Sophomores show skills at Calif. tourney

The competition was rough and tough and the Fallon wrestling team had a solid showing.

Sophomore grapplers Sam Goings and Trae Workman were each one win away from the medal round at the Temecula Valley (Calif.) High School “Battle for the Belt” tournament last weekend.

As a team, the Wave finished 42nd out of 82 teams with 30.5 points.

Goings (138 pounds) and Workman (145) each lost in the consolation quarterfinals, just one match shy of competing for at least eighth place.

“I think Temecula was to see where we want to be,” Fallon coach Mitch Overlie said. “It’s a different world. I felt like we wrestled OK. Our match-to-match intensity has to stay the same.”

Goings, who had a first-round bye, beat Arturo Osario of Ramona (Calif.), 8-0, in the second round, but was pinned by Joseph Dominguez of St. Jon Bosco (Calif.) in the first period in the round of 16.

In the consolation bracket, Goings beat Mark Rodriguez of Centennial (Las Vegas), 9-0, and Troy Charles of La Costa Canyon (Calif.), 4-3. One match away from a medal, Goings was pinned by Sean O’Rourke of Mater Dei Catholic (Calif.) in the second period. O’Rourke placed seventh.

Like Goings, Workman was one match away from the medal round, but was pinned by Chris Cos of Pine Creek (Colo.) in the first period. Cos placed sixth.

Workman, though, opened the tournament with a whipping over Ricardo Gonzalez of Bakersfield, 17-1, in the first round. In his next bout, Workman was pinned in the first period by Kristopher Madrigal of Bloomington (Calif.) in the first period.

In the consolation bracket, Workman dropped Jonah Tafoya of San Marcos (Calif.), 14-1, beat Eden Martinez of Dos Pueblos (Calif.), 7-3, pinned Jack Walsh of De La Salle (Calif.) in the second period and dropped Matthew Mejia of Canyon Springs (Calif.), 12-2.

“Both sophomore deserved to be there,” Overlie said. “That intensity is something we are going to have to work on the last month of the season.”

At 126 pounds, Clay Amezquita beat Steven Lopez of Birmingham (Calif.), by pin in first period. Amezquita lost to Cameron Cox of Chaparral (Calif.), 4-3, in second round.

The Fallon grappler followed up in the consolation bracket with a win over Luis Rojas of Rancho Buena Vista, 16-5, and then lost to David Del Bosque of Dinuba (Calif.), 9-3.

Anthony Sabatino (126) had a bye in the first round and lost to David Conte of De La Salle (Calif.), 10-1, in second round. Conte placed seventh.

Sabatino rebounded to beat Adrian Navarro of Temescal Canyon, 8-7, and J.J. Veytia of San Marcos (Calif.), 1-0. He lost to Cox, 5-3.

“We seemed to wrestle well early in the morning and late at night,” Overlie said. “We got to make it a little more even keel. We seemed to lose the intensity in those middle matches.”

Dakota Schelling (170) won his first bout against Cole Tigert of Vacaville (Calif.), 15-1, but was pinned by James Murphy of Carlsbad (Calif.) in the first period. Schelling lost his first consolation match, 7-5, to Bryce Benlian of Desert (Calif.).

After a first-round bye, Robert White (132) fell to No. 1 seed Julian Flores of San Marino (Calif.), by pin in the first period. White then lost to Karl King of Valhalla (Calif.), by pin in the first period.

Ricky Rogers (220) was pinned in the third period in his first round bout to Jonathan Decker of Paloma Valley (Calif.). Rogers was pinned by Davin Maiden of Cimarron (Las Vegas) in the first period of the consolation round.

“We did compete,” Overlie said. “That’s what we went down there for.”