For years, Channel League wrestling supremacy has come down to a battle between Dos Pueblos and Ventura.
Buena has shaken things up this season. The Bulldogs clinched a tie for the league dual meet title by handily beating the Chargers 54-13 Tuesday night at Sovine Gym. Last week, they knocked off Ventura.
“Things are starting to fall into place for us,” Buena coach Eddie Mendoza said. “We have seven seniors on the team, we have guys who have been together for awhile. Yeah, things are going well.”
After DP’s Jake Uyesaka recorded a first-period pin over Josh Mizrachi at 154 pounds to close the gap to 22-13, the Bulldogs pulled away by winning the next three bouts. At 162 pounds, Bill Slason broke a 1-1 tie with DP’s Alex Garcia by scoring three points in the final period to win 4-1. Then, Isaiah Young-Brown scored a 15-0 technical fall over Andy Garcia at 172 pounds and Grant Marquez pinned Shane Brown in 1:38. Those results expanded Buena’s lead to 36-13.
Dos Pueblos forfeited the next two matches and Buena’s Nick Justiano put the final touch on the Bulldogs’ victory by pinning DP’s Ivan Govea at 287 pounds.
“We’ve been focused,” Martinez said. “We’ve had long losing streaks against Ventura and DP and we wanted to put an end to it. Now, we’re going to the CIF Duals, and we’ve never done that.”
Dos Pueblos coach Anthony Califano acknowledged that Buena was the better team. But, he noted, his team could have wrestled better than it did on Tuesday.
“What I told the team was they were clearly better. There’s no question about that,” Califano said of the Bulldogs. “But I also think they were tougher. I can live with a team being better; they are more experienced and more mature. But, they were also tougher, and that’s what we have to work on, just being tougher.”
The Chargers came out on the short end of three close matches: Wynter Triplett lost a 3-0 decision to Nick Simpson at 108 pounds, Jeffy Uyesaka fell 4-0 against Austin Bach at 128 and Alex Garcia’s three-point decision against Slassen.
“A couple of those matches could have gone our way,” said Califano.
Besides Jake Uyesaka’s pin, the Chargers other wins were a 6-4 overtime decision by sophomore Cameron Cox against senior John Morales at 115 pounds and an 11-3 major decision by senior and two-time league champion Chad Lampe over Buena senior Jordan Davis at 132 pounds.
Dos Pueblos is back on its home mat next Thursday against Ventura in a battle for second place in the league.
