Posted: Oct 13, 2018
Sacramento City College, ranked #4 in the State, met up with Fresno City College, #1 in the State for the finals of the Nor Cal Duals. Fresno won 24-12 in probably their toughest match of the year.
The day started off with SCC getting a bye as the number 2 seed in the tournament. In round two, SCC met up with Shasta College, the number 7 seed. SCC won 7 of 10 matches to defeat Shasta by a score of 39-15. After losing matches at 133 and 141, the Panthers trailed Shasta by a 9-6 score. That quickly changed with SCC rattled off 4 straight pins and 6 straight wins going into the last match of the night. Marques Evans (Soph-149-Cappuchino HS), Conrad Trevino (FR-157-Del Campo HS), Abel Garcia (Soph-165-Oakdale HS) and Jordan Denny (Soph-174-Folsom HS) all scored pins. Jordan Denny defeated a wrestler who he lost to in a big way earlier in the season. These two wins were followed up with a forfeit won at 184 for SCC and a decision by Brian Horn (Soph-197-Rocklin HS). The final score was SCC 39, Shasta 15.
In the semi-final round, SCC met #3 seed, Modesto JC. This was a back and forth match which was not decided until the 197 pound match. The Panthers lost the first two matches to fall behind 9-0. Ryun Ortiz (Soph-125-Potomac HS, VA) lost a very tough 12-10 match to #8 ranked Houston Scibek at 125. SCC got on the board at 141 where Michael Mello (FR-141-Oak Ridge HS) got a major decision in his first time at the weight. After Dylan Crawford (Soph-149-Lodi HS) lost a very tough 13-12 match, Manuel Curry got the Panthers going again by securing a Fall. Abel Garcia followed that with a 9-4 decision to give SCC its first lead 13-12. After Isaac Bertolotto (Soph-174-Turlock HS) lost a tough OT match, Bronson Harmon (FR-184-Oakdale HS) got a nice 11-5 win to once again give the Panthers a 1 point lead. SCC then sent out Steven Abbott (Soph-184-Orland HS) to try to extend the lead or even make it a shutdown match. He did not let the team down as he pinned his opponent in the first period giving SCC a 22-15 lead and seal the victory. SCC lost the last match but held on to a 22-21 win.
This took SCC to the finals against Fresno City. SCC started out with a bang as unranked Ryun Ortiz knocked off #7 ranked Louie Bravo to give SCC the first team points and a 3-0 team score. Fresno then reeled of four straight wins including a pin to take a 15-3 lead. The other three losses for the Panthers in that grouping were all close and winnable. Abel Garcia got the Panthers back on the board with a 4-1 win over #2 ranked Conrad Lopez. After another close loss by Isaac Bertolotto, Fresno lead 18-6 with three matches to go. Steven Abbott stepped out and won 6-2 over #8 Jerrin Dean to close the score to 18-9. At 197, Brian Horn came from a 2-1 deficit to defeat #3 ranked Matt Martinez by a 6-2 score. This put the Panthers within reach going into the final match as they were only down 18-12. Unfortunately Eddie Zamora was unable to get a win and SCC fell to Fresno by a 24-12 score. SCC finished in 2nd place.
On the season, SCC is now 5-2 in duals with their only losses to #1 Fresno and #2 Cerritos. SCC will head to Lassen on Wednesday, October 17 for the start of the BIG 8 Conference matches. SCC has won 7 straight BIG 8 Championships and look to add one more to the list. Following the dual on Wednesday, SCC will travel to Cuesta College for the Meathead Movers Tournament.
Things are looking up after a number of injuries slowed the team down. The team is very healthy and getting wrestlers down to the weight they need to compete at. Look for big things in the near future on the trek to the State Championships.
