Gilroy’s Due
ñas, Gonzalez and Collins triumphant at Mid-Cals
Second never felt so good.
At this past weekend’s 25th annual Mid-Cals at GHS, Elk Grove High – ranked No. 3 in the state – tallied 239 points and won the competition in a landslide.
But with three individual winners for the first time in recent memory, the host Mustangs (169 pts.) weren’t exactly scoffing at their runner-up status – especially considering they were without shoe-in winner Nicolo Naranjo, who was out with bronchitis.
“Three champions and it would’ve been four,” GHS head coach Armando Gonzalez said. “So we’re happy with it.
“Elk Grove is a very good squad with seven state qualifiers returning. For us to finish second is still a really good accomplishment.”
In his 14 years with the program, Gonzalez said he could never recall having as many Mid-Cals winners in one tournament.
And longtime assistant Mike Koester backed up that claim.
“(I) thought the guys wrestled really well,” Koester said. “I mean three champions … I’ve been here 11 years and I can’t ever remember having more than two.”
That all changed Saturday.
Under the spotlight and with a packed house looking on, all three Gilroy wrestlers who made it to final matches – Adin Dueñas, Armando Gonzalez and Hunter Collins – thrilled the home crowd by each taking first at one of California’s most prestigious tournaments.
“It was a good day,” Dueñas said.
The 130-pound junior got the winning started for the Mustangs.
“I knew I was the favorite going in,” the top-seeded Dueñas said of his match with Joey Wilson of Half Moon Bay, “but I just have to wrestle everybody like they’re the No. 1 seed. Can’t relax.”
So Dueñas, ranked first in the Central Coast Section, set the tone with an early take-down, and never let up after that.
“I wanted to get ahead,” he said. “So I was the aggressor … it’s better that way.”
For Dueñas, it added up to seven take-downs and an easy 16-5 victory over the third-ranked 130 in CCS.
“I thought he put on a good show,” Koester said. “The guy he beat is probably going to the CCS finals.
“So basically it was a statement match. He pretty much showed him, ‘You’re never gonna beat me.'”
Gonzalez’s win at 135 pounds was not as decisive – but was just as impressive, nonetheless.
For starters, the junior was under the weather. Strep throat, a bad cold and having four teeth removed at the hospital combined to make it a miserable week.
Those travails weren’t enough, though, to keep him out of the Mustangs’ first home appearance of the year.
“Even with being sick, not being here wasn’t an option with him,” coach Gonzalez said of his son. “So he toughed it up and did what he had to do today.”
What he had to do was play it safe.
Gonzalez said he anticipated his opponent – Shasta’s Lenny Marandino – wouldn’t take long to start sweating under the heat of the giant spotlight.
So he went after him quick – landing a fireman’s carry move within the opening seconds of the match.
“My plan was to get a quick take-down,” Gonzalez said. “I wanted to get a good shot while he was still dry and I was still fresh.”
Backing up his prediction, Gonzalez went for Marandino’s elbow a few times in the final two period, but couldn’t get a grip on a joint become slippery with sweat.
That first take-down proved to be the only one he needed, though. The two-time CCS champ played it conservative the rest of the way and won his second Mid-Cal title with a 3-1 win.
“If I didn’t make any mistakes, I knew he couldn’t take me down,” Gonzalez said.
Two years after Gonzalez won Mid-Cals as a freshman, teammate Hunter Collins joined him as a first-year winner Saturday.
Unlike the first two Gilroy wrestlers, Collins had to wait until the final moments for his first take-down.
Beating Monta Vista senior Dan Montanez for the second time in a week – he outlasted the CCS No. 1, 6-1, in a title match at Overfelt on Jan. 22 – wasn’t easy.
After a scoreless opening period, Collins took a 2-0 after a technical violation and an escape in the second.
But with just under a minute left in the match, Montanez tallied his first point with an escape. Then, with a mere eight seconds remaining, the referee called Collins for stalling and awarded Montanez the match-tying point.
While coach Gonzalez jumped out of his seat in disbelief, the 14-year-old frosh didn’t miss a beat.
“I didn’t worry about the ref,” Collins said. “I knew I couldn’t stop.”
Instead, he got a hold of Montanez’s ankle, spun him in a circle and recorded the decisive two-point take-down with just three seconds left.
“The kid is good,” Gonzalez said of Collins, the former Schoolboy National Champion. “He didn’t make mistakes. It was just a mistake-free match.”
NOTES: Gilroy also placed Joseph Serrano (125) and Andres Barragan (189), who both finished fifth after going 2-2 on the final day. … In the 103-140 pound category, Shasta’s Eric Brooks (140) was awarded wrestler of the tournament. At 145 and above, it was Turlock’s defending state champion, Lewis Gonzalez (145). … The Mustangs have a home match Wednesday against Live Oak, but most of the varsity team will be resting up for next Tuesday’s showdown at Hollister.
