Gilroy wrestlers take 10 of 14 against erstwhile rivals in
Hollister
By Josh Staloch
Hollister – The Gilroy High wrestling squad further cemented their place atop the Tri-County Athletic League on Tuesday by defeating Hollister, 43-17.
“It was a thing of beauty,” GHS assistant Mike Koester said.
The Mustangs, ranked No. 1 in CCS, wrapped up a perfect 5-0 TCAL season and finished their third straight year without a dual-meet loss to league competition. GHS won 10 of the night’s 14 matches.
“The team went above and beyond my expectations tonight,” said Mustangs’ head coach Armando Gonzalez. “They really wrestled above their heads.
“(Hollister coach) Matt (Olejnik) has a great lineup. They (Hollister) got off to a great start, but our guys never gave up … I’m so proud of them.”
By virtue of a random draw before the meet began, the 154-pounders took to the mat first, pitting Hollister’s Evan Rodriguez against Gilroy’s Mike Ayers.
Rodriguez nearly made quick work of Ayers, almost putting the Gilroy grappler into a cradle hold early in the match. But Ayers found his way out of trouble and the first period ended with Rodriguez holding the 5-0 advantage thanks to a three-point near-fall just before the buzzer.
Rodriguez didn’t let up at all after the first period and went on to take the match 12-1, putting San Benito up 4-0 overall.
Chuck Thompson took a 3-1 win over Luis Albarran after the Rodriguez win, followed by a 5-2 Gilroy victory from Andres Barragan over Kyle Horn, who injured his ankle early in the match.
The Balers got their final points of the match off a great battle between CCS No. 1 Ryan Dunn and Gilroy’s JV call-up, Chaz Guerrero. Dunn was up 1-0 early, but just before the buzzer at the end of the first, Guerrero scored a two-point takedown to take over the lead.
Dunn scored on a reversal to open up the second for a 3-2 advantage and then followed it up with a nice move that brought Guerrero down to the mat. Dunn immediately went for the pin, but Guerrero was able to keep a shoulder up off the mat. The two battled for almost a solid minute before Dunn scored the pin with less than 50 seconds remaining, bringing the overall score to 17-9.
From there, the competition went to the lower weight classes and the Mustangs started to run away with it.
Gilroy’s Nico Naranjo scored a pin 1:23 into his 105-pound match with Armondo Lerma before Tim Ibanez took out Hollister’s Jordan Sanchez with a 15-2 decision that gave Gilroy the 19-17 edge.
One of the evening’s most exciting matches came at the 127-pound division with Hollister’s Chris Mora, ranked seventh in CCS, taking on Chris Krough, who has spent most of the year at the JV level. Mora ended the first period with a near fall that could have resulted in a pin had there been more time on the clock.
But in the third, with Mora up 6-4, Krough scored on a reversal and then simply overpowered Mora on a near fall and won the match, 8-6.
Like Krough, Travis Sakamoto (121) was recently called up to the varsity level. And like Krough, he delivered – pinning Hollister’s Bob Glashen for the win.
In yet another impressive victory for the Mustangs, unranked Austin Gubrud (147) defeated Alex Diaz, who is ranked No. 8 in the section.
“Well, they’re strong everywhere,” Olejnik said. “We did very well tonight in the heavier weights and we made some moves at 119 and 125. But it was a reality check for a lot of our guys.
“We’ve got two weeks before TCALs. We’re going to train a little harder and try to get a couple of those close ones to go our way.”
TAKE NOTE: The TCAL Championships, originally scheduled for this Saturday at SBHS, have been moved back a week to Feb. 19 due to scheduling conflicts with referees.
