Coaches complain of hometown fix in Bakersfield
BAKERSFIELD – Seven Mustang matmen entered the weekend’s 2004 CIF State Championships at Centennial Gardens in Bakersfield with a common dream of bringing home a state medal.
But with 240 competing teams and 462 of the state’s top wrestlers filling out 14 weight class brackets, the road to placing among the top eight was a long, brutal one that got tougher every step of the way.
The two-time defending Central Coast Section Champions held their own on Friday’s opening day of competition with six of seven reaching Saturday’s championship rounds. However, the grueling competition took its toll on Gilroy’s best, and senior 112-pounder John Gurich was the only one to win a medal by placing fourth.
“I thought the kids wrestled great. They can really compete at this level. They showed it, but we need to do more work to be a second-day team,” head coach Armando Gonzalez said. “Second day in state is when all the big dogs come out and all the big horse run, and we weren’t up to the task.”
Collectively, the Mustangs finished in 13th place, only nine team points shy of reaching their goal of taking top 10 in the state. Bakersfield, the host team which finished with four weight class champions, ran away with the state team title with 170.5 team points ahead of second-place Clovis (93.5), third-place Poway (82.5), fourth-place Calvary Chapel (79), and fifth-place Turlock (73).
“We brought seven guys in, a lot of young guys. We had six out of seven in day two. We should have had seven, but Callan (Romesberg) hurt his shoulder his first match and they told him that was it,” said Gurich, who placed fourth in state for the second straight season. “We came in with six today and people were just one match away from placing. Seems like we’re always just one half step behind, Gilroy. Seems like that’s how we always are.”
Besides going up against the state’s elite, the Mustangs fell victim to bad draws, bad breaks, and some bad luck throughout the two-day event. Senior Callan Romesberg injured his shoulder in his opening match, forcing him to default; sophomore Armando Gonzalez was eliminated after his position in the 125-pound bracket put him up against the only two guys he’s lost to all season; and senior Mark Zabala had a win taken away on a changed call in overtime. Even Gurich could not escape it, nearly losing his front tooth from an accidental head-butt.
“We ended up getting some bad draws, which are the difference from one medalist to three or four. It’s frustrating, it’s disappointing, and the officiating around here isn’t the best either,” Coach Gonzalez said. “I think the officials pulled for the kids from their area, and it’s disheartening for the kids who go out there and fight their hearts out to have the officials decide the match.”
The state meet had been in Stockton the past few years, but changed venues this year to Bakersfield, where it will remain for the at least the next two years.
“This is great. The seating is good. The venue is great. There’s plenty of accommodations and facilities,” Gonzalez said. “The only sad thing about being here is they allowed a Southern Section company, TMI 150, to run the bracketing for this tournament, and I think they took care of their own, which is unfortunate.”
Despite the Gilroy coaching staff’s sour feelings over the bracketing and the officiating, the garlic grapplers made their presence felt at the state level. Three wrestlers (Gurich, Zabala, Naranjo) reached the quarterfinals with one (Gurich) advancing to the semifinals.
“Gurich had a fantastic tournament. He wrestled very good,” Gonzalez said. “He could have been in the finals, close loss in the semis, close loss for third and fourth, which means the margin between number one and number four is a couple of seconds or one point.”
Naranjo, only a freshman in his first state meet, demonstrated his maturity and skill, winning a 9-0 decision in his 103-pound out-bracket match and then notching two more victories (pin in 1:10 and 9-7 victory) to get into the quarterfinals.
“Nico did great. He went 3-2 as a freshman, which assures him of a state ranking next year. He’s in good shape. He did great,” Gonzalez said. “He wrestled guys who were better than him and he beat guys who were better than him, too. He wrestled great.”
In the quarterfinals, Naranjo went up against Calvary Chapel sophomore Justin Paulson, who ended the Gilroyan’s run with a slim 5-3 victory. Naranjo fell behind 2-0, but tied the match up with a second-period takedown. But in the second period, Paulson turned Naranjo on his back for three near-fall points. Naranjo got an escape in the second, but neither wrestler scored in the final two minutes. Paulson went on to place second. Falling into the consolation bracket, Naranjo lost his first match to Fremont’s Fillip Novachkov, who placed fourth.
“Nico caught a bad draw with Novachkov or he would have placed, too,” Gonzalez said.
Zabala’s quarterfinal match came to a controversial finish, after the returning state placer won his first two bouts in the 171-pound division to make it to that point. Up against Monte Vista senior Kyle McGraw in the quarters, Zabala battled to a 1-1 tie after three full periods, moving the match into overtime.
In the one-minute extra session, Zabala used a double-leg takedown to put McGraw down by the out-of-bounds circle and the match official gave him the clinching two points. But the same official took away the points shortly after his own whistle with McGraw flopping on top of Zabala.
“Oh definitely (I thought I won). He was way out of breathe. I was all over him,” Zabala said. “The only reason I relaxed is because the ref blew his whistle, so I kind of relaxed.”
Coach Gonzalez, along with assistant Mike Koester, exploded after the points were taken away in protest. Zabala returned to the center circle to restart the match, but McGraw scored the match-winning takedown for a 3-1 decision.
“He had the takedown. The officials awarded it and then they took it back. That’s what I was talking about with the officials making the decisions of who is going to win and lose. Mark couldn’t pull it back together after that tough call,” Gonzalez said. “It was the difference in the match and it was the difference in Mark Zabala placing and not placing.”
Zabala, a two-time section champion, was still in the medal hunt after Friday’s end, but he had to shake off the tough loss and wrestle back in consolations.
“You’ve got to forget about it and concentrate on the upcoming matches. That’s going to happen,” Zabala said. “As long as I do my best, that’s all I care about.”
In his return Saturday, Zabala lost his second match of the tournament by the same 3-1 margin to Foothill’s Jake Baldwin.
Gonzalez Jr. started of his second straight state tournament with a slim 5-4 victory over Santa Ana’s Rudy Justo. His next match was a tougher one, as Gonzalez lost to Vacaville’s Marcos Orozco, who is ranked third in the state, 5-0.
“My first match, I didn’t feel the greatest, but I still pulled it off. I got the win, so that was good,” said Gonzalez Jr., who won his first consolation match over Valencia’s Javier Gomez to reach day-two. “I felt a lot better this match. ”
Gonzalez Jr. then rattled off another consolation victory on Saturday and was one match away from placing when he ran into the state’s second ranked wrestler, Hughson’s Billy Murphy.
“I’m happy I did better than I did last year, but I’m going to medal this year. I’m in a good spot in the brackets and I should be able to win my next two,” said Gonzalez Jr. before a cross-bracketing put him against Murphy instead of another expected opponent.
After battling to a 1-1 tie at the end of three periods, Gonzalez gave up the clinching takedown to Murphy. Gonzalez finished with a 3-2 record.
“Armando wrestled a very tough tournament. He had a bad draw. … He’s lost only two matches to two opponents all year and it happens to be those two,” Coach Gonzalez said. “I don’t know if it’s luck or there are some goblins out there making sure that he never gets his due. But Armando is better than half the placers in this tournament. … He got the worst draw you could possibly get here.”
Rounding out the Gilroy state competitors were: Haygood, who went 2-2 at 135s; Duenas, who went 2-2 at 130s; and Romesberg, who defaulted with a shoulder injury.
“It’s a great experience. It’s a learning experience,” the coach said. “We had seven qualifiers, four seniors, but three will be back and we should be able to bring four, five or six, seven next year and maybe have three placers.”
