LOWER LAKE — In a battle of undefeated wrestling teams, the Willits Wolverines outlasted the Lower Lake Trojans 40-25 in a marathon Coastal Mountain Conference tri-meet that also involved Clear Lake on Wednesday night in Lower Lake.
The Lower Lake-Willits dual alone took two hours and 15 minutes to complete, according to Lower Lake head coach Ed Fuchs.
“It was 100-percent absolutely amazing,” Fuchs said of the battle between the two CMC powers.
Twelve of the 14 weight divisions were contested and most of the matches went the full three rounds. Lower Lake had to forfeit the heavyweight division (it has no heavyweight this season) and at 108 pounds, a move that became necessary when middleweight Mario Cuellar was unable to compete because of injury, which forced Fuchs to shuffle his lineup.
“We can’t give Willits 12 (forfeit) points,” Fuchs said.
The defending CMC co-champions both brought 5-0 records into Wednesday’s showdown. Lower Lake (6-1) can still earn a share of the league title if its finishes ahead of Willits (7-0) at the CMC Championships on Feb. 9 in Kelseyville.
“I think we are in good shape to win there,” Fuchs said. “If we can beat Willits, we’ll finish in a tie and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Both Willits and Lower Lake defeated Clear Lake (0-7).
The Lower Lake-Willits dual started at 160 pounds and each of the first three matches were decided by regular decisions. For Lower Lake, Gilberto Orozco lost 1-0 at 160 pounds while teammate Kyle Lynn dropped a 6-4 decision at 170 pounds. Mateo McKay gave Lower Lake its first win with a 7-4 decision at 182 pounds.
Beginning with 195 pounds, the Trojans lost four in a row. Jacob Billings dropped a 17-5 decision at 195, Isaac Huffman lost by second-round pin at 220, and the Trojans forfeited at heavyweight and 108.
Trailing 28-3 to the Wolverines at that point, Lower Lake lost another close one when Bob Cruz fell 7-6 at 113 pounds. The Trojans closed the team score to 31-15 on a Jose Medina third-round pin at 120 pounds and a Pedro Garrido third-round pin at 126 pounds.
The match took a decisive turn at 132 pounds where Tristan Day, leading 5-4 against Willits’ Owen Sebastian, made a mistake and ended up on his back for a three-point nearfall. Sebastian went on to win 10-5.
Again, the Trojans battled back on the strength of Hugo Salazar’s 11-0 win at 138 pounds and Adam De Leon’s second-round pin at 145 pounds. Trailing 34-25, Lower Lake was hoping to draw a little bit closer in the final match of the night but Jesse Castellanos ended up being disqualified at 152 pounds for locking his hands four times.
“It was one of the most amazing duals I’ve been a part of,” Fuchs said. “I thought everybody did a great job.”
Because it was Lower Lake’s final home match, the Trojans honored their seniors — McKay, Lynn, Salazar and De Leon. All are four-year veterans and received founder’s awards, according to Fuchs.
In other wrestling action Wednesday:
Middletown 29, Fort Bragg 24
At Fort Bragg, Middletown defeated the Fort Bragg Timberwolves to close out the CMC dual season with a 5-2 record, its only two losses coming to conference leaders Willits and Lower Lake.
In the three weight divisions that were contested, Middletown’s lone win came at 113 pounds where Jayde Miles won by 15-0 technical fall.
“There were lots of forfeits,” Middletown coach Brian Hunt said.
Middletown will compete in the North Coast Section Division III team duals on Saturday at Eureka High School.
“I like our chances if we’re healthy,” Hunt said.
Kelseyville 21, Upper Lake 18
Kelseyville 12, Cloverdale 0
Upper Lake 6, Cloverdale 0
At Kelseyville, the Kelseyville Knights beat the Upper Lake Cougars and the Cloverdale Eagles in tri-meet action. Upper Lake also defeated Cloverdale.
The only two contested matches in the Kelseyville-Upper Lake dual were at 170 pounds where Kelseyville’s Alex Garcia beat Bradley Sneathen by technical fall and at 140 pounds where Kelseyvilles Jacob Jensen beat Alex Serrano by major decision.
