven’t seen us. They’re going for an undefeated season and we’re really the only team left in their way. They’ve already beaten Willits and we still have to wrestle Willits.”
The dual-meet season doesn’t completely decide the CMC champion. Results of the CMC Championships, set for Feb. 21 in Upper Lake, also help determine the winner.
