UNION CITY >> Lake County won’t have a wrestler competing in the CIF State Championships this coming weekend in Bakersfield, albeit just barely.
Upper Lake High School freshman Junior Fernandez just missed on Saturday as the two-day North Coast Section Championships wrapped up at James Logan High School in Union City. Needing a win in the 120-pound semifinals against No. 1 seed senior Jared Luty of American High School to lock up no worse than a second-place finish and a state berth, Fernandez dropped a 6-5 decision, the difference in the match being a penalty point awarded to Luty that snapped a 5-all tie with about a minute remaining in the match. Fernandez was assessed the point for locking his hands and it couldn’t have come at a worse time as he was in control almost from the start.
“He was tearing up the No. 1 seed,” Lower Lake coach Ed Fuchs said of Fernandez. “He was taking it to the guy. It was a great match to watch.”
Knocked into the consolation bracket at that point, Fernandez pinned No. 3 seed Tyler Klein of Amador High School in the consolation semifinals to reach the third-place match and earn one last shot at a state berth, which are guaranteed to the top three finishers in each weight class. Tai White of Acalanes High School, a junior, held off Fernandez 9-7 to secure that final state berth.
Fernandez, who entered the tournament as the No. 5 seed, ended up with the fourth-place medal, one of three medals awarded to Lake County wrestlers and one of two to freshmen.
The other freshman, Lower Lake 106-pounder Blake Fredrickson, also took a pretty good swing and a miss at qualifying for state. He came in fifth while teammate Peerless Brooke, a sophomore, ended up sixth at 195 pounds.
Both Fernandez and Fredrickson opened Saturday, the second day of the double-elimination competition, in the quarterfinals. Brooke opened day two in the consolation bracket and reeled off three impressive wins in a row to secure a medal.
Fernandez
Prior to losing to Luty in the semifinals, Fernandez beat Tino Curiel of Liberty 7-0 in the quarterfinals, avenging a 10-4 loss to Curiel earlier in the season in the semifinals of the King of the Mat Tournament at Windsor High School.
During his loss to Luty in the semifinals, Fernandez sustained a bruised tailbone while throwing Luty, an injury that lingered and affected his range of movement in his final two matches of the day, the win over Klein and the third-place loss to No. 8 seed White.
Fernandez went 34-8 on the season, more wins than any other county wrestler. Twenty-nine of those victories were by pin or technical fall.
Fredrickson
Fredrickson’s Saturday opened with a first-round pin of RJ Maes of Castro Valley in the quarterfinals, earning him a shot at No. 1 seed Ton Margiotta of Las Lomas High School in the semifinals. Fredrickson lost by first-round pin to the eventual section champion.
Once in the consolation bracket, Fredrickson had the misfortune of going up against No. 2 seed Trevor Bagan of Analy High School, who had been upset in the quarterfinals. Needing a win to stay in the hunt for third place and the final state berth at 106 pounds, Fredrickson dropped a 7-0 decision, knocking him into the fifth-place match against No. 3 seed Logan Sumulong of De La Salle High School of Concord. Sumulong was upset in the semifinals.
Faced with a third high seed in as many matches, Fredrickson dominated the match from the start and had a 13-4 lead before finally pinning Sumulong early in the third round.
“You can’t control who your opponent is going to be and he had to face the top three seeds in a row,” Fuchs said. “I know his No. 1 thought was going to state this year and I know he was disappointed at first, but to me as a coach I’m extremely proud of him and everything he accomplished this year,” Fuchs said. “He’ll definitely learn from this and come back even stronger next year.”
At 33-7 on the season, Fredrickson broke Lower Lake’s record for most wins in a single season by a freshman – previously 31 by Gabe Freeman in 2014 – and is the school’s first freshman section medalist.
“Only nine freshmen won a medal at sections this year and he’s one of them,” Fuchs said.
Brooke
After going 2-1 on Friday in Union City, Brooke reeled off three straight victories in the consolation bracket on Saturday, beating Chad Dias of Liberty by 19-5 major decision, No. 7 seed Jasper Bernstein of Fortuna 6-4, and Christian Cruz of Pittsburg High School 11-9. In his close wins over Bernstein and Cruz, Brooke wrestled “smart matches,” especially down the stretch when he was protecting small leads, according to Fuchs.
“I told him to work your defense and he did,” Fuchs said.
A victory away from a spot in the third-place match and a possible shot at a state berth, Brooke’s string of wins ended with a 12-1 loss to No. 4 seed Andrew Cobian of Antioch. Later in the fifth-place match, Brooke was pinned by No. 8 seed Karim Shakur of Tamalpais.
“He wasn’t happy (with sixth place) at first, but he was unseeded in the field and I had to remind him that he wasn’t supposed to win a medal or even make the second day and he did both,” Fuchs said. “He was smiling a short time later.”
Team success
— Lower Lake not only came away with more section medals (two) than any other Lake County or Coastal Mountain Conference team this , but the two-time CMC champs set a handful of other team/school records that Fuchs said made 2016 his best season in nine years at the school.
— Lower Lake’s list of accomplishments were as follows:
— Lower Lake was the highest-scoring CMC team at the section tournament for the third year in a row, matching a three-year run by Kelseyville in 1994-96.
— The 65.5 points scored by the Trojans this year in Union City were the most ever by a Lower Lake team.
— Lower Lake has won at least one medal at seven straight section tournaments, a school record.
— Lower Lake and Upper Lake have each won a total of eight medals at the last four section tournaments, best in the CMC.
— 106-pounder Fredrickson is the school’s first freshman section medalist while Brooke is only the second sophomore to win one. The other was Ken Woodford in 1996.
— It’s the first time Lower Lake will have two section medalists returning (Fredrickson and Brooke).
— The 2016 team was the youngest ever to win a CMC Championship (nine underclassmen).
— Fredrickson now holds the school record for most wins by a freshman (33).
“I was thinking about all we’ve done this year and I’m just shaking my head, we did so much,” Fuchs said. “It looks bright for next year.”
Fuchs’ secret?
“I think the goal setting we do in the (wrestling) room before the season starts sets us apart from other programs,” Fuchs said.
