Bulldog wrestlers secure Valley League title

By Bill Tamburrino

The Bulldogs’ varsity wrestling squad won the Valley League championship after dominating Del Norte High School on the road in a 66-9 victory to earn sole possession of the league title.

Six Bulldogs registered pins and four received forfeits, which put 60 team points on the scoreboard.

Jordan Castro (108) started off the match with a pin over Preston Nichols in 1:22 as only three of the 14 bouts went the full six minutes.

Jacob Rodriguez (117), Vince Adair (128), Logan White (132) and Arturo Osario (140) all received forfeit wins.

Beau Bailey (122) went the distance in a 10-6 decision over Ben

Ludwin. After the third bout was wrestled Ramona had a 33-0 lead.

Cameron Hakala won by fall over Christian Elgart in 1:25 in the 147 bout. Lee Hernandez only took 1:46 to pin Sawyer Sullaway in the 154-pound duel. EJ Schmidt (162) then scored 2 points in the final 30 seconds to record a 6-4 decision over Jordan Mendoza.

Del Norte scored its first points of the match in the 172 bout when the Nighthawks’ Michael Bulkin hung on to win a 9-8 decision over Alex Gomez.

Ramona’s Austin Koch lost by fall to Rey Bucat in the 184 bout and the score was 48-9 going into the final three bouts.

Raul Briseno took less than 30 seconds to pin Aaron Schackman in the 195 bout. Trae Rodriguez (222) pinned Cory Lank in 2:27 and Leo Duron finished the match in 1:59 with a pin over Chad Gedanken in the heavyweight bout.

After securing the league title, first-year head coach David Tomaino gathered the team for a photo.

The 2014 Valley League Champions will advance to the CIF match on Saturday in hopes of qualifying wrestlers for the Masters the following week. The top wrestlers from the Masters advance to the State Meet in Bakersfield, March 7 and 8.