Grapplers host SCL tourney

Saturday meet will determine who moves on to NCS tourney|

The Sonoma Valley High wrestling Dragons will be hosting the Sonoma County League Tournament Saturday.

The meet gets under way at ?10 a.m. and should last until about 4 p.m. Sonoma finished second to Petaluma – by a single point – in the regular season, and if the Dragons win the meet, they’ll be co-champions with the Trojans.

The top three finishers in each weight class Saturday will advance to the North Coast Section meet in Hayward next weekend.

The Dragons qualified for the NCS Dual Meet Championships DIII Saturday at Lower Lake High School where they wrestled Eureka in one match and Lower Lake High School in their second meet.

Eureka, the champions of the Humboldt-Del Norte League, beat the Dragons 54-26.

The Dragons forfeited at 108, 134 and heavyweight. At 115, freshman Eric Hudson lost by a pin. At 122, freshman Zander Casillas won on a technical fall. And sophomore Macklyn Liss, at 128, lost by a fall.

At 140, sophomore Andrew Beatty won by a fall. Freshman Hank Schoeningh (147) lost by a fall as did sophomore Ryan Sherwood at 154 and junior Nick Biaggi at 162.

Senior Aiden Van Heerden (172) pinned his opponent. Senior Noah Bartolome (184), won 2-0. Sophomore Tyler Winslow (197) won by a fall while junior Dean Dunham (222) lost by a fall.

“Eureka was the #2 seed, so a loss was expected, but overall I was proud of how the guys wrestled,” said Coach Nico Saldana. “There are some areas we will need to focus more on in the wrestling room. You learn more from a loss than a win.”

In the second dual, Sonoma wrestled Lower Lake who was second in the Coastal Mountain Conference. Lower Lake edged the Dragons 36-30.

Sonoma again forfeited at 108, 134 and heavyweight classes.

At 115, Hudson lost by a fall, as did freshman Ean Schiffman at 122. Liss (128) won by a fall, while Beatty at 140, lost by a fall.

At 147, Schoeningh lost by decision, 17-12, and Sherwood at 154 lost 7-2.

Junior Mario Coronado, at 162, won 11-4 while Van Heerden won by a fall. Winslow, wrestling at 184, won by a fall, and Bartolome, wrestling at 197, won a 6-0 decision. And at 222, sophomore Gianni Palacio won by a forfeit.

“This was a fun dual meet to be part of,” Saldana said. “It went back and forth for much of the dual, unfortunately we came up short. Lower Lake wrestled well, and made our wrestlers earn their victories, which is very important going into the post-season.”

“Wins by falls, come less and less, so it’s important for our guys to wrestle the full six minutes,” Saldana continued. “Noah (Bartolome) wrestled the top wrestler from each team. Both of his opponents were ranked in the top eight in NCS, and each battled for the full six minutes. That’s what post-season wrestling is all about.”

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