Ramona wrestlers overpower Orange Glen, San Marcos
Coach Steve Koch’s Bulldog wrestling team traveled to Orange Glen and won their second consecutive Valley League match by besting the Patriots 57-18 on Jan. 15. The Bulldogs earlier beat San Marcos in the Dawg House 39-29.
It was the depth of the Bulldog program that earned the victory in San Marcos. Ramona fielded wrestlers at every weight and San Marcos had to forfeit three weight classes. Those forfeits gave Ramona the victory.
Connor Koch opened the match for the Bulldogs in the 103 -pound class. Koch Pinned John Nunez in 3:01. Jared Widner (140) and Brodie Chenowth (145) also recorded pins in the match. Widner beat Aber Bentancourt in 1:50, and Chenowth bested Drasko Bogdanovich in 1:57.
Eddie Delgado (112) followed Koch and lost by fall to tie the score at six. Spaso Ilich gave the Bulldogs by recording a decision in the 119-pound bout. Sean Conroy lost by decision in the 125 bout and the score was tied at nine after four bouts.
Waldo Saldivar (130) lost by decision and Max Hughes (135) lost a major decision and the Knights led 16 to 9. Widner and Chenowth recorded pins and Ramona led 21-16.
Connor Martin (152) and Adrian Ceballos both dropped decisions and Travis Houry lost by fall in the 171 bout and the Dawgs trailed 29-21. Brian Orr (189), Logan Pierce (215) and Brett Germain (275) all won by forfeit and the Dawgs took the match.
“San Marcos is an up and coming program,” said Coach Steve Koch. “They have a good coaching staff and they are the most improved team in our league. We knew going in that we would win because of the forfeits, but we also knew that they have good wrestlers in every weight class.”
In the Orange Glen competition, the first six Bulldogs sealed the fate of the Pats as Ramona won its first six bouts. Koch (103), Ilich (119), Conroy (125), Saldivar (130) and Hughes (135) all recorded pins for the Dawgs. Delgado (112) won by a decision in overtime and Ramona had the match cinched with a 33-0 lead.
Jared Widner fell behind in his 140-pound bout and made a comeback attempt but fell by decision.
Brodie Chenowth (145) then pinned Eric Salazar in 1:36 to give Ramona a 39-3 lead. Orange Glen won its second bout in the 152-pound bout. Thomas Pacheco lost a last-second 5-4 decision to Ted Anderson.
The Bulldogs then recorded four straight pins. Connor Martin (160), won by fall. Logan Pierce won an exhibition bout at 171 by fall. Brian Orr recorded the fastest pin of the match when he beat George Roche in 15 seconds. Brett Germain then pinned Tyler Garrin in the third period and The Dawgs led 57-12 going into the heavyweight bout.
Marshall Thrasher, who usually wrestles in the 215 division, answered the challenge and gave up over 60 pounds to Glen Flores. Thrasher battled gamely but Flores’ size prevailed and resulted in a pin. The final score was 57-18.
The win gives the Dawgs a 2-1 record in the Valley League.
“We asked several wrestlers to move up a division to fill some voids due to injuries. They answered the challenge and it resulted in a team victory,” stated Koch.
The short ride to Orange was like a home match as the Bulldogs had as many, if not more, fans in the gym for the match.
Junior varsity
The junior varsity also took advantage of four forfeits to beat San Marcos 48-23. Devin Rhodes (160) and Colton Houlihan (189) recorded pins in the match for the Dawgs. Lorenzo Lizotte (103), Alex Ghareeb (112), Bryan Coane (130) and Marco Herrera (140) won decisions in the match. Johnson Peterson, Landon Jones, John Berg and Marshall won by forfeit.
Rio Rodriguez (103) and William Wenberg (125) won decisions in exhibition matches. Robert Hill (140), Christian Wren (130), and Andrew Lisowski (171) recorded pins in exhibition matches.