FORT BRAGG >> When Michael Jamison pinned KC Brown of Willits late in the first round of their championship match in the 285-pound division, the Lower Lake Trojans started celebrating a 195-190 victory over the Wolverines on Saturday at the Coastal Mountain Conference Wrestling Championships in Fort Bragg.
Having already clinched the regular-season title, Lower Lake’s tournament win wrapped up what the Trojans thought was an undisputed championship in 2018.
It turned out to be one of the shortest celebrations in history. Willits protested the 195-190 final score and after a recount of points earned by both teams in the 14 weight classes, the Wolverines were declared a 197-90 winner an a co-champion in the final conference standings along with Lower Lake.
A rule on the books that awards advancement points for byes after the first round wasn’t originally taken into account by tournament officials. The “ghost points” as they are known were added to the team scores, accounting for the final result.
“Willits didn’t cheat to get those points,” Lower Lake coach Ed Fuchs said. “It was legit, it’s in the rules. The one thing I did notice is that everyone’s score went up except ours. We earned every point we received and that’s why I’m extremely proud of these guys.”
Even so, no one wearing a blue singlet from Lower Lake enjoyed what transpired as the tournament wrapped up.
“Before the last match they announced we were down by a point,” Fuchs said. “We celebrated for five minutes (after Jamison’s pin) before we realized there was a recount going on.”
And that recount took almost 50 minutes as everyone in the gym stood around and waited … and as the Trojans fumed.
“It was definitely a roller-coaster ride,” Fuchs said. “First they told us we had won and then they told us we didn’t. I had to tell my group of guys who battled all day that they didn’t win after all.”
Lower Lake
The recount of ghost points hurt the Trojans’ cause to be sure, but so did the way they wrestled in the championship round.
In six weight class finals where Lower Lake and Willits wrestlers went head to head, Willits won four of them. Both teams did a good job of advancing wrestlers to the finals — Willits had nine going for first place as did Lower Lake — but the Wolverines again proved their mettle in the finals, going 6-3 overall to Lower Lake’s 3-6.
“We had our destiny in our hands,” Fuchs said.
Lower Lake scored two early firsts in the championship round as Mario Cuellar pinned Geovanni Bertolino of Willits in the third round. Although Willits answered right back at 113 pounds where Carson Miler pinned Lower Lake’s Pedro Garrido in the third round. Lower Lake’s Tristan Day pinned Fort Bragg’s Kyle Paoli late in the first round of the 120-pound finals. That proved to be the last hurrah for the Trojans until Jamison’s win in the 285-pound pound finals, the last match of the day.
After Lower Lake’s Hugo Salazar lost to No. 1 seed Junior Fernandez of Upper Lake in the 126-pound finals, Willits began to claw its way back with victories in the 132-pound finals — Owen Sebastian edged Lower Lake’s Adam De Leon 15-14, and in the 138-pound finals where Dominic Bertolino pinned Dahsaan Booker late in the second round.
Jordan Lott of Lower Lake lost to No. 1 seed Alex Garcia of Kelseyville in the 152-pound finals then Willits’ Tristan Martin scored a 8-0 major decision over Lower Lake’s Carlos Avelar in the 160-pound finals. Willits picked up another championship at 170 pounds as Austin Andrade beat Middletown’s Jared Pyzer 5-2.
Willits wrestlers also reached the finals at 182 pounds (losing), 195 pounds (winning) and 285 pounds (losing).
Lower Lake also had two third-place medals as Peerliss Brooke was upset in the 220-pound semifinals before winning in the third-place match, and Jacob Billings came in third at 170 pounds.
The top three finishers in all 14 weight divisions move on to the North Coast Section Championships beginning Friday and running through Saturday at James Logan High School in Union City.
Kelseyville
Kelseyville, third in the final team standings, also had three weight class winners, two of which were not a surprise and one who pulled off an upset at 220 pounds. Garcia (152) and Bryan Carrillo (182) were the favorites to win their divisions and did so while Javante Gregoire, the No. 4 seed at 220 pounds, beat two wrestlers – Lower Lake’s Brooke in the semifinals, 5-3, and Middletown’s Cameron Ketchum in the finals by third-round pin – that he had lost to earlier in the season.
“I think it was a huge upset,” Kelseyville coach Adam Garcia said of Gregoire’s victories over both Brooke and Ketchum en route to winning at 220 pounds. “That whole gym was on fire when he beat Ketchum.”
Gregoire’s surprise victory helped him earn the tournament’s outstanding heavyweight award.
Garcia defeated Jordan Lott of Lower Lake by third-round pin in the 152-pound championship match while Carrillo beat Justin Verdot by 20-5 technical fall in the 182-pound finals.
Other Kelseyville medalists were Michael Beverlin, third at 120 pounds; Jacob Jensen, third at 126 pounds; Bryce Mandaville, third at 132 pounds; Jayto Bonson, third at 138 pounds; and Tyler Stottsberry, third at 285 pounds.
The Knights brought only 10 wrestlers to the tournament and eight of them are moving on to sections.
“In recent years, that’s more than I can recall a Kelseyville team taking down there,” Garcia said. “I’m really excited for our guys.”
Middletown
Middletown’s Quentin Crayne claimed the 145-pound championship with a 9-4 decision over Brandon Dickey of Clear Lake, claiming one of only two weight divisions not won by Willits, Lower Lake or Kelseyville.
Along with runner-up Ketchum at 220 pounds, the Mustangs picked up another second-place medal at 170 pounds where Pyzer lost to Willits’ Andrade.
Earning section berths with third-place finishes were Isaac Rascon at 106 pounds, Filemon Sanchez at 113 pounds, and Evan Dodd at 160 pounds.
Middletown placed fourth in the team standings.
Upper Lake
Upper Lake’s lone medalist was a familiar name. Fernandez, the top seed at 126 pounds, spent less than two minutes on the mat during his only two matches. He pinned Ethan Ferguson of Willits in the first round of their semifinal match, then pinned Salazar of Lower Lake just 39 seconds into the first round of the championship match.
Fernandez, named the tournament’s outstanding lightweight, is now a three-time conference champion and he’ll be the No. 2 seed at 126 pounds during the section tournament starting on Friday. He’s also ranked ninth in the state.
Clear Lake
Clear Lake came away with two medals overall, both for second place. Besides Dickey’s loss to Middletown’s Crayne in the 145-pound championship match, Raymond Gonzales-Shoaf reached the 195-pound finals where he lost to Craig Stuart of Willits by first-round pin.
