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Cougars Score Non-League Wrestling Win Over Enochs
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Wrestlers got in some action at home this week, as well as the varsity squad heading to a tournament at nearby Modesto Junior College on Saturday.

Thursday night, the JV and varsity took the mats against visiting Enochs High. The JV squad took a 42-24 win, with seven matches wrestled. Escalon won five of the seven, with the teams combining to forfeit in other weights.

Chaz Welborn won by pin at 119 pounds, starting off the string of wins, all by pin, for the JV grapplers. Also taking their matches were Lestat Velasquez, 130 pounds; Aaron Dizon, 135; Danny Luna, 140; Dominic Freeseha, 160 pounds.

"I thought we looked real good, there were a lot of forfeits but the guys who did wrestle did well," said head coach Derek Scott.

The varsity also got a victory in the non-league action, with a final score of 48-27.

"We were kind of worried about it, we brought up five or six guys who had never been varsity before," Scott explained of filling some weight classes in the absence of varsity wrestlers still with the football team.

Six Cougars won matches, along with some forfeit wins, to take the meet.

Cole McCoy won by pin at 119 pounds; Tyler Lawrence scored a win by pin at 130. Kenny Ring, 135 pounds, earned a 16-9 decision; Jason Robbins won by pin at 140 pounds. Garrett Wade took a 3-0 decision at 160 pounds and Andrew Baroni scored a win by pin at 171 pounds.

"We thought we did pretty good and we'll get a couple of our football guys back for Wednesday," Scott said of traveling to the Hughson Duals on Dec. 22.

Nine wrestlers went to the MJC Invitational on Saturday and four came home with medals. Third place honors went to Jason Robbins, 4-2 at 135 pounds and Andrew Baroni, 4-1, 160 pounds. Picking up medals for fourth place were Tyler Lawrence, 4-1 at 125 and Mike Simoes, 4-2 at 171 pounds. Wrestlers getting in some matches but not getting to the medal round were Max Yang at 103 pounds, Cole McCoy, 119; Danny Luna, 140; Carlos Algandar, 145; Garrett Wade, 152.

Scott noted that Lawrence has been to three tournaments and medaled in each one, while Baroni has equaled that feat and lost just one close match at MJC, keeping him out of the championship round.

Along with the wrestlers heading to the Hughson Duals this week, the squad will send several team members to Reno the week between Christmas and New Year's for a tournament there.