Javin Aragon looked to be in a difficult spot when he inadvertently tweaked his knee early in his match Friday night.
But Gilroy High’s freshman 147-pounder has rare toughness, and he demonstrated that for all to see with a thrilling victory in the quarterfinals of Mid-Cals at Gilroy High.
Aragon held on to win an 8-7 decision over Christopher’s Ricardo Bribiescas, becoming one of six Gilroy wrestlers who advanced to Saturday’s semifinal round of the 68-team tournament.
“Javin’s a tough kid,” Gilroy coach Greg Varela said. “The guy he wrestled from Christopher, Ricardo, the guy’s gonna place high in CCS. I’m really proud of (Aragon) for gutting out tough wins. For a freshman to know how to finish in those tough times is pretty good.”
The match was tied 7-7 with less than a minute remaining in the third period before Aragon was able to score the decisive point.
Gilroy is in fourth place with 131.5 points. Other local teams in contention include San Benito in 13th with 92 points, Christopher in 16th with 72 points and Sobrato in 26th with 55.5 points.
Action resumes at 9 a.m. Saturday, with the finals set for about 4 p.m. Saturday.
Turlock has the team lead with 193.5 points, one point ahead of second-place Paso Robles.
In addition to Aragon, Gilroy had Jesse Vasquez (115), Victor Olmos (128), Paul Fox (140), Nikko Villarreal (147) and Matt Penyacsek (162) reach the semifinals.
Fox needed only 29 seconds to win his quarterfinal match by pin.
“So good, so far, but the money rounds are tomorrow,” Varela said. “I’m proud of these guys. They’re rallying together, they’re working hard and they love competing in front of our fans. They seem to step it up a bit.”
Christopher 108-pounder Jimmie Lopez also reached the semifinal round, winning all three of his contested matches Friday by pin.
Christopher 197-pounder Tomas Zamora also reached the semifinals.
