Senior Night saw Escalon wrestlers take down both Hilmar and Orestimba in Trans-Valley League action on Jan. 22, with several seniors able to get on the mats for wins in front of the home crowd.
Later in the week, the grapplers saw some success at the Tim Brown Memorial Tournament, hosted by Foothill High School and staged in Sacramento.
Wednesday night, though, the EHS gym saw a good crowd turn out for the double dual with TVL opponents, and both the JV and varsity squads got wins.
JV wrestlers got a 48-12 win over Hilmar and 54-0 over Orestimba.
“We had three matches against Hilmar and won all three,” said coach Derek Scott.
On the mats, Andrew Gastello, 145; Marco Mendoza, 152 and Christian Manzo, 160, all won by pin. Other Escalon victories came via forfeit.
Against Orestimba, five JV matches were wrestled, again all taking wins by pin. They included Fabricio Gallo, 140; Gastello, 147; Hunter Calton, 184; Daniel Gonzalez, 197 and Nathan Reichert, 220.
“It was a good night because all seven seniors got to wrestle and win,” said Scott.
Senior Colton Camara won by pin at 145 in a varsity 52-22 victory over Hilmar, with Josh Redding, 152; Frankie Bavaro, 160; Austin Martinez; 170 and Reichert, 220, all getting pins as well. In the Escalon match against Orestibma, Camara won at 145 to lead Escalon to a 69-6 win. Senior Clayton Keener was a winner at 152, Bavaro at 160, Martinez at 170 and Dominic Freeseha at 220.
Senior Tyler Lawrence is expected to be back in action this week, after missing some time due to injury.
“Also wrestling well in that match, filling in at the last minute, was Chase Tompson at 132 pounds, he got a win by pin,” Scott said of the Orestimba match.
On Saturday, 11 Cougars headed to the Tim Brown tourney, which saw wrestlers from California, Oregon and Nevada compete.
“Four of our kids made it to the second day,” Scott explained. “Making the top 16 but not medaling were Colton Camara at 145 and Matt Gallego at 182. We were happy with them, these are two guys that could place at the Masters so this was good experience.”
Coming home with hardware were A.J. Camarena at 195 pounds, going 6-2 for seventh place.
“It was his best tournament of the season,” Scott said.
Freeseha, who may have gotten a higher placing taken away from him due to a scoring discrepancy in a quarter final match, still made his appearance count, taking fifth place with a 6-2 mark at 220 pounds.
“We were really encouraged with the four that made it to the second day,” Scott said of the quartet, with two of them brining home medals from the prestigious tournament. “This was a huge venue for our kids.”
The team travels to Ripon tonight, Jan. 29, for a match that could decide the Trans-Valley League championship. Escalon, undefeated in duals, faces Ripon, which has one loss. If Escalon wins, they claim TVL; if Ripon wins, it could be a tie for the title.
Weekend action coming up will see the JV and varsity wrestlers head to Pitman for a tournament.
