MIDDLETOWN — The stage is set for a Willits-Lower Lake showdown next week when the Coastal Mountain Conference wrestling regular season draws to a close.
Both teams improved to 5-0 on Wednesday night during tri-meet action. Lower Lake defeated Middletown 51-27 and Kelseyville 40-24 at Middletown High School while Willits beat Upper Lake 66-12 and Fort Bragg 60-9 at Upper Lake High School. Lower Lake hosts Willits and Clear Lake next Wednesday.
Regular-season record is only half of the formula used to determine the CMC champion. Results from the CMC Championships on Feb. 9 at Kelseyville provide the second half. Lower Lake and Willits, the CMC powerhouses in recent seasons, shared last year’s conference title. A year ago Lower Lake went undefeated in regular-season action only to finish second to Willits at the CMC Championships.
When the two teams renew their rivalry next week at Lower Lake High School, Willits will have wrestlers in all 14 weight classes while Lower Lake should have all but the heavyweight division covered, which means the Trojans will have to spot the Wolverines six forfeit points.
“I think we can win more matches than them, it’s just a matter of how we win them (decision, major decision, tech fall or pin),” Lower Lake head coach Ed Fuchs said. “It’s going to be fun next Wednesday.”
M’town tri-meet
At Middletown, Middletown defeated Kelseyville 36-35 even though the Knights won six of the eight contested weight classes. The other six weight classes resulted in forfeits, earning the Mustangs 24 critical points toward their victory.
In the contested weight classes, Middletown notched wins at 145 pounds where Blake Schuster pinned Jacob Jensen in the first round, and at 106 pounds where Andrew Mikel pinned Cassidy Griffin in the third round. Kelseyville’s victories came at 152 pounds where Tanner Morris beat Hagan Cadwallader 12-4; at 160 pounds where Alex Garcia scored a technical fall over Anthony Nudi; at 170 pounds where Kris Perkin pinned Beau Davis in the first round; at 182 pounds where Jasmin Clarke beat Chloe Murphy by technical fall; at 220 pounds where Javante Gregoire pinned James Hernandez; and at 120 pounds where Gabriel Ambriz took a 7-0 decision against Filemon Sanchez.
“Those forfeits and the six-point difference in those other matches (pins by Schuster and Mikel) hurt us,” Kelseyville head coach Adam Garcia said. “I felt pretty good about how they went out there and competed.”
In Lower Lake’s win over Kelseyville, six weight classes were contested and the Trojans won five of them. Mario Cuellar pinned Jensen in the second round at 147 pounds, Adam De Leon beat Morris 10-1 at 154 pounds, Gilberto Orozco pinned Perkin in the second round at 172 pounds, Mateo McKay pinned Jasmin Clarke in the first round at 182 pounds, and Pedro Garrido pinned Ambriz in the first round at 122 pounds.
Kelseyville’s lone win was Garcia’s third-round pin of Kyle Lynn at 160 pounds. The Knights’ other 18 team points came on forfeits at 106, 222 and 277 pounds.
“I thought Tanner, who is only a freshman, did a good job against a four-year guy like De Leon,” Garcia said. “He didn’t get pinned, which was important as far as the team scoring early on in the match.”
Lower Lake won The Shield, which is the prize that goes to the Kelseyville-Lower Lake winner each year, for the fourth consecutive time. While it made the trip to Middletown, The Shield will now return to the wall in Lower Lake’s wrestling room where it has been a permanent resident since the series began in 2016.
In Lower Lake’s win over Middletown, nine of the 14 weight divisions were contested. The best two matches were at 140 pounds where Cuellar beat Schuster 16-9, and at 162 pounds where Nudi defeated Lynn 9-4 in a double-overtime thriller.
“It was an awesome match,” Fuchs said of the Cuellar-Schuster battle.
Cuellar led 6-4 after the first period and 14-6 after the second period.
Nudi and Lynn were tied 4-4 going to the second overtime in their match. Nudi scored a takedown and a nearfall to win it.
In other matches, Lower Lake’s Jesse Castellanos won by first-round pin at 154 pounds, Middletown’s Jared Pyzer won by first-round pin at 197 pounds, Middletown’s Hernandez won by first-round pin at 222 pounds, Lower Lake’s Garrido won by second-round pin at 122 pounds, Lower Lake’s Tristan Day won by first-round pin at 128 pounds, Lower Lake’s Hugo Salazar won by third-round pin at 134 pounds, and Lower Lake’s De Leon won by first-round pin at 147 pounds.
“It’s the first real dual we’ve had with lineups that had more than eight guys,” Fuchs said of the victory over Middletown.
Middletown is now 4-2 in the CMC standings while Kelseyville is 2-3.
Upper Lake tri-meet
At Upper Lake, it was senior night for the Cougars, who honored two of the Redwood Empire’s best in Junior Fernandez and Adriana Lopez, both four-year wrestlers in the final stages of ultra-successful high school careers. Also honored were seniors Alex Serrano and Garret Martini.
Upper Lake defeated Fort Bragg 42-9 but lost to Willits 66-12 in its third straight and final home meet of the season. The Cougars are 2-3 in the CMC standings while Fort Bragg is 2-4.
