On the road Wednesday at Hughson, there wasn’t much competition for Escalon’s wrestlers. The JV team took a 54-0 win, the varsity prevailed 54-18.

At the JV level, Ethan Krieger won by pin at 138 pounds in the only contested match, with plenty of forfeit wins for the young squad.

At the JV level, wins came for Cameron DuBois at 160 pounds, Erik Espinoza at 220 and Daniel Gonzalez at heavyweight.

“There were only seven matches,” coach Derek Scott said of the varsity action, noting Hughson just doesn’t have enough wrestlers to fill all the weight classes this season.

It was, however, a busy weekend for Escalon grapplers, as the varsity went to the Foothill Tournament in Sacramento and the girls went to Tokay.

“That is a really tough girls tournament, half the state was there, everyone in the northern part of the state,” Scott said of the event in Lodi.

At 101 pounds, Mikayla Vega went 4-1 for a third place finish, while teammate Adela Ley-Han went 3-2 at 101 pounds and took fourth. They faced each other in the third-fourth place match.

“Mikayla went in ranked eighth and Adela was not ranked,” Scott said, pointing out both did better than anticipated. “Adela beat a section-ranked wrestler to get to the third-fourth place match.”

At 121 pounds, Tristin King compiled a 2-2 mark and was one round away from placing.

At the Foothill varsity tournament in Sacramento on Saturday, there were roughly 75 teams, including most of those in the section.

“We had two placers,” Scott said. “At 220 pounds, Daniel Gonzalez placed eighth, he just kind of ran out of gas the second day, he went 5-3 and beat some kids ranked in the section.

“Cameron DuBois had the best tournament he has ever wrestled, the second day he beat the third- and fifth-ranked guys in the section, he went 6-1 and took third place.”

The placement was especially satisfying, said Scott, since DuBois is one of those wrestlers that works hard at the sport every day, getting the most out of his ability.

“He works seven days a week, really hard,” Scott said. “In this tournament, if he got behind early, he just outfought them and as a coach, I am really proud of him. He really has become a leader for us.”

Other wrestlers performing well but not placing for Escalon were Alex Jimenez, 2-2 at 113 pounds, Fabricio Gallo, 3-2 at 145 and Marco Mendoza, 2-2 at 170 pounds.

This week, the Cougars have a tough task ahead of them, traveling to take on undefeated Ripon in league action on Wednesday night, Jan. 20.

“That will be a real tough dual meet,” Scott said.

On Saturday, tournament action will see the girls and JV team at Enochs while the varsity boys go to the Gregori Tournament in Modesto.