Southwest not satisfied with being second
Southwest High wrestling coach Mick Arteaga is tired of certain letters in a specific combination: S-O-U-T-H D-A-D-E. The Eagles recently completed a stellar season, winning their first region title since 1988 and their first GMAC championship since
2004, which was — coincidentally — Arteaga’s sophomore season as a Southwest wrestler.
Yet, the Godzilla-like presence of the South Dade Buccaneers still hovers over the Southwest program like a shadow — inescapable for the better part of the past decade.
Southwest, which has never won a state wrestling title, finished second this season, doing so for the second straight year. South Dade walked away with its eighth straight Class 3A state title on March 6.
“I even hear it from my own parents,” said Arteaga, who has completed four seasons as Southwest’s coach. “They say, ‘When are you going to beat South Dade?’ ”
In actuality, Southwest did beat South Dade — twice — just not at state.
On Feb. 6, Southwest snapped South Dade’s 10-year streak of GMAC titles, winning at Coral Reef. Then, on Feb. 27, Southwest ended South Dade’s seven-year run of region championships, winning at Coral Park.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, at the state championships in Kissimmee, South Dade returned to form, piling up 164 points. Southwest finished with 130.5 points.
“Thirty points in basketball is a blowout,” Arteaga said. “But in wrestling, it just came down to a few matches.”
That margin between first and second place represents a major improvement by the Eagles from 2020, when the score differential was 91 points.
“We were close this year,” said Southwest wrestler Sebastian Melguizo, a two-time individual state champion. “[South Dade was] nervous.”
THE RIVALRY
Vic Balmeceda, who has led South Dade to 14 state titles since becoming the Bucs’ interim coach in 1997, admits there was a “realistic chance” of a Southwest championship this year.
But Balmeceda used Southwest’s success to motivate his Bucs wrestlers.
“I put our second-place GMAC trophy on top of the water cooler in our wrestling room,” Balmeceda said. “Our kids hated that — none of them wanted to see a secondplace trophy.
“That trophy was almost mocking our kids.”
Southwest qualified 13 wrestlers for state, which was two more than South Dade, giving the Bucs very little margin for error.
Yet the Bucs won three individual state titles: Adrian Morales at 113 pounds; Joshua Swan (170); and Sawyer Bartelt (195).
Southwest had one state champ — Melguizo at 132 pounds.
“Southwest was impressive — very impressive — but that made it more entertaining,” Balmeceda said. “It gave us an underdog role that we hadn’t experienced in a ... long time.
“It was fun.” Balmeceda, though, couldn’t resist what could be seen as a dig at the Eagles.
“Southwest was joyous to take second place last year,” Balmeceda said. “They pulled it off last minute, and they were on the podium celebrating.
“This year, because they won regionals, and they had higher expectations, they weren’t quite as happy.”
Melguizo, who has earned a wrestling scholarship to Campbell University next fall, said that 2021 silver medal wasn’t how he wanted his prep career to end.
“I wanted to beat [South Dade]. I wanted to be the captain of the best team ever to come out of Southwest,” said Melguizo, who aspires to become a physician’s assistant.
“We beat them twice, but we didn’t beat them when it counted.”
BRIGHT FUTURE
Southwest has eight state qualifiers set to return for next season. That includes sophomore Danny Martinez, who won an individual state title as a freshman and finished third this year.
The other returning state qualifiers are: Gabriel Tellez, Kevin Placer, Favian Oliva, Lester Martinez, Adrian Ochoa, Ansel Cervantes and Adrian Sans.
“We have a lot of top guys coming back,” said Martinez, who has a 4.4 GPA and recruiting interest from Penn and Lehigh. “I think our team will grow over the next two years.”
Martinez said South Dade’s success is largely attributed to their club program, called the Gladiators.
Southwest’s club program, Eagle Empire, has been enhanced recently, with Denys Ribot coaching wrestlers ages 5 through 10; and Desmond Moore from 11 and beyond.
The Eagles also have some of their graduates doing well in college wrestling, including Alex Urquiza at North Carolina State and Franco Valdez at Tennessee Chattanooga.
Indeed, the future appears to be bright for Southwest wrestling. But the shadow cast by South Dade and Balmeceda — who, ironically, is a Southwest High alumnus — is still the tyrannosaurus rex in the room.
There’s just no escaping the Bucs for the Eagles, who wrestled against them in seven meets this past season.
Balmeceda believes he has an advantage over all schools because South Dade draws many kids who are the sons of migrant farmers or come from tough neighborhoods in the Homestead area.
Arteaga believes his mostly middle-class kids outwork everyone else in their relentless effort to win state.
Balmeceda, who at age 50 is 18 years older than Arteaga, said he’s mellowed in how he looks at the wrestling landscape.
“In the old days, I used to be angry and would never give an opponent credit,” Balmeceda said. “Now I take pride that the two best teams in the state come from the same district.
“Without Southwest, it would be boring.”
Arteaga, meanwhile, burns to be No. 1.
“Our goal is to win state,” Arteaga said, “not to [merely] compete.”