UPPER LAKE >> The Lower Lake Trojans opened their title defense in the Coastal Mountain Conference by beating Upper Lake 42-25 and Clear Lake 48-9 in wrestling action on Wednesday at Upper Lake High School.
A greatly understrength Lower Lake team, one that was missing seven wrestlers because of injury or for disciplinary reasons, had enough to defeat both teams.
“I thought we would beat Clear Lake with what we had, but I was a little worried that we weren’t coming full strength against Upper Lake. When you do that you can get beat. From 120-140 pounds, they’re pretty strong. That’s the tough part of their lineup to navigate.”
While the Trojans didn’t pick up a single win in that stretch of weight classes, it wasn’t all bad news, according to Fuchs.
“A turning point in the match was Corey Parker’s 7-3 loss to (Zach) Sneathen (of Upper Lake),” Fuchs said. “We lost the match but we gave up only three points on the scoreboard. That gave us momentum.”
Lower Lake’s Abebreanna Gonzales and Wyatt Hitchcock each went 2-0 on the night, Gonzales at 115 pounds and Hitchcock at 220.
Gonzales had a 15-4 lead against Upper Lake’s Angel Stith before finally pinning her. Later in the evening she scored a 12-6 decision over Clear Lake’s Alicia Ledesma.
Hitchcock won by first-round pin against his Upper Lake and Clear Lake opponents, dominating both matches.
In the dual against Upper Lake, Lower Lake’s Adam De Leon and Ryan Jones also picked up first-round pins. Upper Lake winners were Christina Wilson by 10-0 decision over Hugo Salazar at 120 pounds, Junior Fernandez by pin at 126 pounds, Alex Sanchez by pin at 132 pounds, and Sneathen by decision at 140.
In the dual against Clear Lake, Lower Lake winners in contested matches besides Gonzales and Hitchcock were Mikelynn Rowe by 9-4 decision over Ciera Moreno at 134 pounds, and Parker by first-round pin over Brandon Dickey at 140 pounds. Clear Lake winners were Caleb Blyleven by decision at 120 pounds and Isaac Lewis by pin at 152 pounds.
Clear Lake squared off with Upper Lake in the late dual. Finals results were not reported.
