LODI, TOKAY SET FOR WRESTLING SHOWDOWN
A pair of heavyweights will meet on the mat tonight at Tokay High — in more ways than one — when Lodi and Tokay meet for the final Tri-City Athletic League dual of the season.
Yes, the heavyweight match of Lodi High’s Ben Bishop and Tokay’s James McClain will be a much-anticipated match, but the teams themselves are the heavyweights — the class of the TCAL.
Lodi and Tokay are both 4-0 in league matches. Since the final league standing consist half of league duals and half of the TCAL tournament, the winner of the dual will have the inside track to the league title.
It’s not the first time these two squads have met with the TCAL title on the line — since the two Lodi public school have been reunited in the league, each meeting has determined the champion. Tokay has taken two of the three, with Lodi winning the title in 2016.
“I love it,” Tokay coach Ed Carlos said. “It’s great for the wrestling community in Lodi to know that both programs are producing quality wrestlers, and quality student athletes.”
Added Lodi coach Keith Mettler, “It’s always exciting, because it has worked out that way that it means something.”
Both teams are coming off of large tournaments in the final weekend before postseason wrestling begins, with Lodi at the 80-team Rumble in the Jungle in Turlock and Tokay at the 82-team MidCals in Gilroy.
Lodi had three wrestlers on the podium in Turlock, with Livio Mamola placing fourth at 184 pounds, Nick Jasperson placing fifth at 154 pounds and Caleb Byrd placing fifth at 162 pounds. Tokay had one wrestler place, with Matt Cooper going 5-2 to place fifth at 197 pounds.
The evening will be filled with anticipated matchups of wrestlers ranked in the section and state rankings. One weight class, the 197-pound class, has a wrestler from each school in the honorable mention category of the state rankings — Mamola for Lodi and Cooper for Tokay.
There’s also Tokay’s Carter Bozovich (ranked 16th at 172 pounds), Trenton Edalgo (ranked 37th at 140) and Seth Chaney (honorable mention at 122).
“Is it wrong for me to say I’m looking forward to all of them?” Carlos said about the individual matchups. “... Win or lose, it’s going to be a great night of wrestling.”
And, of course, it’s not just a party for the boys, with Tokay fielding a full girls squad and Lodi filling 12 of the 14 weight classes on the girls team. Tokay, the twotime defending section champion in girls wrestling, could see an emerging challenger in its own backyard.
“It’s exciting and nerve-racking at the same time. You want to win,” Carlos said. “Adding the girls in there, it adds more people who have never been introduced to wrestling before. We try to get the whole community out. You have girls that have never been out to wrestling before, and youth kids who are going to be going to either school.”
Lodi and Tokay are two of the teams in the league that field a full (or close to full) girls squad. Lincoln is the third.
“I think our girls have come a long way,” Mettler said. “Whether they’re good enough to compete with Tokay, we’ll see tomorrow.”
Wrestling will begin at 5 p.m. with the junior varsity boys, followed by the girls match at roughly 6 p.m., and the varsity boys match at about 7 p.m.