UPPER LAKE >> Even without wrestlers in two weight divisions, the Lower Lake Trojans found a way to beat regular-season dual champion Fort Bragg on Saturday during the Coastal Mountain Conference Championships at Upper Lake High School.
Lower Lake, which went 8-1 to Fort Bragg’s 9-0 during the regular season, edged out the Timberwolves 170-167 to claim the team title and finish in a tie with the Timberwolves for the overall conference championship, Lower Lake coach Ed Fuchs’ first in eight seasons as head coach.
“It feels like unreal,” Fuchs said of just one more jewel he can add to his list of accomplishments at the Southshore high school. “It’s something you’re always chasing but to be honest it wasn’t one of our goals this season. Our goal was to reach the NCS Duals (earlier this month) and put ourselves in a position to win a pennant, which we did. We finished fourth against bigger schools and that gave us the momentum going into this tournament.”
Even after a strong dual meet season, Fuchs said the Trojans’ chances of winning a share of conference title were diminished when one wrestler was lost to injury and two others were kicked off the team for disciplinary reasons late in the season.
“After the tournament (on Saturday), former coach Dan Pastor came up to me and told me, ‘It’s not that you did it, but how you did it.’ He told me I did the right thing with those wrestlers (who were removed from the team). That meant a lot to me. It’s not about an individual or even the team, but what’s best for the program. You have to follow the rules or you don’t wrestle.”
Not even a huge upset in the final match of the day as Upper Lake’s Nick Kranich beat heavily favored William Isaacs of Lower Lake 11-5 in the 287-pound championship match could derail the Trojans’ title drive.
“People were telling me we were way up against Fort Bragg,” Fuchs said. “I honestly didn’t know where we were going into those last few matches. I didn’t know if we were ahead of them or not. After four straight losses (in the championship round of the last four weight classes), I thought we had lost our chance to beat Fort Bragg.”
Of the 14 weight divisions, Lower Lake wrestlers advanced to the finals in seven and two — Daniel Meyer at 128 pounds and Brendan Maninger at 154 pounds — finished first. Five others — Jeremiah Long (140), Peerliss Brooke (184), Jordan Harris (197), Weeden Wetmore (222) and Isaacs (287) — came in second. With the top three in each weight class advancing to the North Coast Section Championships this Friday and Saturday at James Logan High School in Union City, Fuchs had nine wrestlers qualify in all as Isaiah Klein (122) and Dominic Cole (172) picked up third-place medals.
“The most I’ve ever had,” Fuchs said of seven wrestlers reaching the championship round at the CMC tournament and nine advancing to the sectionals. “It really was a team effort. Every one of the 12 on team contributed to this. If they don’t do what they did, every one of them, we don’t win it.”
Fuchs said the Trojans also received help from the likes of Upper Lake and Clear Lake wrestlers who scored key victories over their Fort Bragg counterparts.
While it was a banner day for the Trojans despite a disappointment here or there, it also was a great day on most counts for the other four Lake County teams participating in Upper Lake. The host Cougars came away with three firsts — Kranich in the heavyweight division, Abel Serrano at 197 pounds and Alex Sanchez at 115 pounds — and one second — Zachary Sneather at 134 pounds — while finishing a surprise third in the team standings behind Lower Lake and Fort Bragg and just a few points ahead of Willits.
“They (Willits Wolverines) beat us by one point in our dual (during the regular season) and we beat them by a couple of points today,” Upper Lake coach Brandon Sneathen said. “I love it and I love that we did it at home.”
Two girls on the Upper Lake squad also helped the team earn enough points to edge out Willits for third place and the final team trophy. In fact, Angel Stith came in third at 101 pounds, the only girl to medal in what is essentially an all-boys tournament. And Christina Wilson, who will be competing in the CIF State Championshp for girls beginning Friday in Visalia, added up a couple of team points while wrestling at 122 pounds although she did not medal.
“I feel like we have three kids who can medal at sections and reach the state tournament,” Sneathen said.
Heavyweight champion Kranich is one of those to be sure.
“When the match started against Isaacs I head my head down and I heard the crowd roar and he (Kranich) had Isaacs on his back,” Sneathen said. “I didn’t think it would last long because the last time they wrestled Isaacs killed him, but he (Kranich) just took it to him for three rounds. He tired a little bit toward the end but he had a big lead by then.”
Kranich and Isaacs are seeded 6-7, respectively, for the sectional tournament that opens Friday.
Clear Lake and Middletown also crowned weight division champions on Saturday — Julian Lewis (Clear Lake) won at 222 pounds while Wyatt Jones (Middletown) won at 173 pounds. Middletown’s Scott Kelly also finished third at 147 pounds.
A total of 22 county wrestlers finished in the top three of their respective weight classes to earn automatic berths in the sectional championships this weekend.
Clear Lake sent only three wrestlers to Upper Lake and all three won medals. While Lewis’ victory at 222 pounds was no surprise — he was the No. 1 seed — third-place finishes by Tyler Buchholz at 162 pounds and Isaac Lewis at 154 pounds were slight upsets as both wrestlers entered the tournament seeded fourth.
“I am very proud of all of them,” Clear Lake coach Aden Pierson said. “They did what was asked of them.”
Kelseyville also picked up third-place medals from Luis Garcia (115), Tiko Landa (134) and Hayden Turner (184).
