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Dragon pins end Analy upset bid

Seniors Lacy, Amandoli, frosh Elster seal SCL dual win, King of Mat Saturday

Following an action-packed week in which they opened the Sonoma County League dual-match season with a strong road win and finished a solid sixth out of 26 teams in their 30th annual Valley of the Moon Classic, Sonoma Valley High School’s varsity wrestlers found themselves immersed in an SCL seesaw-dual thriller.

Battling in front of Wednesday evening’s large and loud Golton Hall crowd, the Dragons got all they could handle from a deep, upset-minded Analy squad that held a 30-27 lead with just three matches remaining.

But Sonoma, which had forged in front of the visiting Tigers behind dominating wins by co-captain seniors Giordi Serafini and Sam Denning, and junior Max Schimm, only to see its advantage turn into another deficit, used clutch pins by seniors Alex Ohan and Jonny Amandoli, and freshman Dalton Elster, to seal a 45-30 victory.

Leading the triumphant Dragons were Elster’s reverse-cradle, first-round pinning of Gomber at 220 pounds; Amandoli’s win by way of a first-round pin over Johnson at 195; Ohan’s second-round pin-win over Schuman at 182; Serafini’s second-round pinning of Cidio at 132; Denning’s 21-3 technical-fall victory over Dunn at 138; Schimm’s 15-4 major win over Carter at 160; senior co-captain Aidan Lacy’s first-round pin-win over Wells in the heavyweight division; and junior Harris Meglin’s third-round pinning of Bizano at 120.

Sustaining Sonoma’s losses were senior Peter Gray’s 6-1 to Hagle at 113 pounds; junior Tommy Jordan’s 7-1 to Wight at 145; junior Chris Lohnes’ second-round pinning by Schneider at 106; sophomore Jake Randuch’s third-round pinning by Bagan at 126; and frosh Brandon Ruiz’s third-round pinning by Rypka at 152.

For Lacy, Denning and Amandoli, their victories came on the heels of their gold-medal performances at last Saturday’s Valley of the Moon Classic, where Serafini and Schimm earned third-place medals, and Meglin a fifth-place medal.

In Wednesday’s junior varsity bouts, Sonoma senior Sebastian Amara was a winner, while frosh Austin Beltran, Trevor Martinelli and David Price came up short.

The varsity Dragons will wrestle in the tough annual King of the Mat Tournament in Windsor at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 12.