Mustangs Gunning for Individual, Team Titles
Bakersfield – At the end of Day One of the California Interscholastic Federation State Wrestling Championships, Gilroy sat in third place as a team with three wrestlers guaranteed at least a top-six finish individually. Two others could finish as high as third.
But the Mustangs’ biggest accomplishment? Going upset-free in the first round.
“Our kids came prepared and we can’t ask for more than that,” said Gilroy assistant coach Mike Koester, who watched other teams not be as lucky as the Mustangs in the first round.
Poway had third-ranked 103-pounder George Flores get pinned in his first match. The same thing happened to California’s third-ranked 152-pounder Lemoore’s Willy Pendleton in the first round. Royal’s Kevin Dunn, the state’s third-ranked wrestler at 119, had to default because of injury in the first round.
Today, Adin Dueñas (135 pounds), Armando Gonzalez (140 pounds) and Hunter Collins (171 pounds) have the chance to reach the finals. All three went 3-0 Friday. Going 2-1 were Martin Gonzalez (103 pounds) and Nico Naranjo (112), who lost in the quarterfinals and will try to wrestle their way up to third-place matches in the consolation brackets.
In the team standings, Buchanan (90.0) and Poway (88.0) are ahead of Gilroy (62.0).
The most dominant wrestler of the day was Dueñas, who won his three decisions by scores of 12-8, 5-1 and 9-4. The fifth-ranked senior will face second-ranked Chris Drouin of the Southern Section’s Chaparral in the semifinals.
As Dueñas finished off his last opponent of the day, Armando Gonzalez took to the mat next to his teammate’s with Alfonso Sanchez of McLane, who had won 42 matches straight.
With 1:25 left in the third round, Sanchez scored on a takedown to even the score at 3-3. After taking a timeout for blood with 41 seconds to go, the match was re-started with Sanchez on top. Armando Gonzalez escaped to go up 4-3 and avoided the McLane wrestler’s takedown attempts for the next 35 seconds to hand Sanchez his first loss of the year.
“I just knew I had to pull through. It’s my senior year and I had to suck it up,” said Armando Gonzalez, who battled an upset stomach during the match. “I have a chance to be in the finals and I’m going to take advantage of it.”
Collins also came out on top of an exciting match to keep his title hopes alive. The sophomore found himself down 4-0 to Rudi Burtschi of the Sac-Joaquin Section’s Oakdale in the first round, but fought back to eventually take a 6-4 lead after a reversal in the second period. Collins, who finished eighth at 160 pounds last year, held on for a 9-7 win.
“I just reminded myself that there was still a lot of time left in the match,” said Collins about his comeback. “I knew I had to stay on my toes. He’s a really good wrestler.”
Naranjo had an impressive quarterfinal match with Campolindo’s Nikko Triggas, who is the top-ranked 112-pounder in California and top two in the country. The junior had an 8-4 lead with 45 seconds left in the second round. Triggas worked his way back in the third, however, and pinned Naranjo at the 1:26 mark.
Andres Barragan (189 pounds) was knocked out of the tournament after going 2-2.
Rudy Maldonado (125 pounds), Chris Krough (130 pounds) and Daniel Gamez (215 pounds) all went 0-2.
CIF Standings
Team standings
1. Buchanan 90.0
2. Poway 88.0
3. Gilroy 62.0
4. Bakersfield 53.0
5. Northview 46.0
Chasing individual titles
135 pounds – Adin Dueñas
140 pounds – Armando Gonzalez
171 pounds – Hunter Collins
