Wrestlers lose to Poway, earn second in regional tourney
By Bill Tamburrino
The Bulldog wrestling team had its busiest week of the season.
The Dawgs entered the week undefeated in dual meets. They suffered their first loss of the season in the Palomar League opener to Poway.
The Dawgs then bounced back in the Mater Dei Dual Meet Tournament before dropping the championship match to Olympian High School. Coach Steve Koch’s grapplers are now 7-2 overall and 0-1 in league matches.
Ramona lost to Poway 80-0 in the Palomar League opener last Thursday. Poway is ranked number three in the state and is undefeated with a 9-0 dual meet record.
“We battled but we don’t have the depth that they have,” said Koch. “They brought three full teams and had 30 wrestlers that they didn’t even weigh in make the trip just to cheer on their wrestlers. Our frosh did a very good job. They won six bouts and wrestled well in several other bouts.”
Koch said he is proud of the way the Bulldogs bounced back at Mater Dei tournament.
“We won four dual matches and had three wrestlers win gold medals, three won silver medals, and two took home bronze medals as we took second place as a team,” he said.
Kevin Conroy (132), Isaiah Ilich (138) and Devin Rhodes (170) each went 5-0 at Mater Dei and took home gold medals as champions in their weight classes.
Vince Adair (106), Noe Hernandez (182) and Jureall Simmons (280) recorded 4-1 records and won silver medals for their efforts.
Brian Coane (152) and Jacob Grybow (160) took home third place medals for posting 3-2 records.
As a team Ramona opened with a 78-6 win over Lincoln Preparatory High School. They then beat Palo Verde 61-13, Calexico 54-21 and Eastlake High School 53-15 to advance to the championship match. The Dawgs dropped the championship match 42-33 to take second place in the tourney.
Ramona will travel to Rancho Bernardo High School to take on the Broncos in a Palomar League match Thursday at 7 p.m.
Koch also praised his lower division wrestlers. Austin Koch (170) won the Mira Mesa Junior Varsity Tournament and took second place at the San Clemente Frosh/Soph tourney. Trae Rodriguez won a gold medal at Mira Mesa in the 220-pound class.
Troy Jordan (135) won the Vista Frosh/Soph Tourney, and Blake Hakala (120) won a silver medal for his second-place finish.