Emotional win for Cuevas, De La Salle
Spartans earn seventh straight NCS team title for their late coach
De La Salle High's Bobby Cuevas appeared to be headed for a loss in the 120-pound final of the North Coast Section wresting championships on Saturday at James Logan.
Then, in the final 10 seconds of the match, everything turned around for him.
Trailing 2-1 to Windsor's Austin Fredrickson, Cuevas escaped to tie the score, then won with a takedown with 5 seconds left in the third period.
“I dedicated this tournament to my coach, who passed away last year,” said Cuevas, referring to longtime De La Salle coach Mark Halvorson, who died last year in February.
“I didn't quit. … He would always tell us, `Don't stop wrestling. Just keep working. Don't quit.' That's why I dug deep for him.”
Cuevas, a senior, started wrestling for Halvorson with the Community Youth Center-Concord club team when he was in seventh grade. De La Salle won its seventh straight NCS team title (there were no NCS championships held in 2021) and 12th in the past 14 years on Saturday with a score of 318.5. Its head coach is Jonathan Clark, who wrestled for Halvorson at De La Salle from 2000-2004 and was an assistant varsity coach and head junior varsity coach under Halvorson since 2016 before becoming the head coach.
“The whole season was dedicated to Mark,” said Clark, whose team qualified nine wrestlers for this week's California Interscholastic Federation state championships in Bakersfield. “It's been a really emotional year for all of us.”
The top three placers in each weight division qualified for the state championships. … Livermore's Timothy Cowan, ranked No. 5 in the state at 160 pounds by The California Wrestler, took an 11-2 lead early in the third period against Dublin's Dakodah Hazen on the way to capturing the 160-pound championship match 19-6. It was one of two individual titles for the Cowboys. Tallon Chambers won the 113-pound title. … The matchup of the tournament was the 152-pound final between Granada's Jackson Morgan (ranked fifth in the state) and Ukiah's Casey Aikman (ranked 12th). After a scoreless first period, Morgan held a 5-2 advantage at the end of the second period. But Aikman battled back, taking the lead on a takedown with 21 seconds remaining, then increasing the advantage to 9-6 with a near fall with 12 seconds to go. He eventually won 11-7.
Central Coast Section boys
WINNING STREAK CONTINUES FOR GILROY >> Gilroy won its 19th straight Central Coast Section team title as its wrestlers won five individual titles and had two others reach the finals Saturday at Watsonville High School.
“I'm very proud of them,” said Gilroy coach Daniel Cormier about his team, which scored 312.5 points. “We wrestled 12 and we pushed 11 through to the state tournament, which is insanely impressive.”
The CCS Wrestling Championships were not held in 2021. The top three placers in each weight class qualified for the CIF state championships this Thursday through Saturday in Bakersfield.
Cormier pointed out the team's youth. Isaiah Cortez, who is 30-0 and ranked No. 1 in the state by The California Wrestler at 106 pounds, is a freshman. He pinned his way through the tournament. Elijah Cortez, another freshman, won the 113-pound title. Cody Merrill, who won the 195-pound title and is ranked No.1 in the state in that division, is a sophomore, as is Moses Mirabel, who defeated state-ranked Ryan Luna of St. Francis to take the 132-pound crown 5-2. The Mustangs'
other individual champion was Doug Porter, who used a second-period escape to edge Sobrato's Ezekiel Lara 1-0 in the 152 final. Cormier gave a shout-out to his four wrestlers who fought through the consolation bracket and placed third. “Those are the kids that help you win,” he said. … Gilroy has won its last seven CCS titles by at least 131 points, but second-place Los Gatos cut Gilroy's lead to double-digits on Saturday. The Wildcats scored 217 points, qualifying six boys for the state championships and seeing two of its wrestlers (EJ Parco and Daniil Gorshkov) win titles, the first time since 2008 that Los Gatos has achieved two individual section championships. “Honestly, I couldn't be more proud of them,” Los Gatos coach Greg Varela said. “They did amazing. … They were very unselfish and they pushed for each other.” Parco, a De La Salle-Concord sophomore transfer, edged Gilroy's Dante Lopez 4-2 in the 138-pound final. Gorshkov edged a familiar foe, Max Felter of Palo Alto, 1-0 in the 170-pound final. Varela said that his squad broke multiple Los Gatos school records Saturday, including the most points at a CCS championships, the most finalists, the most medalists and the most qualifiers for the state championships. … Sobrato's Aiden Valencia flew through the 126-pound bracket. Valencia, who is ranked second in the state for that division, pinned his first two opponents, won by injury default in the semifinals, and dominated by technical fall in the final (22-5 final score at the 3:42 mark).
Central Coast Section girls
EVERGREEN VALLEY UNSEATS
MENLO-ATHERTON FOR TITLE >> Evergreen Valley won its first girls wrestling section team title in the 12-year history of the CCS championships. The Cougars had two individual champions and two other finalists to finish with a score of 180.5, 60.5 points more than four-time defending champion Menlo-Atherton at Watsonville.
In the 106-pound division, Evergreen Valley's Sabrina Tran quickly pinned Watsonville's Danisha Nunez at the 27-second mark.
The Cougars' other individual title came in the 150 division, where An Nguyen prevailed 10-5. MenloAtherton won at 131 pounds when Alexia Bensoussan pinned Evergreen Valley's Alana Washington in the third round (4:38).
The biggest upset of the finals occurred in the 189-pound division where unseeded Ariana Varona Rodriguez of FremontSunnyvale pinned No. 1 seed Alison Richter of Woodside at the 2:10 mark of the match. Rodriguez also outpointed Cynthia RosalesPerez of Santa Cruz in the semifinal, 4-0. … The seedings held up in most of the divisions, as 10 top seeds were victorious in the 14 division finals. Besides Rodriguez, the only wrestlers to break the No. 1 seed lock-hold were Fremont's Hana Duus in the 143 division, Gilroy's Kaiulani Garcia (160), and Alisal's Illiana Serrano (235). … The top four placers in each division qualified for the CIF state championships next weekend in Bakersfield.
North Coast Section/ Oakland Section girls
DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP RUN HELPS LOGAN TAKE SECOND >> James Logan won three of the four lightweight division titles and fell just short of a team title at Albany on Saturday.
Vintage won the team crown with 154 points, four points more than the second-place Colts. James Logan received a pair of second-round pins in the finals from Marisol Rodriguez (101) and Mikayla Garcia (106).
The Colts' Carmella Foley edged Monte Vista's Mason Harsch 9-8 for the 116 title. Vintage's only division winner was Leilani Frazer (143), who pinned Middletown's Hannah Henriquez at the 1:49 mark of the first round. … The top four placers in each division qualified for the CIF state championships next weekend in Bakersfield. … There were more pins than decisions in the finals; nine falls were achieved in the 14 finals, and five of the finals didn't make it past the first period. One of the closest finals was at 111, where Clayton Valley Charter's Abbi Cooper edged Vintage's McKaylah Youngblood 6-5.