What De La Salle of Concord has been to high school football in Northern California in terms of excellence, Gilroy has been to prep wrestling in the Central Coast Section.
The No. 1 ranked Mustangs, who have won the last 11 consecutive CCS team championships, will enter this weekend’s tournament at Independence High School as the prohibitive favorite once again. But lurking in the shadows, like the proverbial shark from “Jaws”, is Santa Clara Valley Athletic League champion Fremont.
“They’re still the favorites,” admitted Fremont assistant coach Daniel McCune, “but we’re closing the gap, and we’re going to beat them eventually.”
Two years ago, the Firebirds finished 16th in the team standings at CCS with 66 points, while Gilroy was piling up 210 points. Last year, the Firebirds rose to second place with 114 points, but were still a far cry from Gilroy’s 277. This year, the Firebirds are hoping to close the gap even more.
Fremont qualified 13 of its wrestlers for CCS, including a pair of No. 2 seeds in Angelo Reyes at 106 pounds and Dominick Huerta at 160. Huerta finished sixth at 160 in last year’s section tourney.
Gilroy, meanwhile, boasts six No. 1 seeds–Nicolas Aguilar at 106, Joe Delgado at 113, Jesse Vasquez at 126, Mark Penyachek at 170, Matt Penyachek at 195 and Noe Garcia at 220–and three No. 2 seeds–Gavin Melendez at 120, Alex Felix at 132 and Tony Andrade at 182. The Penyachek brothers are both defending CCS champions.
The selection committee’s choice of Silver Creek’s Sebastian Marin as the No. 1 seed at 132 ahead of the Mustangs’ Felix, considered by many to be the best at that weight, was a surprise that impacts Fremont standout Ezra Clark, who is the third seed.
“The seeding hurts Ezra,” said McCune, noting he will face the Gilroy ace earlier in the tournament than was expected. Felix and Clark have faced each other twice already this season, with Felix coming out the victor both times.
Also representing the Firebirds at CCS are Jeremiah Holbrook, seeded fourth at 285, and David Tran, seeded sixth at 138. Rounding out Fremont’s list of CCS qualifiers are Ryan Lee at 113, Elijah Clark at 120, Josh Aceves at 126, Christian Reyes at 145, Nela Feliciano-Takafua at 152, Javier Contreras at 170 and Michael Alva at 220. Jisiah Ybarra is an alternate at 195.
Fremont, which claimed the SCVAL title by winning the league tournament after finishing in a three-way tie with Monta Vista and Wilcox for the regular season dual meet De Anza Division crown, has been struggling a bit with illness of late, but McCune feels the Firebirds will be ready when the section tourney opens on Friday.
“Hopefully, we’ll be healthy in time for the tournament,” he said. “Luckily, we have no physical injuries right now.”
Holbrook had suffered a slight quadriceps strain in his finals match at the league tourney, but appears to be close to 100 percent heading into CCS.
Monta Vista, which finished third at the SCVAL finals, is coming off of a ninth-place finish at CCS last year and will be led by two-time CCS placer Max McCann at 138 pounds.
McCann, who was fourth at 120 pounds in 2013 and fourth at 132 in 2014, is seeded second at 138 pounds this year behind Gunn’s Ian Cramer. It was Cramer who defeated McCann by decision in the SCVAL finals recently.
Other seeded Matadors include Nick Kolesov (fifth at 145), Kenji Kadokura (fifth at 170) and Adam Rizk (sixth at 220). Also qualifying for MV are Kishora Adimulam at 113, Owen Malone at 120, Hadi Hamwi at 132, Austin Wu at 152, Leon Rover at 160, James Migdal at 182, Jeff Ellis at 195 and Shayan Eslamian at 285.
Other SCVAL wrestlers who qualified for CCS include Cupertino’s Akhil Vega (106), Christophe Peters (126), Miguel Reyes (132), Justin Marks (152), Newad Habtum (160), Matt Kelly (182) and David Li (285); Lynbrook’s Lucas Hong (113), Hayden Ito (120), Matthew Blackburn (145), Gavin Dersh-Fisher (182), Logan Stormo (195) and Devyn Ito (220); and Homestead’s Joey Coogan (113), Raven Bautista (126), Bryce Flickner (152), Zechariah Asselin (170) and Dylan Robinson (195).
The top three placers in each weight class will advance to the state tournament in Bakersfield.
