Two teams have dominated all talk surrounding this season’s
Central Coast Section wrestling meet.
One team has won the sectional meet the last six years, and
comes from a town synonymous with garlic. The other is a private
school, which has been steadily building its program over the
years, modeling itself after the CCS kings it wishes to
dethrone.
Going into this weekend’s meet taking place today and Saturday
at Independence High School, St. Francis and Gilroy High, the
six-time defending champs, are expected to be neck-and-neck through
the finals. But it appears the Mustangs may have gained the upper
hand before anyone even takes to the mats.
SAN JOSE – Two teams have dominated all talk surrounding this season’s Central Coast Section wrestling meet.
One team has won the sectional meet the last six years, and comes from a town synonymous with garlic. The other is a private school, which has been steadily building its program over the years, modeling itself after the CCS kings it wishes to dethrone.
Going into this weekend’s meet taking place today and Saturday at Independence High School, St. Francis and Gilroy High, the six-time defending champs, are expected to be neck-and-neck through the finals. But it appears the Mustangs may have gained the upper hand before anyone even takes to the mats.
At last week’s West Catholic Athletic League finals, 127-pounder Blake Kastl failed to qualify for CCS due to illness, Gilroy assistant coach Mike Koester said. Expected to be a No. 2 seed, just behind defending state champion and GHS senior Martin Gonzalez, Kastl’s absence could have major ramifications in terms of team point totals.
“[Kastl] would’ve been in the finals,” Koester said. “He’s ranked honorable mention in the state.”
The result could be a 25- to 30-point reduction in the amount of points St. Francis was expecting.
“That’s a huge swing,” Koester said. “That makes our chances a lot better.”
Gilroy expects its top three of Gonzalez, Jesse Delgado (No. 1 at 114 pounds) and Luis Barragan (No. 2 at 287) to carry the team after all three won their respective divisions at CCS last season. Still, a strong supporting cast, which includes No. 3-seed Willie Fox (121), No. 2 Rodney Balajadia (132) and No. 2 Vincent Aboytes (154) amongst others, will require a concerted effort. Gilroy has 13 wrestlers total who qualified from last week’s Tri-County Athletic League Championships. “We kind of got a break,” Koester said, “but we still have to live up to our seeds.”
