Gilroy’s decisive wrestling victory over San Benito leaves no
doubt as to TCAL’s elite
By Scott Campbell, Staff Writer
Gilroy – After a largely frustrating fall sports season in terms of its rivalry with San Benito, the Gilroy Mustangs are loving life now.
First, Gilroy’s boys and girls basketball and soccer teams had their way with the Haybalers, running the table on them in the first round of Tri-County Athletic League play. Then, those same Mustangs’ teams took it to San Benito all over again, pushing their combined record in the rivalry games to 8-0 in the winter season.
All the while, Gilroy’s wrestling team stewed, awaiting its opportunity to join the fray.
Last night, the Mustang wrestlers made the wait well worth their while.
Jumping on the visiting ‘Balers with pins in two of the first three matches, Gilroy took a quick lead and never let up, propelling itself to a dominant 58-13 victory.
“Payback,” said Gilroy junior Andres Barragan. “Football, volleyball, track … they’ve beaten us at everything. It’s awesome to say we beat them.
“We didn’t just beat ’em–we destroyed ’em.”
Other than the one competition they forfeited, the Mustangs only lost two matches on the night. Beginning with Barragan’s pin of San Benito’s Manny Tovar in the 189-pound match, Gilroy made its visitors feel most unwelcome.
Mustangs head coach Armando Gonzalez, gracious in victory, was glad his team has been able to turn the table on the Haybalers in recent years.
“When Hollister was at their height four or five years ago, they put on a clinic like we did tonight,” said Gonzalez. “[The ‘Balers’ past success] was my motivation to work hard and train my team to beat Hollister. We’ve been on the other side of it. This was a young team versus an old, veteran team.”
With Gilroy forfeiting the 103-pound match and San Benito stepping aside at 112 and 119, the TCAL dual meet quickly turned into a chess match as the coaches tried to maximize their wrestlers’ strengths while slotting them at atypical weights.
San Benito suffered the brunt of the maneuvering, losing five straight matches from 125 through 145-pound.
Gilroy received pins in the 189, heavyweight, 145, 160 and 171-pound matches, while also getting technical falls at 130 and 140.
In addition to his state-ranked stars, Gonzalez made sure to commend senior Daniel Gamez for his strong showing against San Benito’s top wrestler, Ryan Dunn. Gamez, honored alongside fellow seniors Adin Duenas, Armando Gonzalez and Luis Chavez beforehand, gave a game effort but fell to Dunn in a 12-2 decision.
“Kudos for going out and showing Gilroy pride and not giving up a pin,” said Gilroy’s coach of Gamez’ performance.
San Benito’s only other win in a non-forfeited match came when freshman Josh Ramirez prevailed in a thrilling 6-2 decision over Gilroy’s Ethan Ogle in the 152-pound competition.
Haybalers head coach Matt Olejnik was hoping his team would use the match to prepare for the upcoming postseason.
“I was happy with the effort our guys gave,” said Olejnik. “Even our guys that got beat came out and wrestled. We weren’t in awe of them. With the lineups the way they were, we did about as good as we could’ve done tonight. The opportunity to wrestle with that caliber of opponent … when we get to Sections, it can only help us confidence-wise.”
Meanwhile, Gilroy, the top-ranked team in the Central Coast Section and No. 6 in California, was eager to put its focus squarely on its goal of picking up some postseason hardware.
“We’re moving forward with our goal of winning the CCS title,” said coach Gonzalez, who also noted his team’s aspirations in the CIF State meet. “We want to bring home a top-four finish and a trophy from State.”
That pursuit continues as the Mustangs host the ‘Balers and the rest of their league opponents in the TCAL Championships on Saturday.
