The Cougars scrapped their way to a 5-1 league mark after
finishing off visiting North Monterey County 54-22 on Wednesday
night.
What a difference a year makes.
With just freshmen and sophomores last season, the Christopher High wrestling team made a small dent in Monterey Bay League dual meets.
This season, the Cougars, a year older, stronger and savvier, scrapped their way to a 5-1 league mark after finishing off visiting North Monterey County 54-22 on Wednesday night.
Furthermore, a regular-season league title eluded the Cougars by a mere nine points – a 42-33 loss to undefeated Monterey in the first dual of the year.
“We are very, very happy,” CHS head coach Alecxis Lara said. “We are a second-year program and to be in the top-two in league is a really good feeling. It’s a huge improvement. I have a great group of kids who are training hard and are committed.”
The Cougars picked up five wins via forfeit on Wednesday to aid the triumph but were defeated in the first three matches of the evening. However, the Cougars also received big fall victories from Tomas Zamora (171), John Riffle (189) and Steven White (287) to maintain the upperhand.
“We had a couple of bad performances today but overall the guys were ready,” Lara said. “They looked great, they looked focused, and they are in shape. There’s a lot of positivity in the room and they are right where we want them to be come league finals.”
Zamora ignited a stretch of three straight pins in favor of the Cougars, eliminating his opponent one minute, 44 seconds into the first round.
“We are training hard,” Zamora said. “We are stepping it up.”
Riffle followed with a take-care-of-business mentality and quickly ended his match against Travis Woolen in 1:06.
White’s encounter with Chris Anaya lasted into the second round, but wrestling in the top position, the junior got Anaya to his back for the pin at 3:43.
“I love where we are at right now,” White said. “Our strength and conditioning coach is going to push us to make sure that our whole lineup is ready. We are going to take (league finals) as any other tournament. I think we can push through to CCS.”
In one of the more competitive duals, Condors’ 140-pounder Chase Norman, narrowly defeated CHS’s Jerome Rabena 8-5.
Trailing the MBL’s back-to-back league champ 6-3 in the second period, Rabena earned a two-point takedown to pull within on point. But Rabena couldn’t break through Norman’s defense the rest of the way.
“I knew Jerome was tough but to have that match was huge,” Lara said. “Even though he lost, he wrestled well, he performed well.”
Freshman Jimmie Lopez, who is ranked No. 3 in the section at 103 pounds, won by forfeit along with teammates Nathan Myers, Ralphy Retiz, Andras Kabai, Edgar Cuevas and Navi Pannu.
The MBL league tournament is slated for Feb. 19. The top-two wrestlers from each weight class advance to the Central Coast Section Championships.
