Y-S wrestlers fill up North
Some familiar Butte View League foes will square off when the Northern Section Masters Tournament gets underway in Redding on Friday.
Three sets of BVL wrestlers will clash in the first round, starting with 127-pounders Montana Payne of Sutter against Gridley's Jon Rugierello.
Matt Hulsey of Wheatland takes to the mat against Kenny Slagle of Sutter at 132 pounds, and the Pirates' Andrew Mathis and the Bulldogs' Rowdy Robinson meet at 137 pounds.
“We would prefer it not to happen,” Sutter High coach Ryan Reynolds, who guided the Bulldogs to the BVL championship, winning both the dual and tournament competitions. “The more you wrestle someone, lets say you beat them, the more they learn how to beat you.”
Reynolds said that is exactly what happened in the 162-pound division in the sub-section tournament.
“Tyler Holt beat the Orland kid (Aaron Argueta) twice soundly and at division (Agueta) beat Tyler because he knew how to defend him,” Reynolds said.
Thirty-eight Yuba-Sutter matmen qualified for the Northern Section tournament, with the top two in each weight division moving on to the state championships.
Sutter's Chad Moran, at 154 pounds, and Troy Robison, at 217 pounds, enter the section meet as Div. II sub-section champions.
In all, 12 Bulldogs qualified for the Masters tournament. Wheatland is sending 11 to the tourney, while Live Oak is represented by nine wrestlers and Gridley has six in the brackets.
Moran defeated Live Oak's Paul Nevarez, 7-5, in the sub-section final, the first time the two had actually wrestled. If the two are going to meet again it would be in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
Wheatland's Chris Gifford also is in the 154-pound bracket, one of eight divisions in which three area wrestlers are competing.
The 127-pound class has four locals battling for the two final spots. Wheatland's Kenny Smith and Live Oak's Mark Alverez join Payne and Rugierello in the division.
The remaining Sutter wrestlers are: Kenny Hicks (105), Timmy Nevarez (114), who wrestled for Yuba City last year, Cody Wirth (121), Michael Allen (142), Derek Carothers (147) and Chris Benson (173).
Wheatland also is sending Tommy Mathis (114), Rusty Hulsey (142), Jeff Sellon (147), Matt Rasmussen (162), Matt Farinha (191), Brian Larcom (217) and heavyweight Alex Pinto.
Live Oak's other representatives are Steven Alverez (105), Masood Noman (121), Alfredo Valenzuela (147), Brandyn Harned (173) and Ernie Caratachea (191).
Gridley's count includes Troy Cox (121), Joaquin Lopez (132), Deniko Sisk (137), Spencer Anderson (142) and heavyweight Ivan Medina.
