UNION CITY >> Lake County’s fantastic freshmen are at it again.
Lower Lake’s Blake Fredrickson and Upper Lake’s Junior Fernandez dominated the opposition on Friday, both winning twice by pin, as the North Coast Section Boys’ Wrestling Championships got underway at James Logan High School in Union City.
Fredrickson, the No. 4 seed at 106 pounds, and Fernandez, the No. 5 seed at 122 pounds, open today in the quarterfinals. They are gunning for a top-three finish that would send them to the CIF State Championships on March 4-5 in Bakersfield.
Still alive in the double-elimination tournament in the consolation bracket are Lower Lake’s Peerless Brooke at 195 pounds and Michael Jamison at 285 pounds; Kelseyville’s Alex Garcia, also a freshman, at 126 pounds; and Middletown’s Noah Williams at 145 pounds and Wyatt Jones at 170 pounds. All five can finish as high as third, which would earn them a state berth. Medals are awarded to the top eight in each of the 14 weight classes.
Fredrickson
Fredrickson pinned Antonio Sanchez of Deer Valley High School just 87 seconds into their opening-round match at 106 pounds. Fredrickson needed even less time – 67 seconds – to pin Gage Mettler of Northgate. He’ll face RJ Maes of Castro Valley today in the quarterfinals.
Fredrickson’s win over Mettler was his 31st victory of the season (31-5), tying him for the single-season school record for most wins by a freshman.
His quarterfinal-round opponent today, the unseeded Maes, beat No. 5 seed Ashton Stanley of Ukiah 11-7 in his final match on Friday.
“I think he’s got a real good shot of moving on to the semis,” said Lower Lake coach Ed Fuchs, who watched three of his eight wrestlers make it to the second day of the sectional tournament, more than any other Lake County school.
All eight won at least one match and two of the Trojans who didn’t advance to today, Isaiah Klein at 126 pounds and Dahsaan Booker at 120 pounds, finished the tournament 2-2.
“We were 13-12 today,” Fuchs said of the combined win-loss record of his eight wrestlers on day one. “It’s always amazing when you come away with more wins than losses at sections,” Fuchs added.
Fernandez
Fernandez (32-6) pinned Rodrigo Hernandez of Fortuna in just 48 seconds in his first match of the day. He had to work a little more against Noah Quichocho of Mount Diablo in his next match although the result was the same – win by pin, only this time in the third round.
Next up for Fernandez is rival Tino Curiel of Liberty High School, a 10-4 winner over Fernandez in the semifinals of the King of the Mat Tournament earlier this season at Windsor High School.
Garcia
The third Lake County freshman to survive Friday’s cut was Kelseyville’s Garcia, who opened with a 10-3 win over Joey Lestochi of Granada. Needing another win to reach the quarterfinals at 126 pounds, Adams lost by pin late in the third round to Max Ramacher of Dougherty Valley – there were only 12 seconds left when the match ended.
Garcia bounced back with an early third-round pin over William Waddell of Freedom High School in the consolation bracket. He draws Josiah Monjares of College Park in his first match today.
Williams
No Lake County wrestler had a busier day than Middletown’s Williams, who went 3-1. He beat Dublin’s Josh David by 11-7 decision to open the tournament before losing on a third-round pin to Jackson Butler of Amador Valley. Once in the consolation bracket, Williams beat Alexander Pereira of Newark Memorial 7-5 and Austin Kyle of Eureka 11-8 to keep his hopes alive both for a state berth and a medal.
Williams will face Casey Frazier of Cardinal Newman High School today in his first match.
Jones
Just like his teammate Williams, Middletown’s Jones is still alive and well. He beat Troy Morris of Mountain Vista by 17-2 technical fall in his first match, then lost to Ian Morford of Northgate by first-round pin. In his final match of the day, Jones pinned Eric Archuleta of California High School late in the first round.
Jones needs a win over Razvan Mihalache of College Park in his first match today to remain in the tournament.
Brooke
Brooke’s day began with a 54-second pin of Jirathip Silakum of Newark Memorial. He drew No. 4 seed Andrew Coriban of Antioch in his next match and lost 9-4.
“He trailed only 6-4 going into the third round and had the guy on his back but didn’t get any nearfall points,” Fuchs said.
Once in the consolation bracket, Brooke beat Mark Baros of Concord with a second-round pin. He’ll draw Chad Dias of Liberty in his first match today.
Jamison
Jamison won a 9-0 major decision in his first match before losing to the No. 2 seed, Gunnar Hayman of Cardinal Newman, by only a 3-0 final score. “He really wrestled well,” Fuchs said of his heavyweight.
Needing a win in the consolation bracket to make it to today, Jamison got it with a 44-second pin of Adam Lebish of Livermore.
