WILLITS — Home mat advantage? Not when it’s the Lower Lake Trojans vs. the Willits Wolverines in Coastal Mountain Conference wrestling action.
For the fifth year in a row the road team has come out on top, and Lower Lake head coach Ed Fuchs was thrilled to be the visitor on Wednesday night as the Trojans opener their conference schedule with a marathon 35-27 victory over the Wolverines. Lower Lake beat Clear Lake 51-18 later in the evening to round out a long night on the mat.
“It was almost 2 ½ hours,” Fuchs said of the Willits-Lower Lake battle, one that featured 13 contested weight classes out of a possible 14. While the Trojans forfeited at 222 pounds, they do have a wrestler at that weight but he’s out with an injury.
“He wanted to wrestle, but there’s no sense risking him,” Fuchs said. “Our motto this season is ‘tough and committed,’ and these kids are nothing but committed. It’s such an honor to go out and watch these guys fight.”
And fight the Trojans and Wolverines did. The dominant conference teams going back many years, Lower Lake and Willits both left it all out on the mat, according to Fuchs. While the Trojans came out on top, seven decisions were decided by four or fewer points, with Lower Lake winning four.
“On paper I had the score coming out 36-36,” Fuchs said.
Kevin Atrisco’s 9-7 victory at 140 pounds was key, according to Fuchs.
“That was a swing for us,” Fuchs said.
Other Lower Lake winners were Bryan Gudino by first-round pin at 108 pounds, Quentin Vilmenay by 20-4 technical fall at 115 pounds; Bob Cruz by 12-8 decision at 122 pounds; Tristan Day by third-round pin at 128 pounds; Mario Cuellar by 6-3 decision at 154 pounds; Jesse Castellanos by 7-4 decision at 162 pounds; and Adam Viramontes by first-round pin at 172 pounds.
In other matches, Pedro Garrido lost 6-4 on a late nearfall at 134 pounds; Gilberto Orzco dropped a 3-2 decision at 147 pounds; Jhonathan Chadwick lost by second-round pin at 184 pounds; Jacob Billings lost a 4-3 decision at 197 pounds; and Joseph Boyd lost by second-round pin at 285 pounds.
“What a battle,” said Fuchs, who added that the Trojans caught the Wolverines at the right time because three of their wrestlers are currently academically ineligible but could be back for the CMC Championships Feb. 15 at Lower Lake.
Clear Lake
After beating the Wolverines, the Trojans came right back to defeat a young Clear Lake team on the rise.
“I’ll be honest, I was worried about that one,” Fuchs said of the Trojans’ dual with the up-and-coming Cardinals under first-year coach Nathan Powers. “I told my guys we can’t take them lightly. They have a program that could be a force to be reckoned with next season or the year after. They’re young and inexperienced, but they have fight.”
Twelve of the 14 weight classes were contested. Clear Lake forfeited at 172 pounds and Lower Lake at 222.
Winners for the Trojans were Vilmenay (108) by 9-5 decision, Cruz (122) by 15-9 decision, Day (128) by first-round pin, Garrido (134) by third-round pin, Orozco (154) by 13-4 decision, Viramontes (162) by first-round pin, Billings (197) by second-round pin, Boyd (285) by first-round pin, and Gudino (108) by 18-2 technical fall.
Clear Lake winners were Hayden Fowler, a 10-6 winner over Domiic Perez at 140 pounds; Elijah Alvarez, who pinned Atrisco in the second round at 147 pounds; and Axel Alvarez, a 4-3 winner over Chadwick at 184 pounds.
Clear Lake vs. Willits
Results of the Clear Lake vs. Willits dual, the final match of the evening, were not available Wednesday night.
Schedule
Lower Lake is taking six wrestlers to the Corning Invitational on Saturday. The Trojans are also sending three of their girls to the Lady Jaguar Classic at Jesse Bethel High School in Vallejo.
The Trojans host Fort Bragg in a conference dual next Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. while Clear Lake hosts Upper Lake and Middletown in a tri-meet at 5:30 p.m.
