UNION CITY >> William Isaacs faced a nearly impossible task on Saturday in the third-place match of the heavyweight division at the North Coast Section Wrestling Championships in Union City.
Needing a win to advance to this weekend’s CIF State Championships in Bakersfield, the seventh-seeded Isaacs of Lower Lake High School fell 3-0 to No. 2 seed Rangel Lowery of Freedom High School. It not only was the fourth meeting this season between the two seniors, but their second within the span of a few hours Saturday — Isaacs pinned Lowery early in the second round of their quarterfinal match to open the day.
“Like I’ve always said, it’s always hard to beat somebody two times, especially in the same day,” Lower Lake coach Ed Fuchs said of thethird-place rematch.
Isaacs, third in the heavyweight division a year ago and a state qualifier, lost 9-5 in the semifinals to No. 3 seed Andres Guzman of Mount Eden High School, putting him on a collision course with Lowery, who won a pair of matches in the consolation bracket to get another shot at Lower Lake’s 285-pounder. One of those victories was a first-round pin of No. 6 seed Nick Kranich of Upper Lake, who went on to earn a seventh-place medal.
Isaacs bounced back from his lost to Guzman in the semifinals by pinning Ildar Sabirov of Amador, the 84th and final pin of his Lower Lake career. Pin No. 83 came earlier in the day against Lowery in the quarterfinals and broke the school record for most career pins.
Plenty of strategy went into Isaacs’ quarterfinal-round match to open Saturday, according to Fuchs.
“After Friday night, we went back to the hotel and watched film on him (Lowery),” Fuchs said. “We saw that when he was on the bottom he looked vulnerable to some things. We came up with a game plan and Will executed it perfectly.”
Isaacs used a moved called an inside cradle to flip Lowery onto his back.
“Will made a slight adjustment on his hold once Lowery was on his back and pinned him a short time later,” Fuchs said. “It was awesome.”
A bit of bad luck hurt Isaacs in his semifinal loss to Guzman.
“Guzman tried to throw him and Will tripped trying to get away and fell on his back,” Fuchs said.
Guzman scored a two-point takedown a two-point near fall before Isaacs could roll onto his stomach.
“That’s four points and the difference in the match was four points,” Fuchs said. “After that loss we refocused.”
Isaacs pinned Sabirov in the consolation semifinals to gain the third-place match against Lowery.
Fighting for the final state berth available, the two heavyweights battled through a scoreless first period. Lowery elected to start in the down position in round two and eventually escaped Isaacs’ grasp to take a 1-0 lead. Later in the second round he scored a two-point takedown, the final points of the match.
A very cautious Lowery made Isaacs’ life as difficult as possible in the third round.
“I wouldn’t say he was stalling, but he played defense very well,” Fuchs said of Lowery, who went 2-2 against Isaacs this season.
While Isaacs just missed securing a third-place section medal and state berth for the second straight year, Fuchs said the senior’s disappointment was shortlived.
“I asked him how many wrestlers win section medals in back-to-back years and break a school record for pins?” Fuchs said. “That made him smile.
“Making it to the second day of this (section) tournament is hard enough, let alone coming away with a medal two years in a row,” Fuchs added. “It’s been a pleasure coaching him four years and it was cool watching him grow as a wrestler. I know he has options for his future (as a collegiate wrestler).”
Nick Kranich
Like Lower Lake’s Issacs, Upper Lake’s Kranich began Saturday with a quarterfinal-round match in the championship bracket. Guzman, who would later beat Isaacs in the semifinals, pinned Kranich late in the third round.
Once in the consolation bracket, Kranich had no thoughts of going quietly. He pinned Errol Nelson of San Marin in just 72 seconds, guaranteeing himself a top-eight finish and a medal. After being pinned in the first round by No. 2 seed Lowery in the consolation semifinals, Kranich closed out his high school career with an early second-round pin of Jose Martinez of Concord in the seventh-place match.
Kranich also won his final match in Lake County last month when he upset Isaacs 11-5 in the heavyweight finals of the Coastal Mountain Conference Championships at Upper Lake.
Garcia, Sneathen
Luis Garcia of Kelseyville and Zachary Sneathen of Upper Lake also made it through Friday’s preliminary rounds to reach day two of the section tournament, both in the consolation bracket.
Garcia lost 4-2 to Marlon Cereca of St. Patrick/St. Vincent in his first match and was eliminated. Sneathen also fell in his first match, dropping a 7-5 decision to Mason Levinson of Cardinal Newman in the 132-pound bracket.
Sneathen, a junior, went 2-2 in the tournament, all four of his matches decided by close decisions — (5-3 overtime win, 9-7 loss, 3-2 win and 7-5 loss).
Team scoring
Fort Bragg and Lower Lake, co-CMC champions this season, tied for 26th place with 52.5 points. Four CMC wrestlers won medals. Besides Isaacs and Sneathen, Willits’ Justin Thom came in sixth at 145 pounds and Fort Bragg’s Ricky Cavender was seventh at 160 pounds.
Miscellaneous
Lower Lake finished the 2014-15 season with a school-record number of wrestlers (31) and returns the bulk of its talent for 2015-16, which will be Fuchs’ ninth season at the school.
“We’ve already set some goals,” Fuchs said.
Lower Lake’s coach also plans to raise the bar for his wrestlers … in the classroom. While Lower Lake only requires a 2.0 grade point average to participate in sports, Fuchs requires his wrestlers to maintain a 2.25 GPA. He’s thinking about increasing that to 2.5 for 2015-16.
Lower Lake wrestlers have reached the semifinal round in the section’s championship bracket six straight seasons under Fuchs, a school record.
