GHS grapplers look for first win in four years vs. defending CCS
Champs
GILROY – Fresh off a second-place showing in the Cupertino Tournament, the Gilroy High grapplers are poised and ready to strike at tonight’s featured Tri-County Athletic League match against fierce rival Hollister at 7 p.m.
“Tomorrow, we’re going to go over there ready to go. If our wrestlers wrestle to their potential, we should have a very good night against Hollister,” said head coach Armondo Gonzalez during Tuesday’s practice. “We will unveil our full-strength line-up for the first time this year against Hollister.”
Over the weekend, the Mustangs tore up the mat at the Cupertino Tournament with eight place-winners, two weight-class champions, and second overall as a team to only Turlock, the seventh ranked team in the state.
“The boys wrestled fantastic. There was a lot of CCS competition there and it really propelled us in the standings,” said Coach Gonzalez, who read off all eight of his grapplers ranked in CCS. “That’s eight ranked wrestlers in the section and they still haven’t gotten a look at Callan Romesberg, Miguel Maldonado or Nick Fortino – who could also do a lot of good things in the section.
“So we’re poised, we’re solid and we’re ready to go wrestle.”
In the tournamment, junior 103-pounder John Gurich and freshman 119-pounder Armondo Gonzalez – both top-ranked wrestlers in CCS – won weight class championships. Gonzalez upset the fifth ranked wrestler in the state in his championship bout.
In addition, senior 125-pounder Danny San Juan – ranked second in CCS – placed second at Cupertino, junior Chad Haygood – ranked third in CCS – finished in third place, senior 135-pounder Gilbert Gutierrez – ranked fourth in CCS – wrestled to fifth, senior 140-pounder Andrew Rauss – ranked fifth in CCS – took sixth place, and junior 171-pounder Mark Zabala – top-ranked in CCS – finished in third place.
Tonight, the Mustangs hope to beat the defending CCS Champs for the first time in four years. Gilroy defeated Hollister in Coach Gonzalez’s first year at the helm, but has failed in the last three meetings.
“This year I think we’re poised to beat them. Most of these kids have been there before so they’re prepared for it. The only ones are my little freshmen, but my freshmen are so tough they have no problem they’re ready to go,” Coach Gonzalez said. “I don’t really do any extra motivation for them. I just get them ready. They’ll go in there and wrestle to their potential and that’s all we need.
“We don’t need to worry about all that extra stuff,” the coach added. “They’re going to wrestle and they’ve been doing it all year so I’m confident that they’re going to go in there and take care of business.”
The Mustangs will be on full display locally Jan. 24-25 when they host their annual Mid Cal Tournament – which brings some of the area’s top programs in for the two-day competition.
“It should be a great tournament. The locals here in Gilroy should come out and see their wrestlers. They’ve been reading about them in the papers. It’s time for them to come out and see how good these boys really are,” Coach Gonzalez said. “We have a very good group of wrestlers and we should have many placers in the Mid Cals this year.”
